Bill Belichick has sent a shock-wave through the football world, as he becomes the new Head Coach at the University of North Carolina.
The shock comes from the fact that Belichick will not jump back into the NFL after spending a year away from the game; instead he will jump into the ever increasingly complex world of College Football.
This should be interesting.
About a year ago at this time we saw Belichick get rejected by the Atlanta Falcons for their head coaching vacancy. It was a stunner. Before Atlanta made its final decision, it appeared that Belichick was destined for the Falcons after meeting with Arthur Blank, but the front office had other ideas. They convinced Blank to look elsewhere.
The problem was the Falcons front office knew that if Belichick came aboard, they would all be looking over their shoulder. When a team hires Bill Belichick, they get all of Bill Belichick: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
"... The Falcons realized that if you hire Bill Belichick, you hire all of him, an entire philosophy and ethos stemming from one man’s ethic and ingenuity," ESPN reported.
"In the end, his assurances failed to persuade Blank and team executives. 'He was essentially voted off the island,' a source close to the Falcons’ hiring process said.
"ESPN also mentioned that Belichick's former colleague, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, gave a "stark assessment of Belichick's character," which also led to the Falcons passing on the legendary coach."
So, perhaps, Belichick seeing that today's NFL is not interested in having a hands on coach in the building, felt that the only way back to the game was through college.
It won't be easy though. While he won't have to deal with overzealous owners, a General Manager on a power trip, and multi-million dollar players; in college he will have to answer to the Athletic Director, the boosters, and now with the NIL, he'll have to deal with players who are dipping their toes into the free agent game. College players now have agents. They are getting paid. It's not what it used to be as players transfer from college program to college program regularly now.
There is no question Belichick knows how to navigate free agency, and the off-season, but this will be an amazing watch.
Belichick gave a pretty good indication as to why he was taking the job, when he described on the Pat McAfee Show that he would run the UNC program as gateway to the NFL for players. If that isn't a selling point, I don't know what is. Belichick's plan sounds like he would turn the college program into an NFL developmental program, and internship.
What a start for kids!
And with the way college sports are leaning more and more into the tendancies of pro sports, hiring Belichick makes a lot of sense for North Carolina.
While he won't hit Don Shula's wins record, perhaps this is a more satisfying conclusion to Belichick's career. After nearly 50-years in the NFL, he finally had a chance to step back and think things over. Now he gets to mold a program his way, and do so at one of most prestigious college sports schools in the country.
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