When the coaching cycle first began a few weeks ago, many believed that the Atlanta Falcons were all-in on Bill Belichick and would hire him as their next coach.
But that wasn’t the case as the team surprisingly hired Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Raheem Morris. Belichick, meanwhile, remains without a team as three teams – the Chargers, Panthers and Falcons – have tried their new guy within the last 48 hours.
Why didn’t the Falcons hire Belichick? Well, according to Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston, “the further it went with Bill Belichick, the more Atlanta got cold feet.”
“All the things that they would have to do to satisfy him…you have a guy who’s 71, won’t be there for the long term…he’s going to want to come in and do things his way with no one to answer to.”
ESPN’s Dan Graziano reports that the Falcons’ organizational structure made things complicated with Belichick. Some in the organization weren’t keen on the idea of hiring a soon-to-be 72-year-old head coach, instead wanting a better long-term option:
“Multiple sources have said for weeks that Blank went into this process wanting Belichick, and I think the league and the industry expected that to work out. But there were hurdles that couldn’t be cleared. The organizational structure in Atlanta involves Blank and CEO Rich McKay, and a lot of the discussions with Belichick centered on the idea of what McKay’s role would be if Belichick came to coach the team — and how much power and control the various parties would have in the end.
Belichick — who is 15 wins shy of breaking Don Shula’s all-time record for most by a head coach — was seen as a short-term play, so there were some in the Falcons’ building who were concerned about overhauling things extensively only to potentially have to do so again in a few years. Blank may have gone into the process wanting Belichick, but he also went in with an open mind and was willing to listen to the input of others in his organization.”
Albert Breer agreed, noting that “no team would give him the keys the way he had it in New England.”
Breer said that Falcons owner Arthur Blank was fine with hiring Belichick strictly as the head coach, but that the level of organizational control Belichick needed was likely too much.
It seems that teams are attracted to the idea of Belichick as a head coach, but giving him free reign over the entire franchise is too much to consider.
