Bill Belichick stunned everyone with his decision to accept the head coaching job at North Carolina, but ESPN Radio’s Evan Cohen ranted at length Thursday about the flip side of that situation, blasting the NFL teams that didn’t hire the legendary coach.
Belichick, who has been working in various media roles this year after parting ways with the New England Patriots last season, had made no secret of his desire to return to the NFL coaching ranks next season. That won’t happen now that he’s agreed to a lucrative deal with the Tar Heels, and gotten the program to meet an extensive list of his demands.
That unexpected turn of events led Cohen to launch into a rant Thursday on Greeny, questioning why NFL teams overlooked Belichick.
“I may lose it. I’m trying my best to stay calm right now,” Cohen said. “So you’d rather (have) power, Person X, owner of a team, with an inept franchise, that produces no winning, fans that are going to leave your organization, sponsors that ultimately will leave your organization, but you have a say over it — versus aligning yourself with the single greatest coach of all-time? Who can revamp your structure and your franchise in about five minutes?”
Cohen thought that some NFL owners and GMs might have looked at Belichick’s four seasons after quarterback Tom Brady left, when the Patriots posted a 29-38 overall mark, and concluded he lost his touch. The ESPN Radio host ranted that even that span would be a step up for many teams.
“And you can sit there and bring up the years post-Brady all you want and the (quarterback) Mac Jones years,” Cohen said. “Take those four years and compare them to the [New York] Jets’ last four years. Take those four years and compare them to some of these [Chicago] Bears years. He went to the playoffs with Mac freakin’ Jones. If Cam Newton doesn’t get COVID, they’re gonna go to the playoffs that first year with Cam. As bad as they were, they were bad for the Patriots and Belichick. They’re still better than some of these inept franchises.”
At that point, Cohen slipped in a reference to legendary former wrestler Ted DiBiase, then praised North Carolina for a brilliant move — while wearing a Michael Jordan No. 23 Tar Heels jersey.
“Ted DiBiase once said, ‘Everybody’s got a price,'” Cohen said. “Belichick despises the Jets. You know what? If you offer him $25 million a year, he may start to like ’em more. I don’t understand how these franchises have allowed him to go to the North Carolina Tar Heels — and kudos to North Carolina for having the cojones and the guts to go out there and say, ‘You know what — why not?’ Let’s see if he’s gonna do something for us. Who cares? Our fans care more about what Hubert Davis is gonna do in basketball this year anyway. Let’s roll the dice.”
Hopefully, Belichick’s agent works as diligently and ardently on his behalf as Cohen, who was, incredibly, still getting warmed up in his rant.
“What the hell are these franchises doing?” Cohen asked. “So we can hire these coordinators that have never been head coaches, that are gonna fail within three years, that you’re gonna cave to fan pressure anyway — and fire them before ever giving them a chance? Because you want to make sure you have the power of losing. ‘I am the highest ranking person within our losses. I am the highest ranking person within our ineptitude.’ Congratulations.
“Or you can bring in the greatest coach of all time and say, ‘Listen, coach, I own this team. I don’t know enough about football, you do. I’m not here to get into a power structure battle with you. I’m here for us. You and I. The two highest ranking people. Me as the owner, you as football czar, coach, whatever it is — to work in tandem. I’m not gonna tell you what to do with football and you’re not gonna tell me what to do with business. But we are gonna figure this out.”
“WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE FRANCHISES DOING?!”@EvCoRadio (in his shmedium UNC jersey) unleashes an all-time frustrated rant about NFL teams freezing out Bill Belichick 🐐 pic.twitter.com/DcSB74BfPp
— ESPN Radio (@ESPNRadio) December 12, 2024
Cohen might have gone overboard at that point, suggesting a team owner could have signed Belichick for five years, then “steal” his notes, system, etc. to guarantee a winner for the next 20 years.
“I’m going to look you in the eyes and tell you this,” Cohen said, speaking hypothetically as an owner meeting Belichick. “My goal is to win a Super Bowl with you, knowing you’re not going to be here forever and to take your system, steal it from you, and use it the rest of my time owning this team. … I’m going to keep your notes for the next 20 (years).
“If you’re this good as I think you are, I’m going to steal everything you’ve done legally, morally, and ethically … because whatever we’ve done previously is awful. We don’t make the playoffs, we don’t have a culture, we don’t have a structure … we stink.”
It’s worth pondering if any NFL team owners will stumble across Cohen’s rant and think, “You know what, he’s right.”
[ESPN Radio]
