ESPN has Bill Belichick on ‘RETIREMENT WATCH’
· Yahoo Sports
Bill Belichick is heading into his second season as the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels. The first season was kind of a disaster with the team finishing 4-8 while most of the headlines generated during the season were about the head coach and his girlfriend.
At 73-years old, it’s worth wondering how much longer Belichick is going to do this. He and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz are the only coaches in college football over 70.
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With football season approaching, the debate shows are starting to talk about coaches who might be on the hot seat. In Belichick’s case, Heather Dinich thinks it’s more likely he’s on retirement watch. Or as the “Get Up” X account wrote, “RETIREMENT WATCH.”
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“When we talk about hot seats and Bill Belichick, to me it’s more about retirement seat. Retirement watch,” said Dinich. “I mean when he took this job, he was 72 years old. He’s gonna be 74 years old in April. And look, the guy is a winner. He’s a competitor. I would just be shocked if he would want to continue after another embarrassing season. And it might not be. They had a fantastic recruiting class. They made a lot of staff changes. No one really knows what to expect from this team. He’s signed through 2029, which today feels like a really long time. But to me it’s more about his decision of hey do I want to keep doing this and I certainly don’t want to go out in embarrassing fashion.”
Dinich was probably a little too kind to Belichick here. We’ve seen him host a podcast more recently than coach a team to a winning record. The Patriots finished below .500 three times in his last four seasons in New England. He hasn’t won more than four games in a season since 2022. He hasn’t had a winning season since 2021.
If he doesn’t turn the Tar Heels around this year, he might have no choice but to go out in embarrassing fashion, whether it is on his terms or North Carolina’s.