There have been multiple reports over the past several months that Bill Belichick wants to coach again in 2025. There was another one today. There might be another one tomorrow. Or next Sunday. Or the next.
Of course he wants to coach again. His various and sundry media platforms during the 2024 season weren’t about the money. They’re about building the case to resume the chase for Don Shula’s all-time wins record.
He has used his bully pulpit both to settle scores and to stake out landing spots. From Jacksonville to Tampa to anywhere/everywhere else that might become open during or after the season. The greater the landing spots, the more leverage he’ll have.
But he needs to be careful. Belichick’s recent comment about owners being influenced by outside voices, made during his latest appearance with Pat McAfee, won’t make an owner be more inclined to be the next owner Belichick eventually complains about.
Asked by McAfee whether owners listen to the media, Belichick said this: “One hundred percent. One hundred percent. There’s a lot of times where if you read the Monday papers, you get the exact same questions from the owner when you meet with him later in the day. It’s almost like they read the columns and all and then, you know, whatever’s in the paper, that’s kind of the question. ‘Hey, why didn’t you blitz more? Hey, how come we didn’t run this play more? Hey, how come we didn’t, you know, we went for it on fourth down?’ Whatever it is. Whatever the columns are in the paper, a lot of times that’s what pops up in the owner’s meeting. It is what it is.”
Belichick acknowledged that he made plenty of bad decisions while coaching. That comes from making, as he said, a couple hundred decisions each day.
He said “the worst” owner comments for him happened in Cleveland, while working for the late Art Modell. “‘You know, the guy that’s running the defense,'” Belichick said he was asked. “Like, does he really know what he’s doing? Are you sure that we’re OK on defense? Do you think maybe, you know, do you want to maybe call some more of these defenses?’ [Nick] Saban. [Nick] Saban was the defensive coordinator.”
While Belichick didn’t specifically mention any questions he got from Patriots owner Robert Kraft, the fact that Belichick coached there for 24 years suggests that happened in New England, too. Indeed, Belichick didn’t say Kraft never asked media-influenced questions.
It’s another factor for Belichick’s next employer to consider. Whatever the owner at his next stop says or does will become fodder for his next eventual media blitz. And if you ask him a stupid question, he won’t be bashful about telling the world that you did.