This Saturday, New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick will perform a TV audition of sorts. He will be the guest picker on ESPN’s “College GameDay.” This raises the question: Could Belichick become the next great NFL TV analyst?
When Front Office Sports pondered that question earlier this fall, there were plenty of doubters. How could the gruff Belichick, long known for his terse, monosyllabic answers with the media, shift to an entertaining, incisive TV analyst?
But there’s an engaging, cerebral side to the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach, and many Super Bowl-winning coaches have moved to the media, from Jimmy Johnson at Fox Sports to Belichick’s mentor, Bill Parcells, at ESPN.
Some have become all-timers like the late, great John Madden. Others flopped like Bill Walsh. There’s also plenty of coaches who spend a year or on TV to recharge their batteries and collect an easy paycheck. Witness Bruce Arians going from the NFL to CBS only to return to the league and win a Super Bowl. Or Urban Meyer going back and forth between college football/NFL coaching jobs and Fox Sports.
With speculation that Pats owner Bob Kraft may push Belichick out the door, chances are increasing that we see him in a studio, or in a game analyst role, in 2024.
Al Michaels had fun with the chatter during Amazon Prime Video’s stream of the Pats’ 21-18 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on “Thursday Night Football.” With only one year to go on his contract, Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit discussed whether Belichick should return to the Patriots, coach another team, or move to Fox Sports, where Tom Brady is poised to kick off his 10-year, $375 million deal as the network’s No. 1 game analyst.
Yes, it sounds “crazy,” admitted Michaels. But Belichick was nominated for a Sports Emmy for “Outstanding Sports Personality — Studio Analyst” for his work on NFL Network’s “NFL 100 All-Time Team.”
“How about this? If he goes into television, they put him in the booth with Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady next year on Fox,” said Michaels. “Or he goes on tour with Jon Bon Jovi. So we have all these possibilities – and nobody knows right now.”
Herbstreit was having fun with it, too.
“Throw him in there with Tommy Brady. That would be fun,” he said.
Sure, the duo were only being semi-serious. But talk of Belichick eventually moving to TV is growing.
Greg Olsen, Fox’s No. 1 analyst, told Richard Deitsch of The Athletic the Hoodie would be “fascinating” as a game analyst.
Top agents estimated Belichick could earn $8 million to $10 million as a studio analyst and double that as a No. 1 game analyst.
With Belichick’s 3-10 Pats mired in last place in the AFC East, several TV executives had similar thoughts about the coach’s possible transition from the sideline to the broadcast booth.
The executives declined to go on the record. But their answers were similar. They said the ball is very much in Belichick’s court. But if he’s interested in TV, they’re interested in him. After all, we’re talking arguably about the greatest coach in NFL history.
Forget Coach Robot repeating “We’re on to Cincinnati” until your eyes roll. Anybody who watched Belichick get choked up recalling his early coaching days with the New York Giants in the excellent ESPN Films doc, “The Two Bills,” knows there’s a heart beating inside the Darth Vader exterior.
As one TV executive told me: “If he really wants to explore TV, every network world would take that phone call. And I mean everyone.”
Another told me: “We’d expect the TV networks would be very interested if he chooses to go in that direction.”
Belichick doesn’t need the money. He ranks as the highest-paid coach in the NFL at $20 million a year, according to Sportico, with Pete Carroll of the Seattle Seahawks No. 2 at $15 million a year.
But like most great coaches, he is, at heart, a teacher. This could be his chance to share his encyclopedic football knowledge before he rides off into the sunset of retirement.
So there you go, coach. The opportunity is there if you want to make a call. If he applied himself, Belichick would surprise viewers. And maybe himself.
Don’t look now, but a growing number of Belichick’s ex-players are working in media, noted Peter Schrager of NFL Network, ranging from Devin and Jason McCourty to Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, and, hopefully, Brady.
“I would be a captive audience to listen to him on one of these shows. He’d be great,” said Schrager.
