It’s been a decade since Spygate, and Eric Mangini is still trying to reconcile with Bill Belichick.
Mangini, once Belichick’s defensive coordinator with the New England Patriots, strained his relationship with the coach when he left to become head coach of the New York Jets in 2006. A year later, Mangini’s intervention led to the Spygate scandal, which ruined their relationship once and for all, with the two men not having spoken for a decade.
“Am I surprised? I hope it’s something that can come back,” Mangini said Saturday, via ESPN’s Rich Cimini. “Look, Bill is a big part of my life. Bill gave me a tremendous opportunity, and I enjoyed that experience, and I respect him. It’s disappointing, the way it’s been. Hopefully, it can change at some point.”
Mangini said he never intended for the Spygate scandal to spark the firestorm that it did.
“It was never supposed to go the way that it went,” Mangini said. “It was more about, ‘Hey, don’t do this here.’ It wasn’t about reporting it. Sometimes things get out of hand and get rolling in one direction. It was never, ever supposed to go that way.”
Belichick never forgets, so it’s probably no surprise he’s still ignoring Mangini’s calls. He can say all he wants about how much he regrets what happened — and he has in the past — but odds are it won’t change much.
