Bill Belichick still has hard feelings toward the New England Patriots, as shown by the step his North Carolina program is taking against them.
Belichick has banned Patriots scouts from attending North Carolina practices to observe players, according to Doug Kyed and Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald. That confirms a claim from podcaster and former NFL scout John Middlekauff that circulated online Thursday.
A North Carolina athletic source confirmed to the Herald that the move was specifically targeted against the Patriots, citing the organization’s treatment of Belichick since the coach’s departure.
“Why would we let them in our home after how he’s been treated since he left? We will help our players, but being treated fairly is a two-way street,” the source told the Herald.
New England scouts can still receive film on North Carolina players and request information from Tar Heels staffers, as is the case for the 31 other NFL teams.
The move to ban Patriots scouts, however, is pretty explicitly petty, especially when paired with the anonymous commentary. A lot of the animosity lies between Belichick and owner Robert Kraft, who suggested he “fired” Belichick after the decision was originally portrayed as mutual. Belichick also seems to think Kraft has tried to take too much credit for the Patriots’ dynasty while not sufficiently acknowledging his role in it.
Despite the hard feelings, Kraft said he still hopes to place a statue of Belichick outside Gillette Stadium.
It remains to be seen if Belichick and North Carolina plan to enforce this ban all season. It is also fair to question how many Tar Heels will wind up on NFL radars if their first game of the season is any indication of what is to come.
