Bill Belichick is set to coach against a familiar face when the Tar Heels take on UCF

When you coach for 49 seasons, it's destined that you will coach against either a former staff member or even a former player of yours.

That will be the case on Saturday when the UNC football program travels to take on UCF.

The Knights are led by Scott Frost, who is in the first year of his second goaround leading the program. Before he became a coach, Frost spent some time playing in the NFL, as his playing career started with three seasons in East Rutherford competing for the New York Jets from 1998-2000.

Frost's time with the Jets overlapped with Belichick's, as the later was the team's defensive coordinator for two of those three seasons Frost played as a Jet.

Now, the two will square off as opponents on the sidelines, as both hope to send the other home with a loss.

Belichick was asked about coaching against one of his former players, a question that resulted in high praise for both UCF and Frost:

“They have a lot of talented players. They’re very well coached. Scott and I go back. I can’t believe it’s been over 30 years since we were together with the Jets. He was drafted, he played quarterback at Nebraska, and we drafted them as a defensive back. A safety for me, and really smart guy, tough, big kid for a quarterback, big safety too. And really had a great aptitude for the game, both offensively and defensively and playing the kicking game as well. So he has a lot of experience as a player and certainly as a coach, both at UCF and Nebraska. So a ton of respect for Scott and the program that he runs and the people they have down there.”

It will be a cool moment for Belichick and Frost, serving as the first time this type of instance occurred during Belichick's early college coaching era. His coaching tree extended well across the NFL, making him running into a former staff member essentially guaranteed at lease once a season, but now, he'll square off with one of his former guys on the college level.

The respect from both parties is extremely high as the UNC football program prepares to take on UCF for the first-ever matchup between the two squads.