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What Zolak is hearing about Belichick’s pursuit of UNC coaching job originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Could the smoke around Bill Belichick and North Carolina turn into fire?
The former New England Patriots head coach reportedly interviewed for UNC’s head coach opening last week, a development that raised plenty of eyebrows in NFL and college circles. It appears the mutual interest is real, however, as ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Monday that talks between Belichick and UNC remain ongoing.
Belichick has never coached at the college level and turns 73 in April, so this would be hard pivot for a coach who spent nearly 50 years in the NFL. So, what might be motivating Belichick to pursue the UNC job? Former Patriots quarterback and Patriots radio analyst Scott Zolak shared what he’s hearing about the situation Monday on 98.5 The Sports Hub’s Zolak & Bertrand radio show.
“I reached out to two people that I do trust that know Bill a hell of a lot more than I know Bill,” Zolak said. “(Rob) Gronkowski joked (Sunday on FOX’s NFL pregame show), ‘Could you imagine him doing all the NIL stuff?’ Yes.
“That is the one thing – and I was told this: as maniacal as Tom Brady is in how he researches things before he gets into it, Bill is 500 times that. (I was told) that this thing has been studied, that he has done his homework, that he has talked to friends in it, friends out of it.”
According to Zolak, Belichick has done extensive research on what it would take to be a college head coach, including navigating the sport’s new NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) landscape that allows programs to indirectly pay players through sponsorships.
“He’s got the biggest guy to rely on in Nick Saban,” Zolak said of Belichick. “That’s why (Saban) is not doing it anymore, because he can’t do the NIL; he didn’t want to.
“Bill would attack this differently. Bill would never recruit. Remember, Deion Sanders doesn’t recruit. It’s all NIL now. It’s, what kind of backing do you have? And if…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/zolak-hearing-belichicks-interest-unc-175022431.html
Author : NBC Sports Boston
Publish date : 2024-12-09 17:55:00
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