'Celebrity figure' Bill Belichick 'great thing' for ACC despite distractions

Bill Belichick arrived fashionably late to the ACC’s spring meetings, his first one as North Carolina’s head coach.

Still wheeling luggage around the beachside resort in Amelia Island, Belichick banged his carry-on into the door frame as he joined league athletic directors, faculty representatives and football and basketball coaches.

It was a mildly awkward entrance for the ACC’s newest and brightest star. But if the former New England Patriots coach and six-time Super Bowl champion caused a distraction, no one seemed to care.

The ACC, at least publicly, welcomed Belichick, baggage and all.

"I thought I was done being tortured by him," joked Stanford interim coach Frank Reich, who went 6-7 against Belichick, including a win in Super Bowl 52, during 18 seasons on NFL sidelines.

Belichick, with a new public relations communications person by his side, declined most interview requests at the Ritz-Carlton. He did two football-only interviews with North Carolina reporters, sat alongside Clemson coach Dabo Swinney for an ESPN feature and did a brief segment on ESPN’s SportsCenter, whose appearance at the meetings surely had more to do with the former NFL coach than anything the conference had going on during its three-day event.

ESPN already had made UNC’s home opener against TCU a prime-time event, with Labor Day night becoming a showcase for Belichick’s college coaching debut. It could be a launching point for the league, which trails the Big Ten and the Southeastern conferences in brand recognition, television ratings and — most importantly — revenue.

"I think they ran to us before we could even run to them, our partners at Disney," ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said. "Listen, it’s a great thing for the league. It’s a great