Now that Bill Belichick has the first college win under his belt, the pressure of being at a different level shouldn't phase him. After winning 333 NFL games, including the playoffs, we're currently witnessing a different version of the legendary coach. But he has one thing to prove at UNC. Robert Kraft was wrong for letting him go and this is his redemption tour.
"Belichick is an all-time great at two things: winning football games and carrying grudges to the pettiest of levels," ESPN's Dan Wetzel wrote. "One tends to fuel the other. Belichick is often at his best when he has some villain, real or imagined, to prove wrong.
"It is why UNC fans should be encouraged that Belichick is still so dripping with anger against his old NFL franchise that he would resort to juvenile antics such as banning Patriots scouts from the Heels' football building."
Belichick was asked about the ongoing Patriots feud and summed it up perfectly.
"It's obvious I'm not welcome at their facility," Belichick said Saturday. "So, they're not welcome at ours."
Why some might laugh this off, deep down the Tar Heels coach is an ultra competitor and this is part of his nature. Belichick only knows winning because it's part of his DNA.
"It's just another sign that Belichick has not forgiven New England owner Robert Kraft for their split following a 4-13 campaign in 2023," Wetzel added. "It's possible that he blames some of the NFL's lack of interest in hiring him to Kraft talking him down to fellow owners."
However, New England coach Mike Vrabel tells a different story. Belichick appears to have an open invitation by the Patriots, and "he's been back," Vrabel said. "I'll leave it at that."
There's a deep history between Belichick and Kraft with several storylines we'll likely watch in a better docuseries sometime in the future. One condition about being at North Carolina is he's doing things his way.
"There's no owner, there's no owner's son, there's no cap, everything that goes with the marketing and everything else, which I'm all for that," Belichick told the Boston Globe. "But it's way less of what it was at that level... I'd say when we had our best years in New England, we had fewer people and more of a direct vision. And as that expanded, it became harder to be successful."
Kraft has tried to make the best of the situation, at least publicly. He told WBZ-TV that he wanted a Belichick statue outside Gillette Stadium, alongside Brady's. Belichick hasn't addressed those comments.
The only way to move past the drama is to win at the highest level. Belichick can turn Chapel Hill into the next powerhouse like Nick Saban did in Tuscaloosa. That would put a damper in Kraft's thoughts of sending Belichick into a forced retirement. It didn't happen and now he can have the last laugh.
Numbers don't lie and Belichick knows it.
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