Here’s why North Carolina is going to regret
hiring Bill Belichick
Stewart Mandel
Dec 11, 2024
Congratulations, North Carolina. You managed to hire someone completely unqualified to be your next football coach. ...
...let’s remove the name Bill Belichick and replace it with Coach X. Here is who North Carolina just hired:
• Coach X has never coached a day in college football. He has never recruited an athlete. He has never had to deal with the transfer portal or NIL collectives. His dad was a college coach, at Navy, but that was 35 years ago.
• Coach X is known for being grumpy and introverted, two traits that don’t often go hand in hand with wooing recruits, glad-handing donors and giving motivational talks to 18- to 22-year-olds.
• Coach X made his first post on Instagram — which he referred to as Instaface at the time — on Sept. 4 of this year. He has since posted eight more times. He may not realize that many college athletes, particularly recruits, communicate primarily via social media.
• And Coach X is 72 years old, just one year younger than the guy he’s replacing, Mack Brown, as well as his buddy Nick Saban, who got out of coaching this year at least in part because, as he said at the time, “When you get to 72 years old, it gets harder and harder to promise people you’re gonna be there for four or five more years.”
But Coach X does have those Super Bowl rings. Which he’ll surely wear when he meets with recruits and potential transfers. Who will then say something to the effect of, “That’s great, but how much am I getting paid?”
Unless Belichick can magically restore eligibility for Tom Brady, I fail to see how this will end well. ...