'Voted off the island': Inside Bill Belichick's failed job hunt (ESPN report)

[Bill Lee]

Not Bill's coaching performance but his GM performance, which essentially negated the former. Being 72 is a huge factor against his getting another coaching job, unfortunately. That, and willingness to just coach and let someone else call shots on the roster.

If BB wants to be involved with an NFL team, an ideal arrangement would be as advisor/mentor to a young coach he likes and who trusts his judgment.

Age is definitely a thing, but I believe the article when they say a lot of it is about BB's approach to working with and interacting with others.

The sources said Kraft made clear to Blank that "you'll never have a warm conversation with" Belichick, echoing what Bill Parcells told Kraft in 1996 when he wanted to bust the budget and hire Belichick. "Blank likes coaches who feel part of a family," a Falcons source said, "and it wasn't going to be that way with Bill."

Yet I feel ATL weighs collaboration too highly. No statue has ever been erected to a committee.

 

[upstater1]

- Bill has plenty of allies in the press. I never said he had more. Bill has plenty of ways to get his point of view or spin or whatever into the media. It isn't a stretch.

- There has never been a single report that Belichick didn't want Mac. There is one report where he preferred to wait to take a QB in the second or third round, but never that he was against drafting Mac. And Belichick gushing over Mac in the late winter of 2022 tells me that he was probably satisfied with Mac until the disaster of the Patricia experiment happened. Mac was not the only one who went into the doghouse pretty quickly that season. Hoyer was basically forced out of the team for what looked to be a relatively minor concussion and Bourne was in the dog house all year.

I'll push back on this.

We did read that Belichick wanted a later round QB over Mac.

But, if you watch video of when they selected Mac, Belichick turned around to the room when they landed the 15th pick, and he asked, are we sure of this? Does anyone have any last things to say?

It was almost as though there was dissent in the room (not sure whether it was the scouts or Bill) and also that they were somehow not anticipating he'd even be there at 15. They certainly didn't trade up for him.

We'll likely never know the true conversations and feelings, but it is clear to me that Belichick was ambivalent during the draft.

 

[upstater1]

Agreed, while I believe it's a bunch of BS..
I looked at the whole picture. Bill was given a recent extension last season. The process was sped up so ultimately it led to a mutual parting. There were also other teams who also didn't hire Bill so in that case I guess RK called them as well..

Rich Mcay is the reason the Falcons didn't hire Bill, as breer reported. He felt that the entire staff would have to be changed and bills people brought in. He's the one who convinced blank.

A one year extension is not a real extension.

This is the equivalent of Brady getting 2 years when you knew he was in his last year.

Coaches are usually given 1 year in their last year to prevent lame duck status.

 

[Bill Lee]

This is where I am at. It is obvious that Bill and Kraft weren't seeing eye to eye by the end of things and I am sure Kraft vented to some of his peers about it throughout the last year(s) but I don’t think he would throw Bill under the bus in an attempt to stop him from getting a job.

There's a gulf between throwing Bill under the bus and relating to someone he views as an ally in a very political space the difficulties he's had with working with BB.

I mean, is Bob supposed to say nothing but good things about BB?

Clearly here even those of us who were on Team IBWT have seen where BB's over-confidence has led to some awful decisions.

And if we think BB could have helped ATL isn't Kraft doing his team a favor by dissing him to Blank?

And those who feel Kraft is a miser, well, he cost himself a LOT of money badmouthing Bill so apparently money doesn't drive all his decisions.

 

[Bill Lee]

Bill's best bet is to say "I'll run the defense, I'll help coach overall fundamentals and get gameplans together, but after that the offensive coaches will be having the latitude to run their own system"

None of his future collegues in ATL believed he'd stay in that lane.

Would you?

 

[Bill Lee]

Does Bill have an agent? i didn't think so, but maybe he hired one. Usually it would be them doing this sort of stuff with the media.

The article names his agent in the coaching area, and says he was looking for a media agent as well.

 

[Bill Lee]

Kraft has not exactly covered himself with glory this offseason.

Better than the old days....

 

[lancerman]

None of his future collegues in ATL believed he'd stay in that lane.

Would you?

No I wouldn't believe that because he's 73 and why would he change how he wants to do everything. If he was open to it, he would have done it here. There's also the element that the way these orgs are set up, people are going to be terrified of Bill coming in and wiping out their jobs because he isn't comfortable working with them

 

[Bill Lee]

No I wouldn't believe that because he's 73 and why would he change how he wants to do everything. If he was open to it, he would have done it here. There's also the element that the way these orgs are set up, people are going to be terrified of Bill coming in and wiping out their jobs because he isn't comfortable working with them

Agree, and it was interesting that the article quoted Mike Lombardi saying BB would work out because he was a good listener but only listened to smart stuff (paraphrasing since I'm too lazy top open the article again). Well that means he's already presuming he's smarter than everyone else, which is exactly what his future co-workers fear.

 

[Bill Lee]

If that person was one of the reasons that my business went from a half billion company to a 5 billion company then I might tone it down a bit and try to help him. He earned that with his 25 years.

For C-suite types, it's "what have you done for me lately?".

In the case of BB, what he's done lately is being below .500 three out of four years, ruining a QB he's picked in the first round, handing over the offense to MP and JG just to name a few.

 

[notex]

Quite honestly, Kraft insinuations about BB and supercilious comments about the past several years is garbage. Did I think we needed a HC change? Yes. But BB brought 6 rings the patriots and made Kraft one of the richest owners in the NFL. The only thing that should be coming out of his mouth "thank you for an amazing 20+ years" or at least treat the relationship with gratitude and respect. Doesn't matter what he *actually* thinks. IMO its trash behavior to be anything short of respectful and grateful in this situation.

Bottom line is that Kraft puts himself out there as this "holier than thou" figure and its totally opened my eyes that he's a fraud. As an 80-something year old owner of a franchise worth BILLIONS I would think he'd learned this professionalism by now

 

[Bill Lee]

Put a smile on your face, Bill. You got unemployment. Cuz you were passed over by…Raheem Morris in Atlanta.

And truth be told BB has more football knowledge in his left hamstring than Morris has in toto.

Bill is seething. But there is a PR campaign to be waged.

Put a smile on, Steve’s son!

According to the article BB has twenty-five million reasons to smile, because whatever Kraft may or may not have said to Blank a Brinks truck filled with RKK's money still arrives on time at Bill's place.

 

[Bill Lee]

Quite honestly, Kraft insinuations about BB and supercilious comments about the past several years is garbage. Did I think we needed a HC change? Yes. But BB brought 6 rings the patriots and made Kraft one of the richest owners in the NFL. The only thing that should be coming out of his mouth "thank you for an amazing 20+ years" or at least treat the relationship with gratitude and respect. Doesn't matter what he *actually* thinks. IMO its trash behavior to be anything short of respectful and grateful in this situation.

Is that realistic?

Suppose you were in a relationship with someone for 25 years. The first twenty were very successful, the last five were rocky. Would you really be totally silent about the rocky last five years?

 

[notex]

Is that realistic?

Suppose you were in a relationship with someone for 25 years. The first twenty were very successful, the last five were rocky. Would you really be totally silent about the rocky last five years?

It's perfectly natural to have mixed feelings about any relationship. In fact it would be weird not to. I was married and divorced, I have plenty of friends that have tried to get me to talk bad about her - I just won't. Just a bad look.

Theres a difference between having feelings vs. airing out your laundry in the press (and on documentaries) and sabotaging the other person's job hunt.

Hey everyone's different. I was raised in a manner where you treat others with dignity and respect, even if there things weren't perfect.

But, thats why its my opinion, and not going to be shared by everyone.

 

[One-If-By-Sea]

Well that means he's already presuming he's smarter than everyone else, which is exactly what his future co-workers fear.

It does not mean that at all. Good managers have smart people working for them all the time. Good managers are commonly not the smartest people on the team. You do not have to be the smartest in the room to recognize the smartest path forward.

 

[Bill Lee]

It's perfectly natural to have mixed feelings about any relationship. In fact it would be weird not to. I was married and divorced, I have plenty of friends that have tried to get me to talk bad about her - I just won't. Just a bad look.

Theres a difference between having feelings vs. airing out your laundry in the press (and on documentaries) and sabotaging the other person's job hunt.

Hey everyone's different. I was raised in a manner where you treat others with dignity and respect, even if there things weren't perfect.

But, thats why its my opinion, and not going to be shared by everyone.

IMO I feel I owe it to people close to me to share the things I've learned via past relationships, even if the things I say paint people in my past in a somewhat undignified and disrespected way. I feel this way because the people close to me were impacted by that past relationship too. I'm sure I'm pointing out both the good and the bad in both the other person as well as myself. I only say such things to close friends and family. Outsiders can't possibly have enough understanding of the nuances of the situation to benefit from such an exchange.

In short, if there are people you think of as being close friends but you can't share your balanced views of the good, bad and ugly with them, I'd wonder if they really were close friends or not.

I dislike how everyone makes these "documentaries" so soon after the events transpire, but it's easy money for the producers so it will never end till we stop watching them. In turn to make money the producers know they have to put a spin on things because no one will watch something that plays things right down the middle. So, the people participating have to be aware that whatever they say is going to be spun.

This latest BSPN thing is not RKK going to the press, it's almost all second-hand reports or worse. I think Mike Lombardi may be the only named source in the whole piece.

If we assume RKK said the things attributed to him in the BSPN piece, it seems to me to be in the category of RKK telling a current business partner and/or friend about why things ended the way they did. If RKK was doing a truthful and balanced rendition of his views, it feels reasonable to me. Blank's responsibility is to understand he probably is getting a biased view of the situation and not treat it as sabotaging BB's chances. Blank should be more concerned if RKK told him everything was wonderful because clearly it was not.

 

[captain stone]

2022? Hhahahaaa So, BB got fired in 2023.

What about 2020. Why didnt your man Thunder fire BB and keep Brady?

I imagine that hardly a day goes by without the Early Bird asking himself that very same question...

 

[captain stone]

Purdy was still available.

No he wasn't.

 

[cmasspatsfan]

It's perfectly natural to have mixed feelings about any relationship. In fact it would be weird not to. I was married and divorced, I have plenty of friends that have tried to get me to talk bad about her - I just won't. Just a bad look.

Theres a difference between having feelings vs. airing out your laundry in the press (and on documentaries) and sabotaging the other person's job hunt.

Hey everyone's different. I was raised in a manner where you treat others with dignity and respect, even if there things weren't perfect.

But, thats why its my opinion, and not going to be shared by everyone.

What if a friend was interested in your ex, would you say all nice things or tell your friend the whole truth?

 

[captain stone]

The idea BB didn't want to draft Jones or was forced to do so is complete nonsense.

But I think he could've been talked into Not drafting him either...

EDIT: Also see Upstater's post near the top of the page... I remember that draft-day video too...