10/10/2025 2:31:19 PM

From David Hale on Twitter

Quote :

" It's been a min since we've done a good old-fashioned Twitter thread, so let's recap some UNC items... Biggest insight: Barring serious shifts in thinking on either side, don't expect Belichick to go anywhere any time soon. (Note: I don't actually have the energy to do a full thread and X downgrades replies in threads anyway, so this is just one long post. Sorry.) As multiple sources familiar with both sides' thinking have told me, the odds of Belichick coaching UNC in 2026 are "a good bit better" than not. My interpretation is something like 70/30 he's back. Why? On Bill's side, he wants to work and the alternatives are slim at this point. On UNC's side, a lot of powerful folks stuck their necks out to make this hire and aren't ready to call it a failure. But what about all the reports of mass chaos last week? Well, much of that is true on a larger scale, but Belichick & Lombardi tend to view all of this through a very narrow, transactional prism. Don't like what's happening at UNC? Fine. You'll be gone next year and they'll find someone else. The hubris of their approach has been, according to nearly everyone I've talked with, the biggest issue. Start with the on-field product: Belichick and Lombardi arrived assuming they knew it all because of their NFL experience. They cleaned house of almost anyone with any insight into how college works & many mistakes were made. As numerous folks have told me, Belichick knows his stuff when it comes to Xs and Os better than anyone, but translating that into something consumable by college players -- many of whom had zero serious experience previously -- has not worked. The reports that Bill has been inaccessible to players is partially true. He has "his guys" and he is invested in them. Others, including regular contributors, are completely ignored. wral.com/sports/belichi… But the notion that he's not invested is false. Bill's a film rat. He studies and he's eager to have players involved in that process. As we noted in a story before the season, he even moved his office to be more accessible to players. espn.com/college-footba… But when it comes to personal interaction -- again, life is far more transactional than what anyone used to Mack Brown would be comfortable with. That's rubbed a ton of folks the wrong way -- parents, staff, admin. That's why a lot of leaks have happened. Talent evaluation has been a mess, too. Here, most folks point the finger at Lombardi. But it also comes down to Bill & Lombardi simply jettisoning staff and trusting their own instincts over others' experience. As we reported in August, they fired tons of support staff then had to bring some back because they lacked anyone to do the job. "A couple times they brought in good players and ignored them on their visit," a source with direct knowledge of the situation said. "There were times that the kids would be waiting 30, 45 minutes or an hour and then all of a sudden, you're not meeting with Coach Belichick anymore, and we'll go back to the airport." What about the recruiting violations that resulted in an assistant being suspended? Sift through the thousands of pages of FOIA docs I've gotten and you'll see numerous reminders from compliance about the rules. But according to multiple people I've talked with, Lombardi & Co. just didn't much care. They operated with little regard for anything other than expediency and asset building. Lombardi's transactional tactics, as Bruce Feldman et al reported in their terrific story, has been an issue, too. You hear a lot of rumors you can't report but let's just say they all sound similar. nytimes.com/athletic/67040… What I do know is, on multiple occasions when they didn't find players they signed to be useful, they simply cut off NIL/rev share/aid, with parents having to drive to campus on short notice because players were being booted from housing. (One was an international student!) There's also a lot of frustration with all the off-field issues. Using the job as a way to spite the Patriots, the Jordon stuff, the canceled shows, etc. -- losing is one thing. Losing controversially is another. But at the end of the day, the biggest issue remains the losses. Not just that they've lost games but HOW they're losing them. They look awful, the worst team in P4. There was significant frustration over Lombardi's "rebuilding" letter -- both inside the locker room and out. UNC folks were promised, at the very least, an end to the dumb mistakes that cost the Heels games under Brown. Instead, those same dumb mistakes are happening MORE often, along with countless more issues. Everyone knew this wasn't a 1-year project, but no one believed for a second it would look like this. Still, the options now aren't good. Cutting bait isn't in the cards -- for now. Fixing the issues involves admitting mistakes were made and... Bill hasn't done that so far. What's next? Belichick meets with the media tomorrow. I'm sure there will be some interesting questions. Whether he offers any actual answers is far less likely. And that might be the most frustrating part."

10/12/2025 1:52:07 PM