It Looks Like Belichick Has an Old Fashioned Power Struggle on His Hands as UNC Intends to Choose His New GM for Him
Imagine you're Bill Belichick right now. You've suffered through the slings and arrows of a painful first season at UNC. You lost your right hand man of over 30 years for some reasons still not known to the public. Your own son went out on a medical leave, which has now been made permanent. Even though you were able to promote your other son from safeties coach to Defensive Coordinator, that loss has to hurt personally and professionally.
Yet through it all, your program has improved. You've got them at 2-2. You stayed with No. 3 Notre Dame for most of the game Saturday, making it a 9-point game with 4 1/2 minutes to go. And even though the fatal flaw of not being able to stop the run (241 rushing yards on a 5.4 YPA), there was enough of a moral victory there to build on as you get ready to face Pitt and then Duke. And as an added bonus, your lady love looked resplendent in her Regina George look:
So you're building something to be proud of. It's been a struggle. But you no doubt feel like you're on the right path and close to achieving the goals you set for yourself in this new endeavor. And that once the results show up on field, you'll win hearts and minds on Chapel Hill.
Except you'd be mistaken. It would appear the administration isn't done pulling the knives out:
Source - North Carolina’s ongoing support, fulsome or not, of coach Bill Belichick comes with expectations. One of these expectations will be that he won’t hire aa crony or a family member to be the next G.M. of the program. …
UNC is looking for a new General Manager. And the program isn’t letting Belichick simply bring in someone with whom he is already comfortable.
Via Brian Murphy of WRAL, North Carolina has hired Sean Magee of Turnkey ZRG to assist with the search for Lombardi’s replacement.
Magee previously was the G.M. at Michigan, and he has a degree from Navy. …
“I am really looking forward to working with Sean, given his many years of high-level executive leadership experience in both professional and collegiate football,” Belichick said in a statement.
Of course Chapel Bill is going to say pleasant sound, reassuring things about this situation. He's not going to publicly denounce a Navy Man. In fact, I have no doubt that's why Sean Magee was chosen. His Midshipmen connection is the sugar that makes the poison pill easier to swallow.
But there's zero chance Belichick is "looking forward to working with" this guy. Because Magee isn't there to assist him in finding the best candidate for the job. Why could the man who's launched more pro and college coaching careers than anyone in history need the help? The contacts list is Belichick's phone is the greatest collection of football intelligence ever assembled in one place. Call them cronies and family members all you want. His coaching tree is a forest that covers the Earth. Why would the administration think he needs outside help?
Simple. They're not looking for a GM to work with him and build up the program. They're looking for a spy. They want to plant an inside man who'll report back to them. He'll be a Fifth Column who'll undermine Belichick from within in order to bring him down and get the state of North Carolina out of the contract they signed him to.
This GM they install will be the equivalent of the cop Capt. Acevedo put on Vic Mackey's Strike Team in the series premiere of The Shield. A snitch. And if you don't remember the character I'm talking about, that's because he didn't make it to the closing credits of the first episode, if you know what I mean.
Unfortunately, that option isn't open in this case. Belichick will have to play the game. Pretend he's willing to play nice with others. While doing everything he can to keep the new hire isolated, out of the loop, uninformed, and utterly without power and influence. Unless he ends up being Nick Saban or the reanimated corpse of Lou Holtz, which he won't be, this GM will be working against him, not with him. He's being strong-armed into accepting this arrangement by people in the school who do not have his best interests at heart. Which is all the more reason to root for the man's continued success.
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Go Tar Heels.
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