Josh McDaniels became the latest victim of the Bill Belichick coaching tree earlier this week. Las Vegas fired McDaniels on Tuesday after a 3-5 start to the season. The Raiders went 6-11 last season in McDaniels’ first year.
NFL analyst Mark Schlereth of the Audacy original podcast “Stinkin Truth” called out the Belichick coaching tree after yet another branch was cut off this week.
“Is there anybody with a worse coaching tree than Bill Belichick?” Schlereth said (23:23 in player above). “Think about it. GM, head coach. Patricia and the GM go to Detroit, it’s an abject disaster. You got Charlie Weiss. You got Romeo Crennel. You got Josh McDaniels. You got Eric Mangini. Bill O’Brien.”
O’Brien has arguably been the best of the bunch with a 52-48 record during his six-plus seasons in Houston. The rest all had short, unsuccessful stints at either the NFL or college level – or both.
“You look at the Shanahan tree and all the flowers that we throw to the Shanahan tree with Kyle and with McVay and with LaFleur,” Schlereth continued. “Maybe they just went to places that had good quarterbacks.”
So, what’s the difference between Belichick and the rest of his coaching tree?
“Authenticity,” Schlereth said. “Do you have to be the greatest X’s and O’s coach to be a great head coach? No, you can hire great X’s and O’s guys. You have to establish an identity of philosophy and it has to be real.”
Schlereth speculated that McDaniels would most likely return to the Patriots in some fashion as long as Belichick is there.
“It does feel like Josh is going to go back into the bosom of the hoodie, right? Consultant, you know. Understand the error of my ways,” he said. “He’s never going to get a head coaching job, right?”