Bill Belichick can't manage or supervise his defensive coordinator, signed nepotism agreement states

In the entertainment industry, nepo babies hide in plain sight, easily able to obscure their famous lineage.  

Perhaps I’m just obtuse, but I didn’t realize Gracie Abrams was JJ Abrams’ daughter until like two months ago. It’s not like she has him on stage, headset on, directing the tour production. 

But football sons, their dads are almost always right next to them on the sidelines, often gifting them gigs that kickstart their careers.  

There’s Brian Ferentz, who infamously worked under dad Kirk for years at Iowa, the poster child for fail-son futility. 

And Charlie Weis Jr., now the offensive coordinator at Ole Miss, who job-hopped with his dad from Notre Dame to Florida to Kansas. 

Coincidentally, those two both had short stints with the New England Patriots. Nepotism, it seems, is an essential part of the Patriot Way. 

While most don’t consider Bill Belichick a nepo baby, they’re aware his father had a long and influential career in football. 

Belichick never worked under his dad, but he’s kept the sport in the family, employing both his sons when he led the Patriots’ two-decade-long dynasty.  

And after decamping to the University of North Carolina, Belichick’s sons followed. Steve as defensive coordinator, Brian as a defensive backs coach.

But the state of North Carolina is not the NFL. Instead of an intentionally indiscernible rule book, it has explicit laws. Especially ones around nepotism. 

Ones the Belichicks need to abide by.

Documents obtained by FOIAball for the “Coach Offer Term Sheet” for Brian and Steve Belichick show both have clauses related to the “University Policy on Nepotism and Interpersonal Relationship,” which note they report directly to the athletic director.

Bill Belichick, who signed the agreements, cannot have “influence or authority” or manage or supervise his defensive coordinator.

It’s quite an abdication of responsibility for a coach known as a notorious control freak. 

It also raises interesting questions about how both Steve and Brian got their jobs.

An Athletic investigation into Belichick’s girlfriend’s communications with the university back in April revealed that she instructed the university to downplay the role nepotism may have played in Steve's hiring.

“Though Steve Belichick is in fact Bill’s son, he should be depicted and represented as his own established, credible entity as opposed to an extension of Bill,” an email of Hudson’s said. Another one added, “I believe being strategic about the depiction of the Steve [sic] will prevent controversy and show upmost [sic] respect towards Steve’s career, validate Bill’s decision as a HC to hire Steve.”

UNC’s “Policy on Nepotism and Interpersonal Relationships,” which is cited in the offers, explicitly notes that "employees, either independently or as a member of a committee or group," may not occupy a position of influence or authority over an "applicant."

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Ignoring their longtime boss for a moment, if you can, both Steve and Brian Belichick have football resumes that merit consideration.

Steve started in New England as a defensive assistant before helming the Patriots' secondary and linebacker units, reportedly even calling plays during the 2019 Super Bowl season. 

When the Pats dumped his dad, Steve left for the University of Washington, working for a year as defensive coordinator under new head coach Jedd Fisch. (Who also worked in New England… and, with the Huskies… employed Pete Carroll’s son… who just pulled a reverse Steve and left to join his dad in the NFL).

Brian started in the Patriots' scouting department before breaking into coaching, practically matching his brother’s path step-for-step, going from secondary to linebackers coach. 

He stayed on with the team after his dad’s departure, working a gap year with Jerod Mayo. But Brian wasn’t retained after the season, and in February 2025, both of them signed offer sheets with UNC. 

And now have to deal with pesky government regulations around just not handing jobs to your children.

Laws. Sometimes they’re fun.

North Carolina’s general code bans employees from working directly under family members. UNC, a public school, has its own similar nepotism policy. 

While not outright banning hiring your big, beautiful boys, it states that "to uphold the University’s high standards of professional and ethical conduct … individuals must be selected, evaluated, and supervised on individual merit and without reference to factors unrelated to academic and professional qualifications.”

After being hired, university employees, it notes, may not "occupy a position of influence or authority over Employment Decisions or other related management decisions" or “participate in evaluation or supervision of an employee.”

As such, both Brian and Steve’s offers from the school note that “the Head Coach, either independently or as a member of a committee or group, may not occupy a position of influence or authority over employment decisions or other related management decisions, participate in evaluation or supervision, or influence or attempt to influence evaluation or supervision of the defensive coordinator.”

“To ensure compliance with the Policy, the employee must report directly to the Director of Athletics, who will be responsible for supervision and oversight of the employee and will have independent and ultimate authority on all actions including but not limited to performance management and evaluation, position classification, salary and non-salary compensation, promotion, and disciplinary matters.”

It’s an open question as to whether a coach whose name plus “control freak” gets 6,910 results on Google will abide by all those stipulations.

The school’s nepotism policy does require the department head, Cunningham, to work with the department's HR representative to certify a “Lack of Influence” or create a “Conflict Management Plan,” documents that the school did not disclose to FOIAball, despite us asking. Twice.

Nicely, we should note. 

We also asked fun questions like if Bill Belichick could overrule his son on a play call during a game. After all, the policy removes Belichick from any “influence” or “supervision” or “management” of his defensive coordinator, things that coaches like to be able to do with their staff.

They did not answer that, either.

While it seems doubtful UNC’s athletic director would intercede at some point—or really any point, despite being required to—it’s not an impossibility.

When Brian Ferentz was fired in the middle of the 2023 season while struggling to meet the offensive goals of his renegotiated contract, the decision was made by Iowa’s interim AD Beth Goetz, who, ESPN noted, “supervises Brian Ferentz because of nepotism laws.”

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Bill Belichick image via WFMY News 2/YouTube