Illinois coach Bret Bielema wanted to host a joint football practice with Bill Belichick and North Carolina. Bob Breidenbach / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Big Ten coach pitched Bill Belichick, North Carolina for joint practice

Originally posted on CFB-HQ on SI | By James Parks | Last updated Jun 27, 2025 1:34 PM ET

NCAA rules disallow college football teams from hosting joint practices in the offseason, but one Big Ten coach says he was intrigued by the idea enough to call up Bill Belichick to see if he was interested.

Colorado and Syracuse filed, and were ultimately denied, a waiver this year to get an exemption from that rule, but watching from afar, Illinois coach Bret Bielema thought enough of the plan to approach his counterpart at North Carolina.

“The one thing that was intriguing to me in the NFL was those minicamps where teams would get together and compete with one another,” Bielema said.

“This past spring, I saw when Colorado and Syracuse were talking about getting together. There was a moment where we thought some teams might get together, whether it be in the spring or the fall.

“That’s when I reached out to him... ‘Hey, if we could do a little challenge with North Carolina and Illinois, either now or in the future, would you be interested?’ That was really the genesis of it.”

Belichick’s response to the plan remains unknown, but it sounds like something he would be interested in, having plenty of experience hosting minicamps and joint scrimmages, and judging by his own remarks about fashioning the North Carolina team in the image of an NFL franchise.

Plus, he and Bielema have prior working experience when the latter was in New England as a consultant and defensive line coach in 2018 and 2019 under Belichick.

While current NCAA rules won’t let them reunite on the practice field just yet, it’s a safe bet Bielema will make the pitch again if that changes in the future.