North Carolina football coach Bill Belichick
North Carolina coach Bill Belichick is taking heat for his reported decision to ban the Patriots from Chapel Hill.
It sounds like Bill Belichick and the University of North Carolina football program aren’t hiding from the reports that the New England Patriots aren’t welcomed in Chapel Hill.
Shortly after the initial report from former NFL scout John Middlekauff that Belichick had banned Patriots scouts from visiting his team to scout the Tar Heels, multiple outlets — including ESPN.com and the Boston Herald — not only confirmed the news but added some key context. Based on both reports, Belichick and his inner circle have dug in their heels (no pun intended) as they get back at his former employer.
“Why would we let them in our home after how he’s been treated since he left?” a North Carolina athletic source told the Boston Herald’s Doug Kyed, adding, “We will help our players but being treated fairly is a two-way street.”
Bill Belichick Stays Petty at North Carolina
ESPN, meanwhile, reached out to UNC football general manager (and longtime friend/defender of Belichick) Michael Lombardi for comment and got an icy reply.
“When reached by ESPN, North Carolina football general manager Michael Lombardi said ‘Good luck’ and then hung up the phone,” Kalyn Kahler wrote for ESPN.com. “UNC also declined comment.”
The ESPN.com report added some key context about Carolina’s decision to keep the Patriots away, indicating this isn’t exactly a new development.
“Lombardi and Tar Heels pro liaison Frantzy Jourdain informed the Patriots that they would be banned from UNC the day before one of their scouts was scheduled to visit in August, a source with direct knowledge told ESPN,” the story said.
However, while other NFL teams might not be “banned” per se, the famously clandestine Belichick has gone out of his way to limit access to his first college program. Access is limited for all NFL teams, scouts told ESPN.com, and there is “zero access” to Carolina coaches or personnel people.
Belichick’s Patriots Revenge Might Hurt His Program
What’s especially confounding about Belichick banning the Patriots and limiting access for NFL teams is that it only hurts his program. Belichick knows better than anyone that scouts attending college practices is a key part of the player evaluation process, and it can help get players to the NFL.
Belichick and his confidants insisted they wanted to turn Carolina into an NFL factory, and this goes directly against that.
Unsurprisingly, Belichick has taken heat for the decision, particularly the Patriots pettiness.
“To be frank, what a baby,” the Herald’s Andrew Callahan wrote. ” … This is the 33rd NFL team? This is Belichick acting in the best interest of his players? This is ignoring the noise? No, Bill, this is a circus. And you are its ringmaster.”
What makes all of this even worse is that has unfolded in the backdrop of a simply disastrous college debut for Belichick. His Tar Heels didn’t belong on the same field as TCU in the Sept. 1 opener with the Horned Frogs putting a 48-14 beating on Carolina in Chapel Hill.
At least no one’s talking about that now.