Bill Belichick won his first game as the North Carolina head coach but the press conference focused on another topic. The head coach has banned New England Patriots‘ scouts to attend the UNC’s facilities. The reason? Belichick thinks he is not welcomed at Foxborough. Key word: thinks. According to Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk, this is not the case at all.
“It’s clear that I’m not welcome around their facility,” Belichick told reporters. “And so they’re not welcome at ours. Pretty simple.” Unless Belichick is still mad about the Patriots firing him two years ago, no one has ever said Belichick can’t go to Gillette Stadium.
In fact, Pats’ owner Robert Kraft said as soon as Belichick calls it a career, a statue of him will be done outside of the stadium. Belichick was also invited by the Patriots to speak on Tom Brady’s Hall of Fame enshrinement. Hence, where is this idea that he is not welcomed coming from?
The banning clearly affects the Patriots more than Belichick
Belichick’s job does not require him to go to Foxborough. Meanwhile, the job of a scout is to go to College Football’s facilities and literally observe and analyze possible prospects. Therefore, by not letting the scouts go to Chapel Hill, he is directly interfering with their job.
Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots
Kraft gave Belichick the command of the Patriots for more than 20 years. He won six Super Bowls with the team and also was the team’s general manager for plenty of time. However, when Tom Brady went elsewhere due to his broken relationship with Belichick, the UNC’s head coach career started going downhill.
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Belichick should have other priorities right now
Belichick got absolutely blasted in his first game of the season by TCU. He was able to bounce back this week with a win away at Charlotte. It was a good performance as UNC won 20-3.
However, his stocks are still not recovered. UNC plays Richmond and UCF before facing 8-ranked Clemson at the start of October. If Belichick manages to coach this team properly against Clemson, his name will once again rise as a top tier coach. As for now, he should prioritize that before the feud he has with his former NFL team.
