'An Unstructured Mess': Belichick is Already Taking Knives in the Back at UNC
"THESE are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman." - The American Crisis, by Thomas Paine
It's not easy being the king at a time like this. Bill Belichick's best laid plans have gone pear-shaped. Before the season, his Tar Heels were expected by many to compete for the ACC title. His name was being brought up on all of Coach of the Year predictions. He was a god descending from Mt. Olympus to coach circles around the mere mortals in the college ranks.
But instead, UNC is 2-3. They've been outscored 129 to 94. And if you take away their two wins over powerhouse football factories Charlotte and Richmond, those totals are 120 and 33.
Most recently, we watched his defense get pantsed by the very play that Belichick's Patriots didn't invent, but did perfect:
Which led to some awful visuals:
So it's clear already that this will not be a quick fix. It looks for all the world that a 73-year-old coach is going to need the one thing the actuarial tables would say he doesn't have, which is a lot of time. And no matter how many times Jordon Hudson holds high-level talks with ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips:
Lance King. Getty Images.… the knives have been drawn on Chapel Hill:
Source - Bill Belichick sold his UNC football program as the "33rd NFL team." Through five games as a college football coach, the Tar Heels rank 128th in points per game out of the 136 NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams. Pick a stat right now, it's not good. …
WRAL has spoken to parents of UNC players, members of the staff, the athletic department and the UNC Board of Trustees. Multiple sources with knowledge of the inner workings of Belichick's program say the results on the field are a product of a divided locker room, a disorganized coaching staff and a failure to communicate.
Forgive the interruption, but I have to pause here to fulfill an obligation. I get my License to Be a Boomer revoked if I don't immediately reference Cool Hand Luke:
Strother Martin was a treasure. Now back to the report:
"It's an unstructured mess," a source with first-hand knowledge of the program told WRAL. "There's no culture, no organization. It's a complete disaster." …
"It's all starting at the top, and the boys are being affected," a parent of a current UNC player said under the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. "I don't fault the players; I fault the leadership that created this toxic environment. There's an individualistic mindset. The boys are young, and they are feeding into it." …
Together, Belichick and [UNC GM Michael] Lombardi would bring in 70 new players between the portal and their high school signing class. According to sources, it was there that a divide organically formed between the Mack Brown-recruited players and the transfers.
"It started with recruits coming in acting entitled to certain things," a source said. "It was about them individually, not the team. It was about me and what I was going to do." …
There are multiple examples of preferential treatment for transfers that have added to the discord in the team.
According to several sources, some Belichick-recruited transfers have preferential parking for themselves and their parents, as well as more tickets for games. …
According to sources, there's a board in the UNC football facility that lists people who have missed workouts and class. Some Belichick-recruited players repeatedly show up on the list but have not had their playing time affected.
Failure to communicate with players and parents has also furthered the divide. According to sources, the players who chose to stay at UNC after Mack Brown's firing didn't meet Belichick for weeks after he was hired. Parents were told not to approach Belichick. They didn't meet Belichick and his staff until the "Practice like a Pro" spring game. …
"There's been no communication with coaches and parents, period," a parent of a current UNC player said. "None, zero, zilch. Not one email from a coach, one text, phone call, nothing." …
Belichick himself has been praised by multiple sources for his one-on-one coaching; it’s his ability to run the program that's being questioned by parents and players.
"Bill shuts people out. He's limited in what he says," a source said.
Belichick will say "hi" when he sees players in the building. His GM, Michael Lombardi, has been described by multiple sources as "rude" and "nasty."
"Nobody likes him," a source said.
In a recent letter to donors during Carolina's bye week ahead of the Clemson game, Lombardi positioned the UNC program as a rebuild. …
The points of division are small, but the feeling among sources is that the little has become big. Things like the non-travel roster are not getting to dress in uniform at home games. …
"[G]ame days are special, and you don't know how many you're going to get," [former UNC QB Bryn] Renner said. "Sometimes these kids are only going to put on a Carolina uniform that Saturday. And you've got to think about that." …"
According to sources, another example of a lack of unity is that some players are selling their spare tickets for cash instead of sharing with other players and their families like UNC has done in the past.
Regarding that last paragraph:
I'll admit this was a long excerpt. But only because it's a very long, very thoroughly researched piece. And I left out a ton. This is essentially the bullet points. A head coach who's respected for his football knowledge and training methods, but considered aloof and unapproachable. Different rules for different players, applied differently. A GM who's alienated seemingly everybody. Roster bubble guys being treated like they're not part of the team. Disgruntled players. Parents who are even less gruntled. Morale shot to hell to the point players are risking their eligibility just for the pocket change they can get from selling tickets to a stadium that's empty by halftime anyway. Where even the shark can't be bothered to stick around.
How much of this is true, your guess is as good as mine. I imagine in any program with 70 new recruits being brought in to co-mingle with the guys Mack Brown led to the Wasabi Fenway Bowl last year is bound to have some discontented malcontents in the ranks. And this generation was raised by parents who go through life perpetually aggrieved about how their uniquely precious children aren't getting the special treatment they deserve. So no one can be sure how much of this is factual, and how much is just people making themselves the heroes of their own stories.
But while it shouldn't all be taken as gospel, it's not nothing. You can't have this much vitriol making its way into the media without a lot of dysfunction going on.
There's every reason to assume Belichick wasn't fully aware of how the coaching style he perfected in the pros wasn't going to graft neatly onto a college program. That he's finding out he could treat his players in New England as easily replaceable parts in his Droid Army and not cater to their feelings because they were grown men. They were under contract. Getting paid handsomely (most of the time). And since Tom Brady took the abuse, everyone else had to fall in line. Now these guys can take the portal to whatever destination they want like they're taking the Harry Potter Floo Network. So egos need to be massaged; both the players and their parents.
But the one who comes out of this the worst right now seems to be Michael Lombardi. He's spent a lot of time in the media dragging other, lesser NFL teams than the ones he worked for. And now is payback time:
… in CFB
I'll wrap this up by saying this is all the price you pay for failure. How you get to treat those around you is in direct proportion to how successful you are. When you're winning, you have the sweet, sweet luxury of regarding everyone in your sphere of influence like they're white hot garbage. When you're 2-3 and being outscored 120 to 33 by Power Four teams, they get to do the same to you. And there's not a bloody thing you can say in your defense that matters. It's exactly what is meant by the expression about treating people on the way up and how they'll treat you on the way down.
Stay tuned. Because there's no reason to think things on Chapel Hill aren't going to get a lot worse before they get any better.