Nothing at all looks good for Bill Belichick in his third act as a head football coach.
Belichick is currently overseeing a 2-3 Tar Heels team that only beat Charlotte and Richmond and can’t even compete against legitimate opponents. The walls appear to be closing in, as multiple reports this week spotlight dysfunction, violations and disorder in the North Carolina football program, to go along with the canceled behind-the-scenes series for Hulu. One report on Wednesday stated that Belichick and the school have discussed potential buyout options.
The 73-year-old Belichick may not even make it through his first season at UNC.
“It feels like it’s a fait accompli,” Patriots insider Phil Perry said on Early Edition. “It feels like it’s a money question now. Some of the latest reporting today, again, if it’s accurate, it feels like, ‘OK, can we knock down the buyout? Does it have to be the full $20 million?’ The equation that the North Carolina higher-ups have to figure out is, is it worth continually taking this hit to our reputation and to our program, potentially for the long term, is that worth $20 million? Which is what his buyout is. And what my guess is they would say yes. Like, let’s just pay the money and cut ties.”
If that’s the case and Belichick does leave the program before the end of the season (on Nov. 29), will there be sympathy for the Patriots legend?
“Yes, because of what he and Tom Brady and a collective team did for New England,” Kayla Burton said. “I just think the heart of the fan base will feel bad for the kind of coach that he’s been, at least in New England. … The not-so-bad feeling part is you did it to yourself. You decided to take on this job. You decided to prove, and not hang up the cleats, you wanted to show the world that you can coach and develop young talent, you can go coach at college. And the way he’s doing it … it’s just the way he’s going about it makes me think the people that feel badly for you are not really going to feel that badly for you anymore.”
Mike Giardi counts himself in that latter crew.
“I don’t feel bad for him, because again, it comes down to the ego thing,” he said, noting that fans resisted hearing about the deterioration of the Patriots’ program under Belichick during his final seasons in New England. “Do you understand what happened the last few years? Do you understand why he went away from Tom Brady, because he just didn’t want to pay him and he didn’t want the credit he was getting, he didn’t want the ego involved, because it was him?”
Giardi added: “If the stuff that’s been reported is accurate, some of the things in there are so damning … . This has been about Bill all along, it continues to be about Bill. The ego has run so far off, and there’s no getting it back now. And it’s a shame what’s happened to the program there.”
While Perry believes Belichick’s legacy in New England will remain intact forever, he is curious to see if the national perception shifts on the man who’s largely considered to be either the greatest or one of the greatest NFL head coaches of all time.
“I do think in terms of his legacy, Patriots fans will always view him as the greatest NFL coach of all time. Period,” Perry said. “Even at the Brady jersey retirement ceremony, he got the biggest pop of anybody there not named Tom Brady. His legacy locally is secure. I guess I’m a little curious as to how the rest of the country will view him.”
Despite the brief joint statement from Belichick and UNC director of athletics Bubba Cunningham released Wednesday night amid all of the tumultuous reporting, the football world may soon deliver that answer.
