Head coach Bill Belichick‘s first season with the University of North Carolina hasn’t gone well. While the Tar Heels entered the weekend on a two-game winning streak, that ended with a 28-12 loss to Wake Forest on Saturday. They’re now 4-6 with two games left. North Carolina will need to close out its regular season with wins over Duke and North Carolina State just to gain eligibility for a bowl game.
If we’re to believe Belichick, he’s committed to North Carolina, which signed him to a five-year, $50MM contract with the first three seasons guaranteed. Before the Wake Forest loss, Belichick took to Instagram on Friday to shoot down any potential interest in the Giants’ head coaching position or any other NFL vacancy that could open up in the next couple of months.
While the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach may not sound eager to return to the pros, “at least one team has done very initial homework on Belichick and the situation at North Carolina,” Tom Pelissero of NFL Network says. Pelissero adds that Belichick’s Instagram statement may have been issued in part to reassure recruits, and it doesn’t mean he’ll reject NFL interest if teams seeking a head coach come calling in January.
Belichick’s name came up in connection to NFL vacancies last winter, but he didn’t interview with anyone. That came a year after Belichick was a serious candidate to take over as Atlanta’s head coach. The position instead went to Raheem Morris, leaving Belichick “surprised and embarrassed,” according to Pelissero.
Belichick’s pursuit of the Falcons job was public knowledge. Now, if he does come back to the NFL, it’s going to occur “in the dark of night,” Pelissero reports. It wouldn’t be a public process. An interested team would go through the league-mandated protocol before offering its HC job to Belichick.
Along with the Giants, who moved on from Brian Daboll last week, the Titans fired their head coach (Brian Callahan) earlier this season. They and other franchises that dismiss their HCs between now and January will consider a slew of candidates. Belichick would carry a better resume than any other potential hire, but it’s very much in question whether anyone will show major interest in the soon-to-be 74-year-old.
In the event Belichick does make an improbable NFL comeback, it would renew his chances of chasing down Don Shula as the all-time regular-season wins leader among head coaches. Between his 29 years with Cleveland and New England, Belichick amassed 302 wins. Shula piled up 328 victories in 33 years between the Colts and Dolphins. Belichick trails only Shula and Bears legend George Halas (318 wins in 40 years) on the all-time list.
On to Cincinnati! ( hopefully)
C’mon! What team is signing up for this dumpster fire? Belichick has run his legacy into the ground with that North Carolina clown show.
Embarrassed to lose out to Rah Rah Morris? For someone seemingly beyond embarrassment this is understandable.
Belichick was a loser in Cleveland, a loser in Foxboro pre-Brady, a loser in Foxboro post-Brady, and now a loser in college football. UNC’s won-loss record means the Tar Heels will not be bowl-eligible.
With six championships …
Earned in Chapel Hill or by cheating in Foxboro?
Cheating? The AFC/SB championships were not taken away so I guess … they got away with it.
I agree about the cheating, but we also saw what he could do on the field. Brady didn’t run those defenses or coordinate the roster, so we have to acknowledge that Belichick definitely had some responsibility in winning his eight rings.
Based on pure expected results, would I hire him today, though? Probably not. Age and the loss of an unheralded but absolutely crucial plethora of front office figures (Pioli, Caserio, Adams) severely affected his results from the last few years of his Patriots tenure. And, now, you have to deal with whatever that Hudson creature is that has attached herself like a crazed remora. It’s not like you’re getting 2007 Belichick in 2025.
Haha … but like Napoleon, who is to say he couldnt get some, if not all of his subordinates-allies back for another shot?
I suppose North Carolina could be considered his march to Russia. Unfortunately for Bill, he hasn’t even made it to Moscow yet. But hey, we’ll see. He might start improving the program with time…unless Hudson gets him banished to Elba first.
Haha … good points!
It would be ironic if he broke Shula’s record as Miami HC
There always will be a dysfunctional franchise willing to bring him in for an interview
The Giants would be doing him service more than he’d be servicing the Giants.
Well we heard Harbaugh rant on and on about how totally committed he was to Michigan too didn’t we?
I could still see him being the next Giants HC because of being there in the past as an assistant. They have a QB, RB and WR in place for next season once they all recover from injuries but I could also see a new GM and coach blowing up the entire roster over the next couple years and upsetting Patriots in a Super Bowl with the next Manning as their QB and Belichick as the coach.
Is your name Mike Lupica by any means?
The Falcons should be embarrassed to have chosen Morris. But as long as Rich McKay is lurking in the shadows, dumb choices like that will continue to be made. Hopefully one day Blank will wake up….
We talk a lot about Belichick destroying his own legacy through his later job performance, but nobody brings a potential Hall of Famer in that regard in Rich McKay. Whatever his success in Tampa Bay has been totally eroded under the radar by his head scratching tenure in Atlanta-complete with own miniature rules scandal with the stadium noise fiasco. This is meant as no insult to Falcons fans, who believe have well meaning owner in Blank, and deserve better organizational bosses than McKay.
Bill is bluffing.
I am not sure if you guys are familiar, but he has handed all of his PR over to a nefarious succubus, a third of his age. This succubus instructs his media communication, as a means to further extract from him.
Wait and see. More to follow on that.
Behind closed doors, a succubus like that is useful. Surprised he isnt tired of her by now.
I’ll have to start using public transit more often. Is a special pass required to ride a succu bus?
Haha … I always laugh at your quips like everyone else, but this time, I will acknowlege them …