Emmanuel Acho flames Bill Belichick over embarrassing 38-10 blowout loss to Clemson

North Carolina’s rough start under new Bill Belichick got even worse after a 38-10 loss to Clemson on Saturday, earning him a jab from former NFL linebacker Emmanuel Acho. The loss follows UNC’s controversial decision to fire longtime coach Mack Brown on Nov. 26, despite his stated desire to return for the 2025 season.

Brown was the winningest coach in Tar Heels history with a 113-78-1 record and had 14 consecutive non-losing seasons. However, UNC has stumbled to a 2-3 start under Belichick, and Acho ranted about that on X:

“So North Carolina unceremoniously fired Mack Brown, the winningest head coach in program history, a man who had 14 straight seasons at or above .500, for this garbage produced by Bill Belichick?!”

Belichick’s Tar Heels have faced three unranked Power Four opponents this season, losing by margins of 34, 25 and 28 points. The struggles add to Belichick’s decline, as he is coming off two straight losing years in the NFL, including a 4-13 season with the New England Patriots in 2023.

CBS Sports analyst and former NFL running back Damien Harris also took aim at Belichick’s fading reputation.

“When you talk about the legacy of Bill Belichick, it is just going down and down and down and down,” Harris said. “I look at what he has brought to the game of football. It is not what we are seeing is being played in Chapel Hill right now.

“So if Bill Belichick is gonna remain the head coach at North Carolina, it looks like that’s gonna be the case because we haven’t heard any Rumblings about him returning to the NFL.”

Bill Belichick reflects on the Week 6 loss to Clemson

Bill Belichick’s run at North Carolina began with a 48-14 loss to TCU on Sept. 1. The Tar Heels bounced back with two back-to-back wins before dropping their next two, including Saturday’s loss to Clemson.

However, Belichick remained confident about the school’s direction.

“I’ll keep my conversations with the team between myself and the team,” Belichick said (via NBC Boston). “But I’ll just say we’re going to work through it, and work our way out of it.

“We’ll get better every week and keep working every week and prepare for the next team, be ready to go. That’s what we’re going to do.”

UNC now heads into a bye week before traveling to face California on Oct. 17.