New girlfriend, new view of the press and a new image.
It has been the summer of Bill Belichick, the former Patriots head coach, who has cozied up to the media since he was fired from his longtime gig in New England and finds himself being discussed more frequently by TMZ and Page Six than football fans.
But the more easy-going image and media-friendly approach — Belichick notorious for his standoffish demeanor with the press now has numerous media gigs lined up for the fall — may be part of a “PR makeover,” The Athletic’s Dianna Russini indicated during an appearance on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Thursday.”
Belichick will be part of the “Inside the NFL” crew on CBS as an analyst as well as appear on every ESPN “Monday Night Football ManningCast” and will host his own YouTube show produced by Underdog Fantasy media network.
The NFL insider suggested that the scuttlebutt among some in the NFL was that this was part of an image makeover for the future Hall of Fame coach after a rough end with the Patriots.
“Colin, have you ever talked to a coach after he was fired? I don’t care if you are a Hall of Fame coach or you have just a one-year stint. They are physically and mentally spent,” Russini said, according to Awful Announcing. “They are a shell of themselves. I know so many coaches, who after about two weeks after they get fired, get horrendously sick. Like in bed, can’t move. It’s almost like the weight of everything just hits them like a ton of bricks…Bill taking a year off, who knows what it can do for him in terms of his own personal growth at his age?
“He seems to be open to it. Now the guy who hates the media is getting in front of it. Around the league though, the conversations — there is definitely some chit-chat: ‘Look at Belichick playing the media darling role. Going through a public relations makeover.’ A facelift, so to speak, to connect with those owners to show, ‘Look, I connect with those young people, I can be cool. I’m not just the old ball coach. I’m able to adapt.’”
It came as a bit of a shock after Belichick didn’t land a new coaching gig after the 2023 season came to an end, and he had reportedly been close to landing the Falcons job before Atlanta hired Raheem Morris.
Belichick still intends to coach next season in 2025, according to reports, and the expectation that Russini had was that the legendary coach would be on a sideline somewhere after this upcoming football season.
“It’s interesting to watch because we haven’t seen much of Pete Carroll anywhere,” Russini added.
“We know he still wants to coach (but) don’t know where he will wind up. And all over social media we’re seeing Mike Vrabel with the Cleveland Browns where he is a consultant right now, out on the field doing old-school hands-on coaching. … Doing what he probably needs to do for his own mental health which is coach football. So I just find it really interesting to watch the different, let’s just call them PR moves here from both these coaches who I think will both have jobs next year.”