Bill Belichick is officially breaking into college ranks. What does that say about the NFL?

LAS COLINAS, Texas — As NFL executives and team owners convened in the Dallas area this week, an undercurrent permeated league meetings.

Was six-time Super Bowl champion head coach Bill Belichick really going to accept a job offer from the University of North Carolina?

Agents who had represented Super Bowl-winning coaches considered how they would advise the 24-year New England Patriots chief if he were their client.

Team ownership members praised the stellar résumé that Belichick amassed in his 49 total seasons in the NFL, not appearing particularly concerned that the pro game was ceding one of its sharpest minds to college.

And executives who have been intimately involved in their teams’ coaching hires and surrounding processes expressed a shared perspective: Belichick would not take the North Carolina job without clarity on his NFL prospects.

In conversations with Yahoo Sports, two NFC executives and another AFC executive agreed: Belichick knew which pro teams with current or looming openings would consider him and in what context. Rather than go through a hiring cycle in which he would not reach an agreement with an NFL team, and thus return to media rather than coaching for another year, the 72-year-old found a deadline to test the waters sooner.

The extended negotiations prodded some to wonder whether Belichick was trying to pressure an NFL team to confirm the degree of its interest in his services. But by Wednesday evening, when news broke that Belichick and the Tar Heels had reached agreement on their negotiations, league voices felt this was less a power play and more a reflection of power dynamics: NFL teams in need of coaches, if not all NFL teams, do not align with Belichick on his desired role in a program.

That does not necessarily mean no teams were conditionally interested in the second-winningest coach in NFL history. It does mean that North Carolina offered a specific structure the NFL does not.

(Grant Thomas/Yahoo Sports)

That confluence of…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/bill-belichick-is-officially-breaking-into-college-ranks-what-does-that-say-about-the-nfl-021108539.html

Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-12-12 02:11:00

Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.