Bill Belichick is getting set to enter his first season as North Carolina’s head football coach. How it might play out is anyone’s guess — but Colin Cowherd already sees trouble coming.
Despite months of image rehab and a tightly controlled public rollout, the six-time Super Bowl champion is heading straight into a storm. And Cowherd doesn’t think he’s prepared for what’s next.
“I’m fascinated by this story,” Cowherd said Thursday on The Herd. “I mean, he's a grumpy 73-year-old whose never really showed any interest in college football... at all. It doesn't exactly scream home run hire.
“I think if Belichick was in the SEC or Big 10, he'd get absolutely rolled. He'd get rolled. But the ACC is so God-awful, outside Clemson, that he may just coach his way to a lot of wins.”
That kind of backhanded endorsement only underscores the real concern: Belichick’s success may have less to do with his coaching brilliance and more to do with the conference’s perceived weakness. And that’s before factoring in everything else going on off the field.
“This thing could be Cirque du Soleil, this could be a circus. This has the potential to be just a mess," Cowherd added.
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This circus has been bubbling beneath the surface since Belichick arrived in Chapel Hill back in December. But it didn't go into overdrive until a CBS interview involving him and his 24-year-old girlfriend, Jordon Hudson, put their relationship under the microscope.
Belichick has kept a low profile since going into damage control that last couple months. However, the circus could begin again at the upcoming ACC Media Days.
“We’re about two weeks from ACC Media Days, and there’s nothing North Carolina coach Bill Belichick or his muse — if Belichick calls his 24-year-old girlfriend his muse, so should we — can do about it,” USA Today’s Matt Hayes wrote.
“No hiding behind the NFL shield or ESPN comfort blanket. No demanding to be treated differently because you’re Bill (and the Muse) and everyone else isn’t.”
That spotlight, Hayes warned, is about to get very uncomfortable.
“Belichick, who isn’t exactly the most engaging coach with the media, will have to decide if he wants to filibuster or answer questions,” Hayes continued. “One option is just as painful as the other.”
Conference media days are rarely gentle — especially not for someone bringing NFL baggage into a room full of college reporters. And as Cowherd made clear, the toughest battle Belichick may face this season won’t come on the field — it’ll come from the spectacle waiting off of it.