Tom Brady and some of Bill Belichick’s former players in New England expressed skepticism over the idea that the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach could handle coaching college players.
News that Belichick had interviewed for the vacant North Carolina coaching job caught many people off guard last week and when the topic came up during Fox’s NFL studio show, Brady was hard-pressed to imagine Belichick as a college coach.
“’There’s a lot of things he can do, and obviously he’s tremendous, and even showing his personality. But getting out there on the recruiting trail and dealing with all these college kids,” Brady said before trailing off.
Brady, who gave a clear “no” when asked if he could see his former coach in the college ranks, then appeared to mimic what it would look like if Belichick was on the recruiting trail trying to convince a prospect to play for him.
“Listen, do you really want to come here?” Brady jokingly said. “I mean we don’t really want you anyway, but I guess you could come, we’ll figure out if you play.”
Brady wasn’t the only one who wasn’t buying the idea.
Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski both seemed to agree with Brady over his thoughts on it.
“Can you imagine NIL, and all that nonsense?’ Gronkowski jumped in saying.
“Can you imagine Bill on a couch recruiting an 18-year-old?” Edelman also commented, which prompted Brady to do his Belichick impersonation.
News that Belichick had interviewed for the UNC job first broke on Thursday and that he had “multiple meetings” with university officials for the job.
While it has been suggested that it was slim that Belichick would land the job, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reported on “NFL Countdown” on Sunday that the two sides had been continuing to talk.
The Athletic’s Dianna Russini also reported over the weekend that if the ex-Patriots coach was offered the job at North Carolina he would take it.