NFL Open Thread: College Man Edition

The greatest professional coach of his generation is apparently seriously considering an NCAA job:

If we’ve learned anything from his time off the field, you still get a strong sense that Belichick loves talking and teaching football. But as it turns out, Belichick may be tired of waiting for NFL owners to call. He has had multiple conversations with the University of North Carolina about its coaching vacancy. He’s one of several candidates for the job previously held by Mack Brown — and the talks are not for show. The interest is real, and if Belichick is offered the job, a source familiar with his thinking expects him to take it.

Why would Belichick, 72, blink early and take a college job? Well, for one, he was turned off by January’s experience and the lack of action he received. There’s the conventional wisdom that Belichick wants to return to the NFL and surpass Don Shula’s record for career victories (Belichick, with 333, trails the former Dolphins and Colts coaching legend by 14 wins). Breaking that record would mean a lot to Belichick, but it’s not the be-all, end-all. Keep in mind, Belichick wants to run a program without interference, and based on the NFL jobs that are expected to be available, there aren’t many organizations who fit that mold.

Though he has spent his entire career in the NFL, Belichick often had college coaches like Kirk Ferentz, Greg Schiano and Urban Meyer visit during the offseason, and spent quality time with Nick Saban. He has also become more familiar with the college game this season as his son, Steve, has served as the University of Washington’s defensive coordinator. Presumably, the Belichicks could reunite in Chapel Hill. But the bottom line: Coaches coach.

I actually believe this, for a variety of reasons, for the reasons Rossini summarizes:

• Belichick has always kept close tabs on NCAA football, and my understanding is that he made multiple trips to Seattle this semester.
• He could coach in the NFL again, but I think it’s pretty clear that he would have to accept much less personnel control than he’s accustomed to. In a college program, he could be the Grand Poobah of everything.
• As is often the case, the NFL vacancies that are there or likely to there are mostly unappealing — Jacksonville, Vegas, New Orleans, the Giants, pretty grim turnarounds for a 71-year-old coach, particularly given that this is a weak QB draft class. Obviously he would coach community college before he would coach the Jets. Maybe the Bears, but I’m not sure that would be a fit with ownership.
• He has always been more interested in teaching fundamentals and details than the typical contemporary NFL coach — he’s very much a hands-on coach as opposed to a CEO type.

Having said all that, it’s a little surprising that he’s interested in a second-tier program like UNC, although if he is presumably he’s got some boosters ready to acquire talent, and certainly if you have resources it’s easier to turn around a college program than a pro one. But if he goes this way I’ll be pretty interested in how it turns out.