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Steve Belichick addresses the media at the Sun Bowl last month. GABY VELASQUEZ/ EL PASO TIMES / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Whatever Happened to UW Defensive Coordinator Steve Belichick?

Originally posted on Washington Huskies on SI
By Dan Raley | Last updated Jan 18, 2025 2:49 PM ET

Here's hoping Steve Belichick gets back on his feet and lands a coaching job somewhere.

Nearly three weeks following the Sun Bowl, the former University of Washington defensive coordinator -- and we know about his status in Montlake only because someone else has his job now -- still hasn't been formally introduced in a new position.

We hear rumors that young Belichick could end up at North Carolina because his father Bill Belichick is the new head coach there.

The elder Belichick's introductory news conference at the school in the past month and repeated appearances on the Pat McAfee show would seem to confirm dad's professional intentions, though people are still wondering if father and son won't ultimately find a return to the NFL too hard to resist if it popped up.

We've seen photos of Steve Belichick on social media schmoozing with potential Tar Heels recruits, which is a real clue to his whereabouts.

We've seen ex-Husky linebacker Khmori House and safety Peyton Waters, plus one-time defensive analyst Armond Hawkins, announce they were leaving Montlake for North Carolina, which would seem to verify young Belichick's career move.

Yet there still has been no school release of Steve Belichick officially taking over as the defensive coordinator in Chapel Hill as suggested, no inclusion of him as a coaching addition on the Tar Heels football website.

For that matter, Belichick wouldn't address his employment ambitions in his final days with the Huskies in late December at a Sun Bowl news conference in El Paso, Texas, saying only that he had given his players everything he had as a coach to make them better. He apparently wanted his defensive guys focused only on the postseason game at hand, not on his personal ambitions. It was hard to say who was fooling who there.

The Huskies then went out and gave up 35 points and 371 yards of total offense to a Louisville team quarterbacked by an emergency fill-in in Harrison Bailey, who had no business not getting sacked four or five times, yet emerged totally unscathed and was named Sun Bowl Offensive MVP. Bailey, by the way, has since entered the transfer portal, with the Cardinals hardly compelled to promise him anything and stop him from leaving.

It was two years ago that UW edge rusher coach Eric Schmidt from Kalen DeBoer's staff stood after practice in Husky Stadium, while preparing his players for the Sugar Bowl against Texas, and easily discussed his new job as the impending defensive coordinator for San Diego State. He was leaving, but not until the Huskies were done with the College Football Playoff, and it wasn't an issue for him to speak about it.

Young Belichick, who has come and gone in a reclusive manner, remains a conundrum from his short stint with the Huskies.

While Jedd Fisch swore by him and brought him to Seattle to run his defense, it was still difficult to assess whether he was any good or not at what he did in a leadership role.

Or whether he was just a figment of everyone's imagination because he was Bill Belichick's son?

Fair question.

The Huskies gave up more points (309) than they scored (304) this past season, and generally had trouble, especially against the better teams they faced, in stopping the run, giving up 161.8 yards per game -- or 33 more per outing than Fisch's run-minded offense averaged.

Some have suggested that part of Bill Belichick's employment talks at North Carolina involved him asking for assurances that his son would be his Tar Heels successor someday.

To become the face of a college football program, however, Steve Belichick would need a lot of personal growth to make that happen. For instance, on every Tuesday during this past football season, he was tasked with meeting with media members and, while he was a nice enough guy, he proved overly reluctant to offer any detailed response about anything.

Had he stayed at the UW, he would have had every chance to further come out from under his father's considerable football shadow and succeed on his own. It appears he's back under it, though there's nothing official yet.

Hopefully Steve Belichick will get a job soon. Or at least publicly reveal the one he seems to have. And then prove to any of us doubters that he's got real coaching chops.

This article first appeared on Washington Huskies on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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