Bill Belichick’s Son Not Expected to Be With North Carolina for Season Opener
Update 8/28/26 at 2:50 p.m. ET: The North Carolina Tar Heels will begin the 2026 college football season this weekend in Ireland, but defensive coordinator Steve Belichick will not be with the team as he remains on medical leave.
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Steve, 39, the son of head coach Bill Belichick, has been out since early August. North Carolina officials were previously unwilling to say whether they expected him back for the Saturday, August 29, season-opener against TCU.
College sports outlet On3 reported on Thursday, August 27, that Steve was not expected to make the trip to Dublin.
Bill, 74, has been working with defensive line coach Bob Diaco on preparing for the game in his son’s absence.
Original story below.
The University of North Carolina has placed defensive coordinator Steve Belichick on indefinite medical leave, just over three weeks before the Tar Heels open the regular season against TCU in Ireland on August 29.
Steve, 39, is the son of UNC head coach Bill Belichick, who is entering his second season at the helm after a Hall of Fame career leading the New England Patriots. Bill, 74, did not say when Steve would be back or even if it would be before the team travels to Ireland, telling reporters they “look forward to getting him back as soon as possible.”
“That’s a medical situation so I really can’t make any further comment on it,” he said during a Thursday, August 6 press conference, adding, “We coach defense collectively as staff and we will continue to do that.”
Before coming to North Carolina, Steve was a defensive assistant under his father in New England from 2012 to 2023. In college, he was a football and lacrosse player at Rutgers University.
Steve’s absence comes less than one month after an arrest warrant was issued for his wife, Jen, when she failed to appear before a North Carolina judge for a hearing related to a traffic stop on May 21.
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The arrest warrant was recalled shortly after being issued. Jen’s attorney, Alex Kintner, filed a motion to recall the warrant, saying she was absent from court because his services had been “just retained,” according to court documents viewed by Us. She is now scheduled to appear for a deposition hearing on September 25.
Jen had been an outspoken critic of Bill’s relationship with girlfriend Jordon Hudson, who is 49 years his junior. She allegedly called Hudson, 25, “bats*** crazy,” urging Bill to “wake up.”
“You choose your family or you choose [Hudson],” she told Bill after a North Carolina home game in 2025, according to the New York Post.
Steve is also the second UNC football staffer to go out on leave in the past month. General manager Michael Lombardi was placed on paid administrative leave in July amid an ongoing investigation. The university did not provide details of the investigation but sources told The Athletic that it is related to a human resources complaint.
His attorney, Tom Mars, said in a statement to The Athletic at the time that Lombardi, 67, “welcomes the opportunity to clear his name.”
“He is fully cooperating with UNC and expects the investigation will be swift, thorough, and fair,” Mars said. “Michael would ask that people have the decency to let the process run its course before jumping to any conclusions about the nature of the investigation or whether there’s any merit to whatever has been alleged.”
Even though it is only Bill’s second year coaching the Tar Heels, it is a critical one after UNC went just 4-8 in his first season. The preseason Atlantic Coast Conference media poll picked the Tar Heels to finish 15th in the 18-team league.
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This story was originally published August 6, 2026 at 11:21 AM.
