While ESPN’s “College GameDay” discussed the future of Bill Belichick at North Carolina Saturday, and the inauspicious start to his stay in Chapel Hill, Belichick apparently called Kirk Herbstreit.
During Herbstreit’s defense of Belichick, who Herbstreit believes is fully bought in at UNC despite his 2-3 record and off-the-field drama, Herbstreit showed his phone to his fellow “GameDay” panelists.
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“I think the most important thing is, is to understand,” Herbstreit said while angling his phone to legendary coach Nick Saban and Pat McAfee, “that he is completely bought into what’s happening with this team and with this program and him leaving or the idea of him leaving…”
Hebrsteit began to chuckle while motioning to his phone, which he had set down.
McAfee cut in: “Answer that.”
“I can’t answer,” Herbstreit responded.
McAfee tried once more: “Answer that! He has to be watching right now. That’s literally Bill Belichick calling Kirk Herbstreit. He probably has something to say.”
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Herbstreit conceded, “Yeah. He probably does.”
The bizarre sequence took place live on air in Eugene, Oregon, where the “GameDay” crew set up shop to preview a top-10 matchup between No. 3 Oregon and No. 7 Indiana.
It didn’t interrupt the desk discussion about Belichick, who put out a brief statement Wednesday displaying his commitment to UNC football and, in his words, “the program we’re building here.”
In a similarly short statement, UNC athletic director Bubba Cunningham backed up Belichick.
“Coach Belichick has the full support of the Department of Athletics and the University,” Cunningham said.
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ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported Saturday that those statements “signal short-term commitment from both sides.”
“Talking to sources around the industry, the fact that they needed to make statements five games into the Belichick era is a signal flare that this is an inflection point for Bill Belichick and North Carolina,” Thamel said. “Nothing is imminent with Bill Belichick and North Carolina from talking to sources, but it appears at the end of this season, there’s going to be a crossroads. Either there’s significant changes at North Carolina on the roster, on the staff, in the front office — they brought in 70 new players, it simply hasn’t worked out — or there’s some type of exit for Bill Belichick at the end of the year.”
Thamel added: “Bill Belichick and Mike Lombardi have said they’re committed to a rebuild. That is not going to be an instant process. So it’ll be really interesting to see how things unfold in the next few weeks because the situation right now, simply put, isn’t good.”
UNC is 0-3 against power conference opponents this season. The Tar Heels have posted an embarrassing combined -87 point differential in those defeats.
Their three losses by 25 points are tied for the most in the FBS this year.
Belichick, 73, is the oldest head coach in college football right now. His revamped roster and NFL-heavy staff hasn’t produced an immediate ACC turnaround in an era of college football where instant success is possible. Perhaps the best example of that is Indiana, one of the two teams “GameDay” was previewing Saturday. In Year 1, Curt Cignetti transformed the Hoosiers from Big Ten bottom dweller to College Football Playoff Cinderella.
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“Good coaches coach good players to play well,” Saban said Saturday. “That’s what good coaches do. So you got to give people an opportunity to get the kind of players they want in the program, then see if they can develop ’em to play the way they want, and then it’s fair to make an evaluation.”
Although McAfee, like some of his other panelists, went to bat for Belichick at times in the segment, he also posed an important question to Saban near the end.
“But coach, if you’re patient with the wrong people, just like if you give the money to the wrong people?” McAfee asked.
Saban then delivered another poetic one-liner: “S*** out of luck”
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