Is Belichick’s UNC Experiment Already Falling Apart? Albert Breer Weighs In

Albert Breer, Fred Toucher, Wallach, and Hardy broke down Bill Belichick’s rocky start at UNC after a disastrous loss to TCU. They ripped his handling of scouts, blank depth charts, and his refusal to adapt to the college game, comparing him unfavorably to Nick Saban, who embraced NFL scouts to help recruiting. The group questioned if parents would even want their kids to play for Belichick given how he’s limiting players’ NFL opportunities. Some speculated Belichick might not last the season if things spiral further.

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What’s going on with Bellich check in North Carolina and just you go first? I like I thought they would lose the game going in. Like if you had asked me to pick I think somebody did ask me to pick at one point. I’d pick TCU. I think TCU is a better program. I think TCU has better players. TCU has a really good coach and Sunny Dykes who’s been to a national championship game. That’s a like. So that’s my baseline for Monday night. The third quarter was like I don’t think I ever thought I’d see a Bill Bich team perform like it perform like that team performed in the third quarter. Favorite play of the game was the first play of the third quarter when the guy runs 75 yards for a touchdown. Mr. Mr. Halftime adjustment gets gashed on the first play. It was 75 yards. Then when uh when TCU gets the ball back, they convert third and 20. Sure. With a with a seamer out right down the middle of the field. Then the next play after that, it’s 28 yards untouched. No one laid a finger on that running back. Scores a touchdown. And then the next possession after that, sack fumble for a touchdown. And meanwhile, your $2 million quarterback can’t make it out of the third quarter. It’s great. And I think one thing that people do not appreciate like a lot of people who are in these pro markets do not appreciate about it, it’s not a lower like it is a lower level of football but just as far as the people who work at that level, it’s a completely different job. It is not the same. And I just it was hard for me to watch that and not think of the visual of Nick Sabin before the game and like how Nick Sabin gracefully left Alabama and now he’s on the ESPN. I thought about that this morning. He’s like this dignitary because Alabama loses to Florida State and I heard a guy this morning go like ah it’s we miss Nick Sabin and just to that the way he left Alabama and you go oh anytime that next guy loses it’s oh we miss Nick Sabin and Bellichic’s not getting that. All right. But but two things is that one before the game it’s been reported by a bunch of people that to the pro scouts he just gave out blank rosters and so I have some more on that too. Yeah. See go ahead. So you know who wouldn’t do that? Nick Sabin. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I mean I I I when I tell you Nick Sabin treated NFL scouts like gold. I mean it. Like I I would hear stories from scouts about when they did school calls to Alabama, they go to the proday at Alabama about the spread that was put out for them, you know? I mean, they were treated like royalty when they came in and that was for a very real selfish reason. It’s intentional. It’s because Nick knows the more guys he sends to the pros, the more guys that the more the more players that go to the NFL out of his program, the more first round picks he has, you know, what becomes a lot easier recruiting convincing the next first round pick to come. It’s easy that way. How does Bill not see this? And and that’s the thing that that’s the thing that kills me is like I watch it and I’m like, what are you doing? Like you’re you’re it’s more important for you to settle a score. Well, no, no, cuz we haven’t even gotten there yet. So he We’ll get there, too, cuz I’ve got more stuff on that, but I I like I yesterday, but I but I think like I think it’s just like again I think a lot of people looked at that and like, “Oh, yeah, screw the media.” Like, no, they were giving that blank depth chart to scouts. Oh, no. If it was the media, I wouldn’t even think anything of it. It would just be him being a dick. No, but it’s like shooting himself in the foot. Harder on the scouts. Sen is such a good friend of his. I don’t understand. Oh, it’s it’s it’s I well I don’t who what’s a friend? But that but that’s another example of how it’s a different job. Like a college head coach, it is a different job. Like would have you ever seen Nick Sabin in like a ratty sweatshirt? People like like Nick and Bill are the same guy. In a lot of ways they are. But like Nick, like if you anytime Nick is in p was in public as Alabama’s head coach, he was in like a like you saw him at at the spring game, right? He would be on the sidelines in a blazer. Why is that? Because there are 25 16-year-old 17-year-old kids there with their moms and dads. And he’s got to convince those moms and dads that this is the guy that I want to send my kid off to. But also how you’re perceived by the public and the fan base. You’re essentially a state official. You’re a state employee. You’re you’re a politician. You’re a dignitary for the school. you know, you’re on par with the athletic director and the chancellor and the provos and all this other stuff. And for him to behave in a completely different way, either by the way he dresses or the way he’s treating NFL scouts or the way he’s doing any of this stuff, it just runs counter to what we think of traditionally as the successful college football guy, the head of a college football program. It’s like so far, not just with the laws, but the way he’s been handling things and people, Bill ain’t it. Okay. So, the story that came out yesterday was that UNCC had banned um Patriot scouts from going to which is going to ruin next year’s draft is that I mean, if they don’t have that intel on North Carolina, right? So, uh but they’re not allowing him in practices and games, home games for the entire season. And then if you want to know if Fred you’re a loser and this and that, they call Mike Lombardi and he goes, “Good luck.” and hangs up like a lunatic, like like a lunatic. He’s a lunatic. I Boy, am I right about these people and then um so the thing is just do this exercise and then Bert, you go because you have information on it. Would you let your kid, just based on this, you don’t know anything about Bill Bich? You know, he was good in the pros and you don’t know anything about his personal life. Would you let your kid play for Bill Bich in college? No. Not in a million years. Not in a million years. If I wanted to play pro, there’s 32 opportunities and you’re taking one away. Hell no. And then you’re treating pro scouts like this. And and if your whole thing is I don’t want kids to leave the program. Well, they can leave the program whenever they want. Pros isn’t what taking them away. Yeah. They’re all just transfer to another school. There’s no rules. There’s no rules about transferring anymore. He might not have a team next year. I wouldn’t stay. You know, they they win four or five games. I’m not staying next year. So, anyway, what happened? Well, I brought this up. The the one thing I I would say to that, too, is I brought this up on the midday show yesterday. Uh, North Carolina’s best player last year was a kid named Bo Atinson. They tried to give Bo Atkinson like an incentive laden NIL deal for this year and he told them to get lost and went to Ohio State and he was playing in the game on Saturday against Texas. Now, this is a guy who had like 10 sacks last year. Like, you can’t treat players that way and there’s an adjustment that’s had to happen. Now, there’s the other thing about the way he’s treating Patriots scouts. It’s not just the Patriot scouts like and I I texted with a few scouting directors yesterday and um so like basically the scouts are allowed to talk to one person at North Carolina. They’re not allowed to talk to any of the other coaches like Lombardi is off limits. Bellich himself doesn’t talk to like Bichc is like not accessible for the scouts. There’s one guy they’re prleazison a guy who used to work here who’s unfortunately named Jordane. Yeah. Frenzy Jordane. Okay. So, I you know I there are some schools that conduct themselves this way, but they’re the best school. They’re the they’re the ones that have guys, you know what I mean? So, um so here’s like from a pro scouting director. Here’s what he said. Again, nobody is mad at UNC about being a crappy visit. They don’t have players. They aren’t talented. The only players who are the only people who are going to suffer is the UNCC seniors who may be late round guys or undrafted free agents. When we don’t have ample background on guys and they are just late round UDFA types, we just move on to another guy with a similar skill set that we know more about. Does that make sense? like so if I don’t have enough background on a guy at North Carolina who’s like a late round pick or an undrafted free agent like I’m just going to go to the kid at NC State the talent becomes vanilla more vanilla at that point if I know more about the kid over here because I couldn’t get back around at North Carolina I know more kid about more about the kid at NC State or more about the kid at Duke I’m just going to sign that guy well you’re around and I’m not going to ask you how they do things at Ohio State but you’re around Ohio State like how do you think it would go over with that organ with kids at that school if it was coming out publicly that they were telling bro scouts to go screw. So that has existed before at certain schools um that are like like Penn State was like that under Joe Pno. Um they had a really Yeah. And we don’t need but but that but that was the reputation of Penn State that that they Ruckers was like that with Shano at one point. Um, you know, I I think like one thing you have to remember is like even though North Carolina is not Texas or Ohio State or USC or one of these true football blueb bloodoods, right? If you’re good enough to play there, you think you got a shot at the NFL, right? Like any any athlete that is good enough to play at the FBS level, at the highest level of college football was so good in high school that he thinks he’s got at least a shot. And it’s going to be a priority to him to go to a place that he thinks is is going to give him every possible ch every chance to make it to the NFL. And I and I’ll just tell you like my experience with the Ohio State people and they’re not the most open place either. They’re not like they’re not as open as Alabama was. But when you walk into the building there, one of the first things you see is 32 helmets. And underneath each of the helmets, they’re mounted on the there 32 helmets. They’re mounted on the wall, right? And underneath every helmet is this long list of players from Ohio State who played it played for that team. And so I mean they’re it is all over the place there, you know, and they want to be NFLU and where, you know, Michael Lombardi’s running around calling themselves the 33rd team, like a school like Ohio State actually is. No. No. Yeah. Even though that kid that sophomore can’ll hang on to the ball, but nonetheless, uh, some number one player in the but but it’s it’s a huge priority. It’s like it’s a huge part of getting kids to go to a school. No, I it’s obvious, right? If you’re play, if you’re playing D1, uh, a like, you know, sup the one of the super conference, like if you’re playing at one power four conferences, you think that you can play in the pros. There’s no question. If you’re starting for a power four conference team, there’s not a reason to think you shouldn’t play in the pros. You should at least get a shot. And you should and your school and you’re a coach should be every be doing everything. Even if they’re taking away like one opportunity from one team, it’s it’s going to leave you feel like you’re you’re being slighted, right? Lombardi is just a maniac. That’s what’s really He’s not available to the scouts either. Yeah. No. Well, that’s He just They call him and he answers the phone like an idiot. That’s like the second time I’ve heard of him doing that. He like just answers the phone. He answers, “Hello.” And they’re like, “Hey, what’s going on?” He’s like, “Good luck with that.” And hangs up like just don’t answer the phone. Maybe if you’re North Carolina, it’s a good thing Lombardi isn’t talking to anybody. Well, I think that they’re probably not. I I I think I have a big feeling that Bellich retires at the end of this season. I have a pretty good feeling that I mean Oh, and then you can get a statue. It’d be perfect. Imagine if he loses to Charlotte or Richmond the next two weeks. Oh, be glorious. Like Charlotte like that. Well, Charlotte’s like an actual like they I think they’re only like a 13 or 14 point favorite. down from 21, which is what it was until before North Carolina played their first game that the line dropped from 21 to 13. I don’t think Charlotte’s horrible. Like I I like I think like I I think there’s Well, think if you go to North Carolina and you went there and there was all this hype around the program in the off season, but there was a little bit of controversy, but whatever. You probably don’t hear a lot about that. And then you have this the biggest game like ever nationally televised, you know, Lawrence Taylor and Michael Jordan and everyone’s there. You get blown out and for the first time in your life, everyone ignored it and now everyone’s just bitching about it. I would assume that that’s not the world’s greatest way to get going. Like uh that that the kids aren’t, you know, uh lining up hungry uh with Michael Lombardi leading the way. Charlotte lost Appalachin State 34 to 11. I stand corrected. Yeah, Appalachin State sometimes screws around. Appalachian State really good. Appalachian State beat. I know you’re a big fan bird. I know you are. Appalachian State. Yeah, they beat Michigan that year. Gave us gave us one great z They beat that they beat Michigan one year. For all the latest from the SportsHub, download the app at 985thesportsub.com.