Before being hired as North Carolina's head coach, Bill Belichick's desire to return to the NFL was so strong that he had interest in joining the team

The 72-year-old Belichick was introduced Thursday as North Carolina’s football coach. But the former New England Patriots coach recently reached out to the Jets, who fired Robert Saleh on Oct. 8 and installed defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich as the interim coach.

After displaying a well-known hatred towards the Jets over the years—and also going 39–13 against them during his NFL career—Bill Belichick recently called New York about its vacant head coaching job. According to CBS Sports' Jonathan Jones, Belichick himself called the team "to gauge interest" and was told they were just starting their search.