Bill Belichick is leaving a league that left him first. All the other spin that's out there may have shreds of truth to it, but the greatest professional football coach of this generation and maybe of all time is now lording over the University of North Carolina because the National Football League decided it was done with the 72-year-old (he'll be 73 in April) and all that comes with hiring him.
Bill is a wise man — both book-smart and business-savvy. Since his dismissal as the Patriots head coach, he has seen the place he called home for 50 years no longer view him through the same prism as it would have even just five years prior. Instead, his past success - and boy, that resume is nearly flawless for two decades - became just that, a thing of the past. Belichick's ego, desire for complete control, and unwillingness to surrender even a shred of that derailed any notion of him being Jacksonville's, Chicago's, or New Orleans' next head coach (or any other job that opened in this cycle). Had he been willing to say, 'I'll just coach the football team,' there is no doubt that he would be near the top of the list in several spots. Instead, as Belichick studied the landscape and did his due diligence on potential landing spots, he understood that he wouldn't be anyone's first choice, or even second. And to him, that was pure lunacy. So rather than play along to get along and possibly topple Don Shula's wins record, Belichick laid out his plan for why he should run the Tar Heels program, appeased the right members of the board of trustees and influential alumni, and lo and behold, what seemed unfathomable became reality in about a week.
How will he fare? I suspect well. The college ranks are becoming increasingly pro-like, and the programs that are succeeding in this new era of NIL and the transfer portal are treating it like the business it always was, but now they can do so openly. The fact that Belichick got UNC to increase its bankroll from $4 million to $20 million is staggering, and it puts them in the same area code as the blue bloods like Alabama, Ohio State, and Georgia. And while Belichick doesn't maybe have the same influence over college athletes like Colorado's Deion Sanders, who better than Bill and his staff of merry men (Matt Patricia, the backward hat and pencil behind the ear coming to Chapel Hill) to tell 17 and 18-year-olds what it will take to make the league and to find success there?
Speaking of Sanders, he's not canvassing 12 states in 14 days to recruit the top high school projects. His pitch, and the pitch of his minions, is that he's DEION FREAKIN' SANDERS. It's working. You've got to believe Belichick, who has forgotten more about X's and O's than Sanders ever knew, will follow a similar suit. And like Deion, Bill can be charming if the mood strikes him.
Add to this equation Belichick taking over a program that plays in one of the weaker power conferences in college football. The ACC is no one's idea of a gauntlet. It's not unreasonable to think he could get UNC into contention reasonably quickly. And, if it doesn't work, there is no real impact on his lasting legacy, at least not in my eyes. The six Super Bowls can't be erased. The 333 wins (including playoffs) are there, written in stone. Bill Walsh went 17-17 at Stanford to finish his career (1992-94). I didn't even remember that until Belichick started sniffing around UNC. I suspect 20 or 30 years from now when fans talk about his career, this will be a mere footnote unless he does the unthinkable and lifts the Tar Heels to heights they've never reached. And with Bill, I'd never say never.
ODDS AND ENDS
We talked to the defensive assistants on Thursday, in Foxborough which meant safeties coach Brian Belichick saw our smiling faces. I can tell you without a doubt that this was the largest crowd he's ever had as a coach here in New England. 95% of the questions he faced centered on his dad's decision (there's always one guy who has to ask a football question that no one cared about today).
“Really happy for my dad," he told us. "A lot of people are excited, including him. It’s going to be fun to watch. He loves coaching football. It’s what he should be doing. It’s going to be great. It’s really exciting. Really happy for him and think we’re all excited to watch it.”
Was he surprised that Bill ended up in North Carolina?
“He loves coaching. And opportunities present themselves in different ways", he said. “I think he would love coaching a number of different things. He would love coaching lacrosse, I think, if he wasn’t coaching football. He’d probably love teaching if he wasn’t coaching sports. I think it’s something he’s great at, obviously. This is the opportunity, and I think it’s awesome. UNC’s a great school, football program, exciting fan base nationally down there. Not that I have a lot of background on it, but people are excited, and that’s great.”
Steven Belichick is expected to leave his defensive coordinator position at the University of Washington to join his father's staff. As for Brian, he wasn't willing to go there, at least not publicly.
"I personally, I have my hands full today getting ready for practice out there on the fields," he said. "This is an especially big day for us because we’re leaving tomorrow. So, a lot to talk about today and get straight. Like every week in the NFL, there’s a lot to talk about dealing with these great offenses, week by week, and this week is obviously no exception. So, we have our hands full here, and that’s my focus is going to Arizona and getting a win.”