by: Alex Byington 1 hour ago _AlexByington
Stephen A. Smith (Kirby Lee-Imagn Images) | Bill Belichick (Bob Donnan-Imagn Images)
As rumors swirl around Bill Belichick ‘s future at North Carolina just five games into his first season in Chapel Hill, many are predicting a quick ending. ESPN firebrand Stephen A. Smith has seen enough to pronounce time of death on the six-time Super Bowl winner’s coaching career.
In response to those rumors, Belichick and UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham released joint statements Wednesday night. In their dual one-sentence statements, Belichick reaffirmed his commitment to the Tar Heels program, while Cunningham made it clear his embattled head football coach has “the full support of the Department of Athletics and University.”
Despite those statements, Stephen A. Smith believes the end is nigh for Belichick’s time at North Carolina. Smith even went so far as to publicly “eulogize” the 73-year-old with a career win-loss record of 302-165 across 29 seasons as an NFL head coach.
“Sadly, it appears it’s time to eulogize Bill Belichick. Listen, this was a six-time (Super Bowl) champion as a head coach, and eight-time champion overall, that was universally recognized as the best of this generation, if not ever, 5-6 years ago,” Smith said to close out the final hour of Thursday’s First Take . “Tom Brady departs, then New England dissipates; they diminish before our very eyes. He ultimately gets booted out of New England; it’s time for a change. Then there were NFL openings, and nobody wanted to bring him on board — in all likelihood because you had young dudes that weren’t trying to surrender what little power they thought they had to bring on a dude they weren’t going to be qualified to tell what to do. So, because he couldn’t get an opportunity (in the NFL), he decided to go to college.