It’s safe to say there is no love lost between New England Patriots fans and Bill Belichick after the grizzled coach’s ugly exit two years ago. From documentary series to local radio shows, Belichick has few fans left around the Pats. After Belichick’s latest jabs at the organization in an interview with the Boston Globe, veteran hosts Tony Massarotti and Mike Felger did not hold back.
Responding to a 1-on-1 with Belichick in the Globe, the hosts ripped Belichick as a “delusional” old man ruining the legacy of the Patriots dynasty because he is incapable of shouldering blame for any mistakes. Leaving no adjective unused (including both the front and backside of the male midsection), Felger and Massarotti predicted Belichick will fail at North Carolina and be reminded that he has just as many masters in college as he did in the NFL.
“The guy is a raging a-hole. He’s an ass. He always has been an ass,” Massarotti said Thursday on Fel g er and Mazz. “He’s a great football coach. He knew what to do with Tom Brady. But he’s an ass. Just the need to still throw people under the bus, to be completely oblivious to the realities of why they won … there’s no accountability, there’s no real self-reflection there.”
The debate over who deserved more of the credit for the Patriots dynasty has always existed. Some say Brady, some say Belichick, others say owner Robert Kraft. But it clearly hits a nerve in Boston for Belichick to intimate that the team’s greatest successes came when everyone stayed out of his way.
“It was disrespectful, really, to anyone who was in New England with him,” Massarotti said of the coach’s latest quotes.
Looking forward, Massarotti and Felger see Belichick’s forthcoming Tar Heels chapter as the ultimate test. If all Belichick needs is for the suits to stay out of the way, he seems to have gotten what he wants in Chapel Hill.
So the hosts are giddy to see whether Belichick can pull it off. They aren’t optimistic.
“If he can look like this delusional, obstinate, completely arrogant, out of his mind, horny, old, half-nuts, old man and go 10-1 and go to the NCAA playoffs, that’s a cool story,” Felger said, “I’ll take that story.”
If Belichick cannot make good on his big talk, he won’t just have Boston sports hosts laughing in his face. As Massarotti noted, the noise around Belichick’s relationship with Jordon Hudson already shows that the coach will not have full autonomy at North Carolina.
If he loses, Massarotti believes Bill Belichick will be no different than any other braggadocios, under-performing coach.
“There are people to answer to at North Carolina. You’ve already had to answer to them with Jordon Hudson,” Massarotti said. “So don’t delude yourself into thinking that somehow, everybody’s going to stay out of your way. Because at the first sign of trouble, they’re going to dump your ass and that’s going to be the end of it.”