North Carolina insists it’s focused on the Fenway Bowl, not Bill Belichick

Bill Belichick will take a hands-off approach to the University of North Carolina’s first football game since being named coach. At least that’s what interim coach Freddie Kitchens said during a press conference for Saturday’s matchup against UConn in the Fenway Bowl.

“I talk to Coach (Belichick) every day, but not during the game and stuff like that,” Kitchens said Friday. “He understands that we have a job to do here.”

North Carolina (6-6) fired Mack Brown after a 35-30 regular-season loss to NC State, then signed Belichick to a five-year, $50 million contract. Belichick, who was fired in January by the Patriots after guiding them to six Super Bowl titles, is scheduled to make his collegiate coaching debut against Texas Christian at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, NC, on Aug. 30.

Meanwhile, the Tar Heels are doing their best to block Belichick’s banter. UNC players made their first public comments since the coaching change at the news conference.

“Obviously, with Coach Belichick, the buzz is going to be high,” sophomore linebacker Amare Campbell said. “As a team, we’re all focused on this game and winning this game, so it’s all kind of outside noise.

“There’s definitely a new era coming and we can take things from this game. This game will show some of the younger players and some players we have what they can do next year. But we’re all focused on this game, ​​that has been the big thing for us.”

Brown’s stock apparently fell despite guiding the Tar Heels to six consecutive bowl appearances along with being the only active coach in the College Football Hall of Fame. Brown also coached Patriots quarterback Drake Maye for three seasons at UNC.

“It’s going to be a new era, but I don’t think any of us would be here without Coach Brown,” said tight end John Copenhaver, a graduate student. “I know when he took this job, his goal was to get Carolina back on that stage, and I think he did that to perfection. And I feel like none of us would be here without him.

“Coach Kitchens says you can only control what you can control. If you’re in meetings, you’re in meetings, if you’re in Boston, you’re fine. You can’t really focus on what’s coming in a week or two, you have things to deal with that day or that week. There were times, with a head coach change, where everything could spiral. But just look at the person on your left, the person on your right – that’s who you have. If a player wants to leave, he can leave, but we have a job to do, and that’s getting to the Fenway Bowl, and that’s all we’re focused on.”

No Belichick, that is, but the game features a former NFL coaching matchup via Kitchens, who guided the Cleveland Browns to a 6-10 record in 2019, and UConn’s Jim Mora Jr. Kitchens, eager to adapt to the dimensions of Fenway Park’s hockey rink, requires both teams’ benches to be on the same side of the rink.

“We talked, and he’s never been a part of this either, and we had a little laugh,” Kitchens said of Mora. “I’ve never equated it with hockey style, but I like that. It’s kind of fitting — the Bruins are pretty big here.”

Said Mora, who became a Red Sox fan and lived in Wrentham while his father worked as a Patriots assistant: “As far as I know, coach Belichick won’t take the field, so that’s irrelevant to this team. We can’t control the emotional component of our opponents, so we don’t try that. We focus on what we can control, and that’s our preparation, that’s the way we work, our attention to detail, our mind-set.”

Mora appeared to have little difficulty making the move to the collegiate level at UCLA in 2012, then UConn in 2021, after guiding the Atlanta Falcons and Seattle Seahawks.

“Football’s football on the field,” he said. “The off-field experience between the NFL and college is very, very different. It’s a lot more personal at this level. You’re dealing with a younger athlete, they might need you in their life a little differently than a professional player does .The opportunity to come to a bowl game, to experience the action, the camaraderie, is unlike anything you’ve ever experienced at the NFL level.

“At this point in my career, at this point in my life, having the time to spend time with these guys and our whole staff is what I enjoy the most. It’s just different. The experience of being around student-athletes are what make this so special.”

Frank Dell’Apa can be contacted at [email protected].