December 13, 2024

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Front Office Sports

Bill Belichick was far from friendly to the press during his time as an NFL coach. After being let go by the Patriots, however, Belichick joined the fourth estate, taking part in six different recurring programs—from ManningCast episodes to the Pat McAfee show and the Let’s Go! podcast.

As Belichick assumes his new role as head coach at North Carolina, how will his attitude toward media members shift? And how can he use the experience and connections he acummulated over the past year to help him recruit—and win—at the college level?

—Michael McCarthy

Why Bill Belichick’s Media Stint Could Help Him at UNC

Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

During Bill Belichick’s introductory press conference at North Carolina, we saw the usual choreographed moment in which a new coach is formally presented with the colors of his new team.

But the famously gruff coach unveiled a surprise of his own. The 72-year-old theatrically pulled out a decades-old Tar Heels sweatshirt worn by his late father, Steve Belichick, when he was an assistant coach at Chapel Hill from 1953 to 1955. 

“I had some good years in the NFL and that was O.K., but this is really a dream come true. … As a kid, all I knew was college football,” said Belichick.

From that moment, the famous curmudgeon had the crowd eating out of his hand.

This is not your father’s Bill Belichick. On Thursday, the former NFL coach famous for boring, monosyllabic answers (“We’re on to Cincinnati”) was missing in action. Instead, we saw a garrulous grandfather figure who described UNC as a “dream come true.” He told a story about how, as a toddler, his first words were supposedly, “Beat Duke.” For one day, at least, Belichick charmed his old foes in the media as well as Tar Heels fans—and disarmed his many critics. For that, we can thank his experience with media over the past year.  

After splitting with the Patriots in December 2023, Belichick embraced the proverbial dark side, appearing weekly on ESPN’s Pat McAfee Show and the ManningCast, appearing on The CW’s Inside the NFL and hosting a podcast with longtime front-office colleague Michael Lombardi. 

To the surprise of many, Belichick was often quite interesting. We all knew he was a walking football encyclopedia. But who knew he could be funny, incisive, even entertaining on TV? Once Belichick stopped acting the fool and let viewers in, we finally saw the leader and teacher who inspired the Patriots to a record six Super Bowl victories, plus another two as a Giants assistant. In fact, North Carolina athletic director Bubba Cunningham told The News & Observer that Belichick plans to continue his remote media gigs with McAfee and the ManningCast while running UNC’s football program. New UW–Green Bay basketball coach Doug Gottlieb also kept his show on Fox Sports Radio.

Belichick’s new ease at press conferences was on full display at Chapel Hill, with several of his pithy answers going viral. When asked whether he would return to the NFL if he succeeded at UNC, Belichick deadpanned: “I didn’t come here to leave.” Another reporter asked why he wants to keep coaching at age 72. “Beats working,” quipped Belichick. “My dad told me this: When you love what you do, it’s not work.”

There’s plenty of skepticism about the ability of the second-winningest coach in NFL history to succeed at the college level. A lot of that comes down to his ability to relate to 18-year-old athletes, as well as the vagaries of recruiting, NIL payments, and obnoxious boosters.

Perspective From a Peer

To get a read on Belichick’s prospects, I talked to Herm Edwards of ESPN. Edwards previously blazed Belichick’s career path as an NFL head coach for the Jets and Chiefs, was then an NFL analyst at ESPN, became a college football coach at Arizona State—and then returned to ESPN last year.

Edwards believes Belichick’s “love-hate” relationship with the media experience will help him. For one thing, he’ll know the questions that are coming and probably have all his answers in mind by the fourth quarter. As for recruiting, Edwards says college athletes will want to play for Belichick. 

“He’ll be fine. Athletes are athletes. Those guys will be excited about playing for Coach. All of them want to go to the NFL,” Edwards told me. “It’s no different than when I took over [ASU]. He’s going to have a pro model. He’s going to do everything he did in pro football.”

The art of TV trains people to speak in short, cogent sentences, noted Edwards. That will help Belichick communicate with today’s college athletes, many of whom have a short attention span. 

During his stint coaching the Sun Devils, Edwards limited his team meetings to 20 minutes. Any longer than that, and his young players would get itchy fingers searching for their ever-present phones. The downside? Belichick won’t be able to growl about the “Patriot Way” and impose secrecy on kids who spend their lives on social media platforms.

“It’s almost like their hands are shaking if they don’t have their phones in their hands after 10 minutes,” says Edwards, who delivered one of the great postgame rants with his “You Play to Win the Game” presser as Jets coach.

EVENT

Like what you see? Join us in September 2025 as we bring this newsletter to life at our Tuned In summit in New York. You can catch up on what our big 2024 event looked like and sign up for updates here.

How YES Network Launches National NBA TV Talent

Troy Taormina-Imagn Images

Earlier this week, “Tuned In” broke the news that NBC Sports is hiring longtime YES Network producer Frank DiGraci to serve as coordinating producer of its upcoming NBA coverage in the 2025–2026 season. While the Nets have historically been an inconsistent franchise on the court, their broadcast team has ranked among the NBA’s elite. So I asked my colleague Alex Schiffer, who previously covered the Nets for The Athletic, for his personal download on NBC’s big DiGraci hire. 

Schiffer’s report: “DiGraci doesn’t have a coaching tree—instead, he has a forest. While working alongside longtime play-by-play man Ian Eagle, DiGraci has played a role in the success of Sarah Kustok, who became the first full-time female analyst for an NBA team’s local TV broadcasts, when she moved into the role in 2017 after being the team’s longtime sideline reporter. Her replacement, Michael Grady, was another DiGraci disciple and now serves as the Minnesota Timberwolves’ play-by-play man on Bally Sports North broadcasts. 

“This year, Grady joined ESPN’s NBA coverage. Michelle Beadle, Richard Jefferson, Vince Carter, Ian and Noah Eagle are some of the other talents who DiGraci has worked with over the years.”

After I tweeted news of DiGraci’s hire, Jefferson weighed in on the longtime producer’s influence on his broadcast career. “Frank was the first guy to offer me a broadcasting job. It was my rookie year, so he had to wait,” tweeted the ESPN analyst, who could ascend to the network’s No. 1 NBA broadcast team this season. “The first game I ever called, he was the producer and taught me so much over the years. Thank you for everything. You’ll be missed @YESNetwork.”

Mike’s Mailbag

Joe Buck and Troy Aikman

ESPN Images

Reader Jerry Goodman weighed in via LinkedIn on our top-25 list of the most influential ESPN talent heading into 2025: “Give me the steady, solid contributions of Greenie, Aikman, Fowler, VanPelt, Herbstreit. Stephen A and McAfee are entertaining but some think they are too over-the-top.”

I was impressed by how many sports media folks weighed in on DiGraci’s NBC gig. Nets radio analyst Tim Capstraw saluted DiGraci on X/Twitter: “The Best!! @YESNetwork and @BrooklynNets will miss him. Detailed, personable, poised and great evaluator and teacher of talent.”

@PsychoNetsFan tweeted: “I can’t remember the last time I didn’t hear Ian Eagle shout out Frank DiGraci at the end of a @NetsOnYES broadcast. Going to be missed but this is an amazing accomplishment. Congrats and take care of him @NBCSports.” 

Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated added: “Nets have long been among the gold standards for NBA broadcasts.” It just goes to show that many of the behind-the-scenes executives are as important as on-air talent in the quest to create great sports TV. 

Mike Drops

Netflix’s Borrowing Spree, NBA Talent in Play

Mina Kimes of ESPN

ESPN Images

  • Why are NFL TV partners like ESPN allowing Netflix to use their talent (like Mina Kimes, pictured above) for the streamer’s Christmas Day doubleheader? After all, Netflix is a potential competitor for their media rights in the future. CNBC’s Alex Sherman says they’re trying to stay in the good graces of their meal ticket. “In the end, the NFL is more powerful than any individual company. Better to be a team player, even if it means helping a competitor, than a disloyal soldier,” he writes.
  • It’s worth noting the New York Post reported that Fox did reject Netflix’s request to have Tom Brady and Kevin Burkhardt call a game. Clearly, at least one team was off-limits.
  • Three hot potential hires for NBC Sports’ and Amazon Prime Video’s upcoming NBA coverage continue to be Blake Griffin, Dirk Nowitzki, and Jamal Crawford. “They’re talking to everybody,” says one source.
  • CBS Sports will take the NFL Today pregame show on the road again to Detroit before its big Bills-Lions telecast at 4:25 p.m. ET. The show previously visited Buffalo for the Bills’ 30–21 victory over the Chiefs on Nov. 18.

Question of the Day

Do you think Bill Belichick adapted well to his media roles this year?

 Yes   No 

63% of respondents thought Stephen A. Smith was indeed the most influential talent at ESPN.

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Written by Michael McCarthy
Edited by Or Moyal, Catherine Chen

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