Coaching Out of Spite

Coming off another blowout loss for Bill Belichick's North Carolina Tar Heels to a struggling Clemson team the truth is Belichick has gone from possibly the king of the coaching mountain to dud. UNC doesn't look like it belongs on the field with most FBS schools as the coach looks to be heading towards his third losing season in four years after unprecedented dominance.There were ten million reasons to take the college job but there is only one reason the old ball coach is still wearing a headset; spite. Furthermore, I think it's fair to question why Bill Belichick hasn't hung it up.

In 2017 Belichick tried to trade the GOAT QB because it's the 'Patriots' Way' but was overruled and the duo went on to appear in two more Super Bowls, going 1-1, before flaming out in 2019 against the Titans. That season was surrounded in talk about how little offensive support Brady had after the Gronk retirement. It further drove home the point of how the 'Patriot Way' had atrophied the team focused on the New England's lack of ability to draft. It was the end of the Brady and Belichick relationship and pushed the spite into overdrive.

In 2020 Brady went on to win a Super Bowl in his first season with Tampa Bay creating more drive for the coach to prove he could do it his way. For 2021 the new rookie QB Mac Jones led the team back to the post season...only to get blown out 47-17 at the Bills. Good signs though that the coach could lead the team to another successful run right? Not if you make the decision to make non-offensive coordinators in charge of your young QB. That wrecked Jones and was all she wrote on Jones, who we all wrote off...until this past Thursday when Jones led the backups to a win at the Rams.

Belichick was dismissed from New England and couldn't land the Atlanta Falcons job, seemingly because of some behind the scenes work by Robert Kraft. I think that's foul but it would seem to be telling there wasn't really any other consideration out there. Do you think the coach forgot? Nope! He confirmed New England scouts aren't allowed to see his players. Reports also say under Belichick that UNC can't post anything about the Patriots so nothing about alum Drake Maye and his big win at Buffalo Sunday night.

So then the coach ends up at Chapel Hill but had a buyout to potentially quickly return to the NFL. Why? Because it was never about having a run in college but getting back to the NFL to further try and run on spite to validate his contributions to the greatest sports dynasty. Sadly, that will likely never come about as the coach's team looks unprepared and no where near competitive.

I will not give in to the Brady versus Belichick argument that has returned to the internet. You can argue about who deserves more but discrediting what the greatest defensive mind did to help Brady grow as a player and ignoring the first three Super Bowls and what the Patriots did to the Rams is completely disingenuous. However, the spite in the 'Patriots' Way' led to the end of the dynasty, led to the end of Belichick in the NFL and is leading to the flameout that is the end of his coaching career.

There is no further demonstration this is the case that in just five years the dialogue has gone from talking about him being the GOAT to his relationship. There's not been a reason to talk about his coaching and roster development, or lack thereof, and he's only made the news cycle because of his relationship. It leaves us with another case of a great holding on for too long and Belichick's spite seems to be the only reason he won't enjoy retirement. Sadly, it's also why he has ended up where he is.