Mike Florio ,
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Usually, Bill Belichick’s snarky messages regarding the NFL teams that have no interest in his services come from his consigliere, Michael Lombardi. When it comes to dropping a turd in the New England punch bowl as Belichick prepares to embark on his first season at North Carolina, Belichick was willing to literally get his own hands dirty.
In an interview with Ben Volin of the Boston Globe , Belichick sings the praises of college football by taking a shot at his former bosses, Robert and Jonathan Kraft.
“ There’s no owner, there’s no owner’s son , there’s no [salary] cap, everything that goes with the marketing and everything else, which I’m all for that,” Belichick told Volin. “But it’s way less of what it was at that level. Generic NFL teams, you have the owner, president, general manager, personnel director, college director, pro director, cap guy, some other consultant, then head coach. I’d say when we had our best years in New England, we had fewer people and more of a direct vision. And as that expanded, it became harder to be successful.”
Hard or not, they won six Super Bowls between 2001 and 2018. It only changed after quarterback Tom Brady left.
In time, Belichick left, too. Not voluntarily. And he has gotten only one nibble in two NFL hiring cycles. So, after a half century of NFL coaching, he’s acting like it was a lifelong dream to have his current job.
“I’ve always wanted to be in college football,” Belichick said. “I grew up in college football.”
He could have been in college football whenever he wanted. He only went there when the NFL collectively slammed the door in his face.
And now he acts like the NFL is beneath him. That college football is better. Lombardi has hinted at it , by asking whether there are any great NFL jobs and taking shots at Tony Khan. As it relates to the Patriots, Belichick wanted to say it himself.
Which means, of course, that other NFL owners will be even less likely to hire him. If they do, they’ll be the ones into whose punch bowl Belichick will eventually be plopping a foreign particle.
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