The greatest coach of all time went 0-7 in landing a job during the latest hiring cycle. The man with seven Super Bowl rings was surprised by that.
Tom Brady discussed the unexpected unemployment of Bill Belichick on the latest episode of Brady’s podcast, Let’s Go!, on SiriusXM.
“I’m not one to hire, you know, I don’t know the criteria for hiring these guys, for hiring coaches,” Brady said. “I have never been a part of it. I mean, I’m surprised that the greatest coach ever doesn’t have a job. Absolutely. But I’m surprised at a lot of things in the NFL. I’m surprised when I was a free agent there was a lot of teams that didn’t want me.”
Of course, Brady’s dad wasn’t surprised. He recently said of Belichick: “He runs a military system. It’s a different generation. Bill is a great, great, great coach. But his interpersonal skills are horrible.”
That’s part of the problem, but the real issue with Belichick is simple, and we should have seen it coming. Four weeks ago today, Patriots owner Robert Kraft said that he did not consider Belichick’s apparent offer to remain the coach of the team with less control because it would have been too confusing within the organization, given the power he previously held.
That same mindset applies elsewhere. Even if Belichick signs the paperwork to be the coach and only the coach, someone considerably younger than Belichick would have become his boss.
Good luck with that.
Even if Belichick is fully compliant with the new reality, it will be difficult for anyone to have more power than Belichick, or to be his supervisor. Also, there’s a chance that Belichick would, with some wins under his belt, try to get a little more control and a little more control and eventually a lot more control. That’s just human nature.
Anyone who hires him has to be ready to give him the keys to the car and to tell him to drive it wherever he wants. No one was ready to do it this year. The Falcons were close. With any owners who might be considering a change having a full year to make the plans and work the backchannels, it’s more likely that someone will be willing to upend the internal structure for a few years with the greatest of all time.
It likely won’t be a land rush, but as always it only takes one.