OK I'm going to take off the Duke hat for a few moments and just look at this decision, and all I come away with is WHHHHHYYYY?
I get this next statement will make some of you retch but I'm actually sympathetic to the UNC football fans who actually care about the team. We know what its like to be a fan of the secondary sport that doesn't matter, its probably the one thing we do have in common.
To me, this is like the Jason Garrett rumor, except it came true, and there is waaaaay more desperation on both sides. This is plan B for BB. He wants to coach in the NFL again to break Don Shula's record, he's like maybe 2 seasons from realistically accomplishing that with a decent team. However, the NFL doesn't want him. The Falcons turned him down and hired a black head coach instead, which for the NFL and their hiring histories and their love of retreads speaks VOLUMES about how the league sees him.
If you are an optimistic UNC fan, you see the superbowl rings and the Patriots run, and while I get he had Tom Brady, you cannot win in the NFL with just one great player. You hope some of that coaching acumen can be levied in the college game. So first thing is we don't know how any of his game management style or playcalling translates to college, thats rough on any coach making the jump. Second, UNC isn't hiring that coach, thats in the past, thats a resume, thats a history. The guy you are hiring now was considered unhire-able by the NFL. I saw the Pat McAfee interview and he's talking about how he would transform the program to an NFL feeder program, and getting these kids ready to go to the league, and all of that, nowhere did he mention wins or anything unique about making the school or brand itself mean anything. On top of which he has some huge manifesto planned, and UNC is going to have to hire his son, and Matt Patricia and a bunch of his old cronies that also have no college experience. This is seperate from UNC having to hire essentially a GM staff that handles all recruiting and personnel decisions, some of which would be in violation to NCAA rules if its done in an NFL way. On top of which, Belichick is a surly grumpy guy and many of his former players were like playing for him was not enjoyable. Fine if you're a pro player. And for all the semantics we want to play about the NIL age, these kids are not pro players and they'll nope out at the first sign of friction. And they aren't on any sort of contract, so he can't force them to do anything.
Maybe I'm wrong, and Belichick has a plan to make it all work, and whatever coin his name carries with the youth of today (probably not much) maybe they can get some talent and make a run. But I'm hard pressed to believe that a 72 year old former NFL coach who has never coached in college and cannot get hired to do the thing he is most famous for is going to be the one that comes into UNC and finally transforms them.
More than anything, this reeks of a severed relationship between the UNC Athletic Dept and the BOT. Bubba called his shot after Mack Brown called his, and that ticked the powers that be off big time. This is their scheme to get back at him. And all the while, if Belichick is remotely successful and he can get the NFL to take him back, he is G O N E gone, leaving his son in charge. Wow.....just wow. It really boggles the mind.
