Bill Belichick has interviewed for the North Carolina job according to a report, and there may be an extra explanation for his interest in the position.
On Thursday, word emerged that Belichick had interviewed for the Tar Heels job after they fired Mack Brown as their head coach. Belichick going to coach in college seems insane to most people. Belichick knows the history of the NFL better than probably anyone, that’s where his experience and expertise lies, and he is so close to breaking Don Shula’s record.
So why might he have interest in a challenging college job? We have two theories.
One is that interviewing for a head coach job is good for publicity. Fired coaches like to take media jobs so that they stay fresh in peoples’ minds and become candidates for other positions. Interviewing for a job — and leaking the news — reminds people that Belichick is out there.
But there is another reason why Belichick might have interest in a college job, and it could be a family reason.
Belichick had his sons working for him at the New England Patriots. The Patriots pushed Bill out last year and made Jerod Mayo the head coach. Belichick’s oldest son Steve ended up leaving to become the defensive coordinator at Washington.
If Bill were to head to North Carolina, it might be with the idea that he passes the head coach job along to Steve before long. After all, Bill will be 73 next year and isn’t a long-term solution for any college program.
Washington went 6-6 this year and their defense allowed 22.8 points per game (47th of 134). That was a better performance than the school’s offense, which was ranked 110th.
What do you think about a potential Belichick package running the Tar Heels?
