Around the news of Bill Belichick taking a job as head football coach at the University of North Carolina, there’s been a lot of discussion of what that might mean for his media roles.
Belichick currently has a number of those, from Inside The NFL on The CW to the Coach, with Bill Belichick Underdog Fantasy podcast (alongside Matt Patricia and Michael Lombardi) to weekly appearances on The Pat McAfee Show on ESPN and first-quarter guest appearances on each ManningCast on ESPN2 and/or ESPN+.
It’s not entirely clear yet what will become of all those roles. But it does sound like Belichick will continue with at least his McAfee and ManningCast appearances through at least the rest of this season (so, one last ManningCast for ESPN/ABC’s Wild Card playoff game, and weekly McAfee appearances).
And that’s sparked some discussion of Belichick keeping those roles and perhaps others for the longer term. Of particular note, this saw a “Maybe Doug Gottlieb Started a Trend and Bill Belichick Can Also Coach and Continue to Do Sports Media” column from Dave Greene at Barrett Media.
Many of Greene’s points in there are valid. Belichick’s analysis in these media roles has drawn praise from a lot of people, so lobbying for that to continue makes sense. And regular high-profile media appearances certainly could be a good way to promote UNC, as AD Bubba Cunningham mentioned in his comments about Belichick continuing to do media.
But it should be noted that continued media appearances from Belichick would be far more comparable to what many coaches do and have done. And they would be far different from Gottlieb continuing as a daily radio host for Fox Sports Radio while also serving as the men’s basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay).
Most high-level college football coaches have a weekly “coach’s radio show,” often aired live from a sponsor restaurant or bar (or, in Mike Gundy’s case, even a retirement home, which is such a cooler story than it sounds like) with fans in attendance. Some of those take calls or audience questions, which can produce interesting moments.
Many of those shows are longer regular time commitments than guesting on McAfee’s show or the ManningCast. And the McAfee and ManningCast guest spots can be done from home or from a football office, making them something even easier to do than going out to a coach’s show. And they come with a significantly higher national profile than a standard coach’s radio show, which is part of why UNC AD Cunningham sounds on board with this.
The guesting is the key part of this, and what really differentiates it from what Gottlieb is doing. Being a guest on a media program isn’t necessarily easy, but a guest’s primary responsibility is to react to questions posed by a host. There might be some preparation involved there for specific interviews or specific shows (and the ManningCast in particular may take some prep work when it comes to analysis of the specific teams involved). But it’s hard to see McAfee or ManningCast appearances as taking too much time away from Belichick’s job coaching UNC, and the publicity they bring seems like a more than fair tradeoff.
The Underdog podcast might carry a few more challenges. Its episodes tend to be longer (mostly 40-plus minutes) than either of those guest spots, and it’s Belichick’s own thing rather than his guesting elsewhere. But it’s conceivable that could continue too, especially with Lombardi (who’s taking a role with UNC as well as the program’s general manager) and Patricia there to help carry the preparation and conversation load.
The toughest current role for Belichick to maintain might be Inside The NFL. That would seemingly involve weekly travel unless Belichick’s role there is reworked for remote guest appearances). And that may be why there hasn’t been any information on that continuing or not thus far. But it’s even somewhat conceivable to envision a way where Belichick could keep doing that as a once-a-week thing, especially if it turns into a remote segment.
Hosting a daily radio show is an animal of an entirely different nature beyond any of that. The host drives the discussion on most programs. Thus, they need to first figure out what to talk about, research those topics, and then discuss them on air, whether solo or with guests. And if with guests, there are booking and guest research elements to consider as well.
Yes, staff can assist with or outright do some of that work. But daily radio hosting is an incredible grind and a full-time job for many of those who do it. Some do balance it with TV hosting as well, but at least there’s some overlap in terms of the research. What Gottlieb is doing stands out for him essentially holding two high-profile jobs in very different careers: most of what he talks about on the radio is not connected to his school’s basketball program (although there has been some overlap at times).
That dual duty might be working on some levels. Gottlieb has said he’s loving it, and he’s said the scheduling challenges haven’t been too bad. And the school has been on board for the added publicity, and for this letting Gottlieb take a smaller salary and pay assistants more. So perhaps even that split can be okay if everyone’s on board. (And there have been some other splits over the years, including Bob Myers working as an NBA analyst at ESPN while also working for the Washington Commanders, and Jessica Mendoza working for ESPN and the New York Mets. Those particular dual roles have conflict-of-interest potential, and sometimes don’t work for the long term, but can be okay if done carefully.)
But Gottlieb hosting a daily radio show is in an entirely different league than Belichick’s weekly guest appearances with McAfee and rarer-still appearances with the Mannings (11 broadcasts this season). And while there might be many reasons why a school wouldn’t want a head coach with a daily media gig, it’s hard to see them being opposed to weekly or less frequent guest appearances. And, indeed, Cunningham’s comments here make it clear UNC seems to like the idea of continued Belichick guest spots, at least for now.
Of course, any sort of media appearance does come with some risk. Even the highly controlled environment of a coach’s show can lead to negative publicity when the coach says the wrong thing (or, worse still, insists he didn’t say it despite the tapes). And Belichick’s certainly been known for some bizarre media moments in the past. (It would be great if he does drop an 1860s-channeling “We’re on to Richmond,” given the Tar Heels’ schedule.)
It is notable that some coaches have turned away from media roles they could conceivably keep doing, too. That’s been particularly seen with Los Angeles Lakers coach JJ Redick and his decision to leave podcasting for now. And that makes some sense considering the absolute microscope he’s under as a rookie head coach leading the league’s most-discussed team, and a team featuring two incredibly-discussed players in LeBron and Bronny James; a continued Redick podcast would be analyzed in minute detail and read into, and it’s understandable why he may not want that.
But if a coach wants to keep making regular high-profile media appearances, it’s hard to see a school being too upset about that, especially if they don’t take a lot of time or involve a lot of travel. And that’s an important distinction between college jobs and pro jobs. Yes, some pro coaches or managers have coaches’ shows or regular media guest appearances, but their job is a lot less about promotion than a college job is, especially as it tends to come with player acquisition via drafts and trades rather than much recruitment (outside free agency, that is) of high school or transfer players.
By contrast, national media appearances and a national profile can be a major boon for college coaches. (Hello, Deion Sanders, who’s even been able to extend some of those media appearances to his recruits.) This is why so many of them have done the Film Room alternate broadcasts over the years, and why many of them are willing to call in to various radio shows from time to time. And it seems likely that most schools, not just UNC, would be okay with continued regular national guest appearances from their coach.
The larger takeaway here is just how unusual and unique Gottlieb’s dual role remains. That’s not to say it can’t exist; indeed, all of Gottlieb, the school, and Fox seem fine with that juggling act thus far. But it has to be a very particular set of circumstances and parties for that to work. By contrast, the idea of a coach like Belichick carrying on with weekly guest appearances seems quite mild by comparison. And it doesn’t seem like much of a problem for anyone if he wants to keep doing it.
