Bill Belichick is headed to Chapel Hill in a stunning move, as the most accomplished NFL head coach of all time is moving to the college ranks to coach UNC.
Gio had long been advocating for an NFL team to give Belichick another shot, and as Belichick moves down to the collegiate ranks for the first time in his career, Gio says it is an indictment on the NFL owners.
“I think that is a huge knock on all the owners that even have openings or are going to have openings,” Gio said. “They are just scared of bringing in an alpha male who is gonna get things done and take the power of the organization.
“These owners would rather pluck these coordinators and linebacker coaches and special teams coaches, not pay them a lot of money, and hope they turn into Sean McVay.”
With the Jets looking for a new head coach and the Giants potentially doing the same if things continue to flounder with Brian Daboll, Gio would have liked to have seen Belichick in New York next season. It likely wouldn’t have been the Jets since Belichick hasn’t hid his disdain for that franchise, but he reveres the Giants, and Gio says it is a big miss by John Mara to not pursue an all-time great who is clearly still committed to coaching.
“We were talking about Bill Belichick to the Giants for years. He was available,” Gio said. “The Bears…he just looks like he could be on the sidelines in Chicago…and it doesn’t seem like any of these teams had enough interest.
“It has everything to do with being scared about handing the keys over to someone else. That’s what the owners were thinking.”