Bill Belichick tells ESPN audience the players he’s after at UNC

New North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick was able to take his recruiting message directly to the public Friday evening before the start of the College Football Playoff.

The six-time Super Bowl winning head coach with the Patriots, who bided his time waiting for his next coaching job moonlighting as a contributor for ESPN, joined the “College GameDay” broadcast remotely before No. 10 Indiana met No. 7 Notre Dame in the first of four first-round games.

The Tar Heels coach was asked by former Heisman Trophy winner Desmond Howard what kind of player he was recruiting.

“On the football side, they need to love football,” Belichick said. “If you like football, if you want to be your best, if you want to train professionally — fundamentals and techniques that are used professionally — get the most out of your ability, and be with good teammates and other people who love football, then this is a great place to be.

“The players who don’t really enjoy football, then, it’s probably the wrong spot for them. You’ve got to love the preparation, the training, as well as the competition — there’s a lot that goes into it. When you work with people who have a common goal and you come together on that it’s actually a lot of fun to do all that and then see the results come out.”

While this is Belichick’s first time coaching at the college level, he was around the University of Washington program at multiple stages of the season.

His son, Steve, is the defensive coordinator for the Huskies under former Patriots assistant Jedd Fisch. Vinnie Sunseri, who spent the previous four years as a Patriots assistant, is also in his first year at Washington, coaching the safeties.

“I had a great opportunity to spend some time out at the University of Washington with Coach Fisch and my son Steve in the spring, in the summer, in training camp, and in the fall before the Michigan game out there,” Belichick said, responding to a question from friend Nick Saban. “I had a great chance to observe a lot of the things they were doing. It was so enlightening to see how much improvement the kids made in the spring with spring ball being in pads. Something, you know, we never do in the NFL.

“The dramatic improvement in the players and their receptiveness to coaching, getting better, and trying to gain in their careers — they’re young, they’re very hungry — and they’re fun to be around, very much like the rookies that come into the NFL that know they have a lot to learn. You kind of feel the same way about these college players, at least the ones I interacted with, and I’ve talked with a lot of players here on the team and they have that same attitude.”

Belichick likened the ability to help college players develop to Saban, who was his defensive coordinator with the Browns for four seasons before leaving to become the head coach at Michigan State in 1995. Saban also went from the NFL to the college game in 2007, leaving the Dolphins after two seasons to lead Alabama, where he won six of his seven national titles across 16 years.

“You and I had conversations about how much you enjoyed developing the young players and had more of an impact on them [as opposed to an NFL player],” Belichick said. “Even though I hadn’t done it — I saw it when I was at Navy — but I can see where you are coming from on that. It’s very exciting even in the short time that I’ve been here.”