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PHILADELPHIA, PA – SEPTEMBER 16: NFL, American Football Herren, USA analyst Bill Belichick looks on during the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons on September 15, 2024 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA. Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire NFL: SEP 16 Falcons at Eagles EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon240916077
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PHILADELPHIA, PA – SEPTEMBER 16: NFL, American Football Herren, USA analyst Bill Belichick looks on during the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Atlanta Falcons on September 15, 2024 at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA. Photo by Andy Lewis/Icon Sportswire NFL: SEP 16 Falcons at Eagles EDITORIAL USE ONLY Icon240916077
Can Bill Belichick pull off what Nick Saban ultimately couldn’t? That’s the million-dollar question with him heading to college football after more than two decades of NFL coaching. The former New England Patriots HC is unfazed though, by the possible challenges in his new role at UNC. “I have always wanted to coach in college and now I look forward to building the football program in Chapel Hill,” he had said after agreeing to the five-year deal with the Tar Heels in December. But given the nature of college football, one of the loudest voices is giving Belichick just two years before true colors begin to show…
Even before it has begun, Bruce Feldman can foresee what the biggest challenge will be for Bill Belichick in his new role. In a conversation on The Athletic‘s Until Saturday podcast aired on January 30, David Ubben asked Feldman, “Bruce, to start with, what did you make of the Bill Belichick hire, and what would be your grade coming out of that?”
To this, Feldman highlighted the 72-year-old’s potential future in Chapel Hill. “Bill Belichick is the greatest football coach in NFL history. Yes, he won six Super Bowls…[but] the part where, I think, this will be eye opening for him…the part that I think is going to be different for them once they’re really in it for a while and I don’t want to say for a month. It’s one thing to do something for a month. It’s one thing to do it for even six months, another thing to do it for a couple years.”
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Recruiting might just be Bill Belichick’s toughest challenge. Unlike the NFL, where there’s a draft, free agency, and trade deadlines, college football is a year-round recruiting grind. And with the change in the NIL and the transfer portal, he’ll be at the center of player pursuit. “I think Bill Belichick will have success in 2025, because he’s going into the ACC. He’s not going into the SEC, not even going to the Big 10…I think [what] will be the biggest problem or biggest challenge for Belichick—this is from talking to coaches who know him well—is going to be…dealing with 17-year-olds and 16-year-olds, and 18-year-olds…Their families and their handlers will drive him up a wall…ultimately he’ll be like, ‘I don’t need this’,” the FOX College Football sideline reporter further noted.
He may be a 6x SB HC in his 24 seasons in the NFL, but Belichick has never been on the sidelines at the collegiate level. And as per Feldman, “That mentality is ultimately what drove Nick Saban to [ESPN] GameDay…Saban had spent years, and maybe he just reached his point of it. Nick Saban had been a longtime college coach. Bill Belichick has not coached in college, and he can talk about, ‘Well, my dad coached at Navy’. Yeah, it was 50 years ago, and it was an academy. This is not. You’re going to be recruiting a lot of kids in this environment and I’m not saying they’re going to be bad kids. I just think what he’s going to be dealing with for a long time of this…I think he’ll get sick of it after probably two years.”
Interestingly, this is not the first time Feldman has expressed his concern with Belichick’s new role. “Belichick is one of the best NFL coaches of all time. But he has never coached college football before, and that definitely is reason to have some doubts, even if, on Tuesday at his introductory news conference, he said he “always wanted to coach” in the ranks…Belichick has not been around for recruiting weekends or for official visits and a lot of the elements that are integral to what make up a modern college football program outside of the actual football,” he written on The Athetic‘s website in December last year.
On the other hand, NFL GOAT Tom Brady had also given the CFB players a thing or two to expect from Bill Belichick. “The thing is, he’s not the warmest and fuzziest of all time,” the former Patriots legend admitted during his conversation with his FOX colleague Kevin Burkhardt in December last year. “I remember one year after we won the Super Bowl our first year. We got in a limo. He was out on Bourbon Street after he beat the Rams in 2001. We got in a Limo after the game the next morning to go to the MVP press conference and he goes, ‘You know what Tom you had a pretty good season.’ That was about as warm and fuzzy as it got with coach Belichick.”
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Doesn’t it only raise eyebrows thinking about how that stoic guy could win young college players’ hearts? Even the CFB GOAT coach left college football with exasperation over how it was shaping up to be.
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Bill Belichick stepping in where Nick Saban left off
What really made Nick Saban leave despite leading an unrivaled legacy in college football? Seven National Championship titles, 12 conference championships, 297-71-1 record as an HC in a span of three decades. But in a stunning turn of events, the former Alabama HC shocked the world with his retirement announcement following the Crimson Tide’s 27-20 playoff loss against Michigan in the 2023 Rose Bowl. His reason? The changing landscape of college football, especially in the NIL and transfer portal, and the alterations in the players’ mindsets.
According to Nick Saban on ESPN, “I thought we could have a hell of a team next year. And then maybe 70 or 80 percent of the players you talk to, all they want to know is two things: What assurances do I have that I’m going to play because they’re thinking about transferring, and how much are you going to pay me?” That was something Saban didn’t account for or entertained. Another reason he cited was his age. “Last season was difficult for me from just a health standpoint,” Saban told the media. “It just got a little bit harder. So you have to decide, ‘OK, this is sort of inevitable when you get to my age.’” But well, one person’s sunset can be another person’s dawn, even if they’re the same age.
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Bill Belichick’s stint in college football could be a major boom or bust. Sure, he’s one of the greatest NFL HCs of all time, but from recruiting to managing young talent, the challenges in college football are a far cry from what he’s used to at the pro level.
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Can Bill Belichick's NFL success translate to college football, or will he face a rude awakening?
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