Bill Belichick

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
When you're in the desert, the hot sun beaten down
on you, as you slowly die of thirst, the mind
turns evil. It begins producing pictures that appear real, like
a palm tree over a cool shaded pool of water,
a racing toward it. Sure it's your salvation. You leap
toward the oasis, and poof, it's gone. You land with

(00:21):
a thud on a hard, hot floor of sand. Well,
now you know what it's like to be a fan
of North Carolina football. Bill Belichick, the savior coach, is
the mirage. His arrival, hands full of Super Bowl rings,
were to transform the tar Heels from pretenders to playoff contenders.

(00:41):
What they are in five games under the seventy three
year old is anything but Ten months ago, excitement poured
through pastoral chapel Hill. Tickets flew off the internet. Donations
flooded the place. After all, for the bargain basement price
of ten million dollars a year, we were heading the
champion of NFL champions. He would bring his NFL blueprint

(01:05):
for recruiting schemes, scouting, nutrition, nil negotiations. What kid wouldn't
want to play for Bill Belichick? Well, today it's all gone.
They're two and three wins over barely Division one Richmond
and Charlotte blowout losses to Central Florida TCU and Clemson,
which is out of the top twenty five instead. The

(01:26):
Belichick Carolina brand is a punchline seventy three year old
guy twenty four year old girlfriend who's flare ups from
TV interviews to make out sessions on the sidelines. Gin's
up jokes like the old man and the hot young
woman who got married and honeymooned in the Caribbean heard
this one when he got home. His coffee buddies couldn't resist.

(01:47):
First one asked, how did it go? The old husband said,
we made love almost every night? Really, said the second one.
He said, yep, almost on Monday, almost on Tuesday, and
almost on Wednesday. That picture, even at prestigious and resourceful
North Carolina, is bleak, and he may be damaging his

(02:08):
own legacy. After leaving the Patriots all those Super Bowls.
Why didn't any other NFL general manager or owner call?
Why did it take a year for his phone to ring?
And why did the first one come from a college
program and not even an ad or a search consultant.
Now the chancellor and a regent who, like most high
level academics when it comes to hiring coaches, don't know

(02:32):
and don't know that they don't know. Before this, Belichick
had never been on a college sideline. Ever. They gave
him a massive contract and cart blanche first thing, hire family,
his two sons, that's a red flag. Hired a longtime
NFL executive to be general manager, also practically zero college experience.

(02:53):
They unleashed the closely guarded Tarhel basketball donor base to
throw money at seventy two transfers in July, the usually
word thrifty. Belichick admitted the roster is competitive, and then
they started playing season opener at home TCU forty eight
Carolina fourteen. No Belichick team had ever allowed that many

(03:16):
in a game, been outscored one hundred and twenty to
thirty three against Power four teams. This is from a
guy who promised Carolina would become the thirty third NFL team.
Media down there has been looking for malcontents, found them easily.
They say Belichick is unapproachable. Yeah, did you watch him
in the NFL? Seems he's not met once with player

(03:38):
parents or guardians. Not a call, not a text, not
an email that's on him. These are college kids. Big
switch from former coach Mack Brown, who is everybody's best friend.
Coaches out of sight, doesn't do booster events, won't do
a TV or radio show each week. His GM does
all of that. Who has about as much popularity there
as tar heel fans think for Duke. The offseason roster

(04:00):
dump has caused friction. Seventy new guys personally recruited by
Belichick and his staff. They get preferential treatment, better parking,
more tickets to sell field passes for family, which is illegal,
and a Belichick assistant caught doing it was suspended. There's
a tote board in the clubhouse names of guys who
blow off workouts and class littered with the new guys

(04:22):
who receive zero sanctions. All of this was as predictable
as summer grasshoppers in Kansas. Lifelong NFL guy used to
plug and play rosters pro mindset in a sport with
a salary cap and no transfer portal, hired by executives
who only see splash over substance. It's happened before, but

(04:42):
for a load of academics, why don't they ever learn