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The NFL media still insists that Bill Belichick is a goner.
What fascination there is with the world’s best known American football coach who has signed a contract with Carolina to take over his first college program.
Leading the continued speculation that he will coach the Tar Heels for a short time, maybe never, is that an NFL team will pay his $10 million buyout to UNC that drops down to $1 million on June 1.
I am not talking about social media trollers or rumormongers or the ABC crowd that just wants to talk doo-doo about the school they hate. National reporters and analysts on TV weekly are doing it.
For example, Mike Florio, who appears on pre-game shows for NBC, wrote this week that Belichick has UNC alumni and Chapel Hill fans freaking out because he has only hired four actual assistant coaches since retaining Freddie Kitchens from Mack Brown’s staff.
After Brown’s departure, Kitchens was the interim coach for the depleted Tar Heels in the bowl game. It has been reported that Kitchens will be the new offensive coordinator, yet unconfirmed.
Belichick has hired his son Steve, who has been making recruiting trips with him after leaving the University of Washington, where he was defensive coordinator this past season. Also, Matt Lombardi, the son of UNC’s new football general manager Mike Lombardi, has been hired as an “offensive coach.”
And, according to Florio, Billy Miller has been hired as a defensive assistant after leaving IMG Academy, where he headed up the program that shepherds highly sought high school stars through college recruiting. Plus, journeyman defensive coach Chris Jones, who had several college jobs and with six teams in the Canadian Football League, where he coached the 2015 Grey Cup champion Edmonton Elks, then was CFL Coach of the Year with Saskatchewan before landing stateside in Cleveland under then Browns’ head coach Kitchens.
And Belichick has started spending the $1 million he has for strength and conditioning by hiring former Patriots strongman Moses Cabrera. The Hoodie has $10 million for his entire coaching staff, so he obviously is being careful with all of his hires.
Florio adds, “No Matt Patricia. No Joe Judge, No other Belichick disciples.” Maybe because they were fired from their last NFL jobs.
While Florio allows “it probably won’t happen this year,” because of the buyout, he reports that athletic director Bubba Cunningham and even ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips are equally worried.
If so, it may be because they, and many others, aren’t familiar with how Belichick operates and, like he did in the NFL, has complete control over his program. He has hired dozens of personnel during his 24 years in New England and knows what kind of staff he wants.
Yes, losing Belichick even after one year would embarrass UNC, so let’s all chill and remember the mantra of Patriots’ fans for more than two decades:
In Bill We Trust.
Featured image via UNC Athletic Communications
Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including best-sellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has contributed to WCHL for decades, having made his first appearance as a student in 1971. His “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on the 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his “Art’s Angle” opinion column runs weekly on Chapelboro.Chapelboro.com does not charge subscription fees, and you can directly support our efforts in local journalism here. Want more of what you see on Chapelboro? Let us bring free local news and community information to you by signing up for our newsletter.
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