Many NFL figures are astonished to see Belichick coaching at the college level after his dominant NFL career.
Belichick is known for his innovative defensive strategies, including game plans that stifled high-powered offenses in Super Bowls XXV and XXXVI.
While Belichick benefited from coaching Tom Brady, his adaptability and strategic brilliance are key components of his success.
There will be people who watch Bill Belichick at the University of North Carolina and just see someone coaching a college football team at a basketball school. Belichick? I remember that name. He was good in the NFL, right? Coached Tom Brady or something like that? Why is he coaching a college team again?
For those of you who understand what this unreal moment represents for both college and professional football, good for you. But for those of you who do not, let me tell you a story.
It begins in Super Bowl 25 played in 1991. A young Belichick, then the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants, was facing the vaunted Buffalo Bills’ K-Gun offense that featured quarterback Jim Kelly and wide receivers James Lofton and Andre Reed. Thurman Thomas was the running back. All of those players are now in the Hall of Fame.
It cannot be overstated how terrifying that offense was to defenses. Most coordinators had no real clue how to stop them. Belichick did. He wanted to let Thomas (mostly) run free so he could use other defensive resources to slow down Kelly and the passing game.
The Giants played most of the game with just two linemen and Belichick stuck to either 2-4-5 or a 2-3-6 schemes. When Bills receivers caught the football, they were pulverized.
‘When they caught the ball, we needed to hit those guys, because we felt at that time they weren’t being hit hard enough,’ safety Greg Jackson said. ‘There weren’t a lot of gang tackles on those guys, because they were all spread out. When they caught the ball, all of us had to hustle to the football as fast as we could and strip the ball. It made a huge difference. If you look at that game, we did slow them down from the way they were during the season.’
Buffalo had offensive success in the Super Bowl, but they scored just 19 points after leading the league in total points scored with 458 and averaging 28.6 points a game. The Bills scored 51 points against the Raiders in the title game.
Belichick’s game plan is in the Hall of Fame. He’d devise another stunning plan against the Rams in Super Bowl 36 as coach of the New England Patriots. He created coverages that thoroughly confused the Rams. The team that led the league in scoring, passing and total yards was held to just 17 points.
That is the coach who was on the Carolina sideline on Monday night. That coach. The coach who slowed two of the best offenses in the history of professional football. That coach. The coach who has won eight Super Bowls as a head coach and assistant. That dude.
I’ve spoken to people in the NFL over the past few days who said what many in the league are thinking. They can’t believe Belichick is on a college sideline.
‘… I was shocked and I thought it was a joke when I heard he got this job,’ said Tedy Bruschi, who played for Belichick in New England, on ESPN’s pregame show. ‘This man belongs in the National Football League.’
Yes, Belichick had Tom Brady. Brady was a massive cheat code. The greatest cheat code of all time. But Tom Landry had a cheat code. Chuck Noll had one. Bill Walsh did. All great coaches do. How do you think Andy Reid would do without Patrick Mahomes? I have the answer if you’re wondering. Reid lost five title games as coach of the Eagles and also lost his only pre-Mahomes Super Bowl appearance to … Belichick’s Patriots.
Belichick was also an NFL titan who conquered the most cutthroat, competitive glorious sport there is. Sure, he and Brady, but don’t shortchange Belichick. Ever.
Who knows how Belichick will do in college? What Belichick used in the NFL as his base alloy for success was adaptability. Might not seem like it, but Belichick was actually flexible in how he approached coaching. Belichick’s game plans often reflected that elasticity.
What will that look like in a college environment? It’s one of the great unknowns in the history of college football coaching.
What we do know is what he did in the NFL. That’s what makes this moment so shocking.
No one in the NFL watching will ever get used to it.
All the NFL news on and off the field. Sign up for USA TODAY’s 4th and Monday newsletter.