North Carolina officially unveiled Bill Belichick as its new head football coach on Thursday, bringing the NFL lifer to the college level for the first time in his coaching career.

The Tar Heels made it very worth his while from a financial standpoint, with reports indicating that Belichick was signed to a five-year deal with plenty of bonuses and incentives, though he'll also have a relatively affordable buyout clause after just one season:

The buyout clause led to some raised eyebrows around the sporting world, leaving open the possibility of Belichick departing for the NFL relatively early in his UNC tenure, though the longtime head coach offered little indication he was leaving himself an exit strategy.

"I didn't come here to leave," he told reporters during his introductory press conference.

He spoke on a number of topics Thursday, including recruiting, making the move to college and why he wanted to continue coaching at the age of 72:

Belichick told reporters he will run North Carolina like a "pro program" in terms of "training, developing players, running pro systems, pro techniques."

"So when the players leave here, this isn't going from the wishbone to a pro offense," he continued. "It will be similar terminology, similar techniques and fundamentals, similar training, similar preparation techniques that have been very successful for me through the years, whether other college teams use them or not. I mean, some are, some aren't, but I just know that these will prepare the players for that. So the general manager, head coach model, it's a similar type of situation for evaluating high school kids and college transfer portal players. NFL teams are evaluating college players and NFL free agent players. So again, there are some similarities."

It will be fascinating, of course, to see just how involved Belichick will be as a recruiter, how much money a basketball school will be able to raise in NIL deals for the football program, or whether his no-nonsense, machine-like approach to winning at all costs will resonate with younger players.

NFL players are elite professionals who can focus solely on their craft, without worrying about going to class. The college game is a different world, and how Belichick navigates it will be one of the more intriguing stories to follow in the sport in the coming years.