The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Colin Cowherd Podcast - Prime Cuts: Ian O'Connor on Coach K's UNC L, Gregg Berhalter on USMNT's World Cup; Bob Ryan on Post-Brady Belichick

Episode Date: April 9, 2022

This is Prime Cuts! The best of The Colin Cowherd Podcast. First it's Colin's top takes of the week (3:00), including why soon to be fired Lakers HC Frank Vogel is the least of the Lakers problems, the glaringly obvious reason why the Bears and Rams are headed in opposite directions, and why Bill Belichick has been willing to let players like JC Jackson walk.Then, Ian O'Connor -- NY Post columnist and author of Coach K: The Rise and Reign of Mike Krzyzewski and Belichick -- (11:00) reacts to Coach K's post-game reaction to his disappointing Final Four loss to arch rival UNC, and why Tiger's 2019 Masters win was the best event Ian has ever covered in almost four decades.Then, United States Men's Soccer Coach Gregg Berhalter (24:00) reveals how he got Christian Pulisic to buy in to his vision after the disastrous 2018 qualification failure, if this talented young team can win it all, if he's offended by the English media dismissing the USMNT as a Group B lightweight, and if he's concerned about too much pressure on Pulisic.Finally, longtime Boston Globe sportswriter Bob Ryan (33:00) weighs in on the Tampa Bay Tom Brady transformation, how Belichick's arrogance has led to the Pats falling off, and if he needs to make the 'Patriot Way' less rigid to get better players.Make sure to Subscribe and follow Colin and The Volume on Twitter for the latest content and updates and check out FanDuel for the best wagering and daily fantasy action! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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C-O-L-I-N. Fandul Sportsbook app, sign up. This is Prime Cuts, the best of the Colin Coward podcast. This week, Ian O'Connor looked at the unceremonious ending to Coach K's career and Tigers Masters returning. He had great stories.

United States men's national coach, Greg Burhalter, discussed the pressure on Christian Pulisic and his team's World Cup chances. Longtime Boston sports writer, Bob Ryan, post Tom Brady, Boston Celtics, lots of stuff to cover there. First, by Top Takes of the Week.

So reportedly, Frank Vogel, a good guy who's won a title, is out of a job with the Lakers at the conclusion of the season. Listen, this is an unwinnable task. When I can identify by the third game of the season, your primary weaknesses, no elite three-point shooters, too old of a roster to defend the three, and old expensive rosters mean more injuries and longer to heal. If I can identify that, three games in, Frank Vogel has no shot here.

Let's be totally honest what the Lakers are asking the next coach to do. It would be asking an accountant to fix the books at Enron. There is no easy out once Russell Westbrook, whoever okayed the deal, no easy answer for the next coach.

Now, we know one or two things. Vogel's going to be out, and so is Westbrook. But you could put Eric Spolstra in this, you could put Ty Lou in this, or Greg Popovich. There's real limitations here. Coaches, as you know, have no leverage and virtually no say in this league.

I watched for years in Indiana, as Frank Vogel took Roy Hibbert and Paul George and gave Chris Bosch, LeBron James, Ray Allen, D. Wade, coached by Eric Spolstra, fits in the Eastern Conference playoffs. I watched Frank Vogel go into the bubble the only time in league history that young teams flourished in the playoffs and old teams eroded when a championship with old LeBron and frail. Anthony Davis. Don't tell me Frank Vogel can't coach. It's interesting what's happening in sports. Kevin Durant had ultimate leverage in power. And look at what he's created in Brooklyn. Since the day he and Kyrie arrived with the Nets, they have won 54% of their games. That's 13th best in the league. Aaron Rogers, ultimate power in Green Bay. They now have the worst receiving core in the league. And LeBron James, as much power as any NBA star, and he and his camp won at Westbrook.

Now, he doesn't want to leave L.A., his family doesn't want to leave L.A., and there is no short, quick fix to this mess of an aged roster. Be very careful about demanding power because people with it generally use it much to their downfall. Listen, same shit different day. You've heard about that? You've heard that saying before? Same shit different day?

This is same shit different coach. There's no fix here. The NBA forces you to make trades with very, virtually equal salaries. You're just taking on bad contracts the minute you get rid of Westbrook. And so, you know, I've told people there was an old comedian named Jackie Gleason. And at one point, he was as powerful as anybody on television, like Johnny Carson in the 80s powerful. And Jackie Gleason used to say, if you've got power, you don't really need to use it. People get out of your way. Kevin Durant had power. Aaron Rogers had power.

LeBron had power. Think about this. LeBron and Kevin Durant probably missed the playoffs. On any given night, the two best players in the league. Janice lets his front office and his coaches and the culture do their thing. He comes to play every night as a great teammate. He has the best team in the league. Said it before. Give people power. They're going to use it and often to their own peril. it apparently made a few people upset when I suggested the reason the Rams have so many high-priced stars and other teams can't afford them is the Rams have smarter people running their organization. Let me give an example.

The Chicago Bears, my sources have told me for years that upstairs the Bears don't know what they're doing. So the Bears don't pay their quarterback just in Fields. They don't pay Mooney their best young receiver. They don't have a top five highest paid offensive linemen, yet they had to let go of Alan Robinson, Kyle Fuller, and Khalil Mack in the last couple of years. Who are they paying? The Rams have top of the market,

Jalen Ramsey, Aaron Donald, Matt Stafford, Bobby Wagner. And they're still trying to make deals. They bring in Alan Robinson despite that, who will now be one. of the higher paid number two receivers in the NFL. Guys don't like to hear this. So much about guys is respect and their professional success. 5% of guys are smarter.

Elon Musk is smarter than anybody in his industry. Steve Jobs was. Read Hastings at Netflix. I know it drives people crazy. The Rams have a smarter owner, a smarter GM, a smarter coach than virtually everybody in the league. You start looking at the Giants and the Chicago Bears. They're not paying their quarterbacks and they're not in on any top free agent signings.

Think about the Bears. They had to let their best receiver, their best pass rusher, and their best corner going in the last two years. Who in the hell are they paying? It's all jammed up in their front seven defensively in a league where increasingly linebackers are a... limited leverage unit. I mean, the Rams and Bengals get to the Super Bowl,

both the weakest parts of their teams were linebacking cores. And in the Bengals case, O-line and linebacking cores. I know it drives people nuts, but the NFL has very few elite front offices and quarterbacks and O-lines and owners and GMs. The Rams have hit the trifecta, coach GM owner, all top 2%. Use the bears as an example of the gap

between how each franchise can manipulate the salary cap. It's got a hard floor. It's a hard cap. Look at how the Rams manipulate it and how the bears are overwhelmed by it. So one of the last free agent moves of note,

talented wide receiver, Devonte Parker from Miami, was traded to the New England Patriots. The Patriots receiving Corps gets a little bit of a jolt, but it's still Jacoby Myers, Nelson Aguilar, DeVonte Parker. You know, it's not exactly the chiefs. What I find fascinating about New England is for years and years, we thought Bill was sort of ahead of the curve on virtually everything.

Now, we know now post-Bradie divorce, even he can't win at the highest levels, without a great quarterback. But I swear to God, if I didn't know better, I'd think he was tanking it and giving Robert Kraft his franchise back with no coordinators, no skill people, and no elite edge rushers. Look at their roster. They can't stop the Buffalo Bills with J.C. Jackson. He's gone.

They can't score and keep up. with teams like the chiefs or the bills, and they didn't resign Shaq Mason. I don't know what they're doing. Reports now that Belichick will call plays. Doesn't it feel like he's still pissed about that Jimmy Garoppolo trade? And he's just going to hand craft a franchise, retire. It's going to have no coordinators. They'll need a new head coach and no playmakers.

Now, I know that's not true. but on all the Belichick books of which Ian O'Connor wrote a great one, Jeff Benedict wrote a great one, they really fell in love with their system. And what you're watching now is a team that simply doesn't match up. If you go look at the last two to three Super Bowls, quarterback, pass rush, weapons, they're not elite in any of those groups. I don't understand their offseason. Now, I know they spent a ton last year in free agency.

I get it. And maybe they believe with their complex system a second year in their system, some of those guys that didn't pop will like Nelson Aguilar. But if somebody can explain where their money is going, they're not paying Mac Jones. They're not paying big money to any of the receivers. They're not paying big money now to any of their offensive linemen. They're not paying big money to a corner or a safety or an edge rusher. where's it going? Let's bring on a regular contributor

to the volume sports, Ian O'Connor, columnist New York Post. The book is called Coach K, The Rise and Rain of Mike Shoshchewski. I thought you've been following Mike now for some time. The timing of this, obviously when you plan to write this book, you looked off in the horizon a couple years ago and said, okay, I'm on a deep dive on this stuff.

I thought it was so sad. on a golf cart with his longtime wife Mickey having lost to North Carolina for the second time in a month. God, Ian, it was so anticlimactic. It was just such a thud. So I'll start with that. He could not figure out North Carolina's riddle. How disappointed was he immediately after the game? Oh, I mean, he was as disappointed as you could be.

and it was interesting. He said, I don't think I've ever heard a coach say this. In his locker room after the game, the devastation was so profound that everyone was crying. And he said that was a beautiful sight. And I never heard a coach describe that scene that way after a devastating defeat. And I understood what he meant, and he explained it,

that that was proof that his kids cared so much about the effort and the result. And either they're going to be tears of, great joy or tears of great sadness. And unfortunately, they were on the wrong end of that, but at least there were tears throughout the locker room. And that told him that, what I think he already knew about this group because honestly, Colin, five minutes left against Michigan State in round two, down five, we all thought they were losing. Just watching that team this year 35 times and even talking to some of the Duke Beat writers,

everyone thought they were losing because they had not shown that toughness in end game. intense situations, and they grew up in real time for him. And I think they gave him a gift. That game, the Texas Tech game, the Arkansas game, that as much as last night really hurt, and it really hurt. He understood that they did give him a gift, and they got him to the final four for a 13th time. Passing John Wooden, he was never obviously going to catch Wooden with 10 national titles, but this group got him past John Wooden for final four appearances, and I think he can't really fully repaid them for that and he understood that as well. I've got to ask you one, Tiger Woods question.

He's gone from Can't Walk to May Play at the Masters over the course of about six months. Your gut feeling this morning if we see Tiger this weekend. So he's got to make the cut. I thought you can't. No, no, no. Will he play? Yes, yes.

And listen, he's got a Tuesday press conference schedule at 11 a.m. Eastern. And he's scheduled to practice today, Monday. He practiced Sunday at Augusta. And I think he'll play nine holes today, maybe 18, who knows, but probably nine. And absolutely, at this point, there's no way he even last week

would have shown up at Augusta National to practice if he wasn't planning on playing. Now, if he wakes up Thursday morning and all of a sudden out of the blue, his leg is killing him, then I guess. But no, he's playing. he's playing. And now, whether or not he'll make the cut, listen, he's never entered a tournament

in his life that he didn't expect to win. He doesn't expect to win this master's, but I believe deep down he thinks he has a shot, right? So he'll never enter a tournament where he feels he has no shot. So I think he must believe he's got a little bit of a shot to pull this off. Ben Hogan, of course, did it in 16 months, nearly got killed by a Greyhound bus. 16 months later, he wins the U.S. Open. Tigers talked about Hogan and that comeback is the greatest in the history of golf and maybe in the history of sports. This is now 13 months in change. So if he could somehow contend, which may seem unlikely and which may seem really improbable win, then he out Hogan's Hogan. Now, I mentioned that in Com. I got a lot of blowback from older fans who

said, listen, Ben Hogan almost died getting hit by a Greyhound bus that swerved in to his lane, you can't compare that to a self-inflicted crash or rollover. And we don't know all the details really of where Tiger was and was he asleep. So I've gotten that from some older fans. And I sort of brushed that aside to me, hey, the guy came back from nearly having his leg amputated in a crash after a crash 13 plus months ago. If he somehow contends, that's going to be one of the greatest golf stories of all time. Listen, his last master's win was, I mean, I've said this. It's one of the seminal golf memories of my life.

I mean, we've all got the Norman at the Masters. We've got Tiger and that Rocco Mediate playoff to me at the U.S. Open. Tigers win at the Masters last time was one of the few times. I always try to consider myself sort of a judge. You know, the fans of the jury. The participants are the DA and the prosecuting attorney. And I'm just a judge, right? I was so emotional watching that.

And so, I mean, I don't know if you can top it. Do you remember his last master's win? What stuck out to you? Oh, yeah. I think I've been doing this 36, 37 years. It's the greatest sporting event I've ever covered. Wow. Partly because my brother, it was my last trip with my brother.

I never got a master's ticket until that's the first time I ever got a master's ticket. That was the 20th one I covered. And I gave it to my brother. So he had never been to a major before. So we go and there, we had a point blank look at the 16th green at the put that basically sealed it. And we're walking to the 17th T. And I said, Dan, you've never seen a major golf championship. You were now watching the greatest masters of all time.

And unfortunately, unexpectedly, he died months later. So it was our last trip together. So I admit that's part of why it's, to me, the greatest sporting event. But I think even if you took that away and boy, I wish I could, that would still be number one. It was just remarkable to see him win after what he had endured. And again, some of it was, if not a lot of it, was self-inflicted. But I choose to look at the art and the artist and sort of separate and put it in its own category and box and appreciate the greatness. And then to see him hug his son afterward, I was really close to that moment.

After obviously in 97 being there when Earl hugged him, it was, man, it's hard to beat that. This baseball season turned K's into cash and big hits into big wins with Fandall Sportsbook. Right now, new customers at Fandall. Step up to the plate with a risk-free first bet up to $1,000. Risk-free. I like betting money lines, totals, players props, same game parlayes, bet a little, win a lot. Just sign up, place your first bet. Fandle will refund you up to $1,000 back in site credit if you don't win.

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It was a great way to start a company. I highly recommend it. How do you sell millions of dollars worth of dog ramps for wiener dogs in the middle of a pandemic? We're working with 400 influencers, and the majority of them are actually not a person. but it's actually a dog. I can tell you right now, the dog ramp guy has some very interesting problems. Listen to what's your problem on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So Greg Berhalter does not need my support as head coach of the U.S. men's national soccer team since 2018.

But I often find myself in the crosshairs of the crazies on the internet. We have a history in this country is when the U.S. wins, the players are amazing. and when they lose, the coach is a bum. And Greg has to have seen some of this. And I have come to his defense many times. And again, he doesn't need it. But one of the criticisms that I find really remarkable is, and I do think you've done a remarkable job with this, but you inherited a culture that was adrift, a roster that was aging. And I didn't feel like outside of Christian Pulisic, I didn't know what we were.

So let's go to this. When you first take it over, your first six weeks, what was your primary mission? Just like you're taking over a college basketball or football program. What did you identify is a problem that you needed to fix Greg quickly? It's a great question. And I spent a lot of time before my first meeting with the players just doing background and talking to a number of players, talking to a number of coaches, and trying to figure out exactly what was wrong, reflecting on my own playing days with the national team.

And what it came down to, Calm, it was pretty clear that they just lacked a vision. The program lacked something to latch on to and say, okay, you know, through good and bad, we know through sacrifice, through hard times, you know, we can always just align towards achieving this vision. And they lack that. So for us, as a staff, it was. was creating this vision of where we wanted to take the program and then say, okay, guys, if we say we want to do this, what is it going to take? What are you willing to sacrifice to do it? And I think that was impactful. And we've been really intentional about, you know, hammering home similar messages and, you know, creating values and things that we stand for as a

group. And that process has been gratifying. And I think that process has helped us in qualifying for sure. Like any sport, you need your star to buy in. How long for Christian Pulisic that you felt a buy-in? You know, I think with Christian, you know, my initial meeting with him, I immediately saw a spark in his eye and there was, you know, there was acceptance. But like anything, it's easier said than done. And I think it did take a while just because everyone had a hangover from 2018,

and everyone wants to win right away. But I knew it was going to take some time before this group could really get to where it needed to get to because of our age, because of our inexperience. So, you know, he's the first thing I'd say about Christian for being such a big star, he's the most humble, down-to-earth, well-meaning person that you can come in contact with.

So that's a great starting point. But like anyone, he wants to be successful, he wants to win on the field. And so, you know, I think that the real change started, I guess, in last summer when, you know, when we won the Nations League that the players believed it was possible. Greg, I feel like we're in, there's four stages in my opinion. And you can slice and dice these up and push back, but four stages in soccer. The first stage was my childhood.

Kyle wrote Jr.'s a star. We don't have elite international players. We're welcoming the sport to America. We have some athletes, but we don't have. high skill. The second stage to me is Landon Donovan, Dempsey, uh, uh, Clinton Dempsey. It is, um, tough. Some guys getting international opportunities capable of making the World Cup and winning a match. I do think we've moved into a third stage. Multiple players good enough to play internationally can occasionally be

very effective internationally. The fourth stage is can win the World Cup. I don't think we're there. I think as Winston Church said, too bad youth is wasted on the young. I think we're really young. How concerned are you about that? Now, you got some pushback because you would play some older MLS players. And my takeaway was, well, you're doing that for the obvious reasons. Your skill levels really good by U.S. men's historic standards.

But we've got kids here. When I talk about stage three, as skilled as we've ever been, but boy, we lack some World Cup experience. Do you, is that a concern? Not really, because we've gone all in in this generation of players and, you know, we'll be the youngest team in the World Cup and it's going to be about gaining valuable experience while trying to compete and while trying to go as far as we've ever gone before. And the good thing about it is we have guys, young players that are playing in the Champions League. They know what it's like to win. They know what it's like to win big games.

They have high demands from their clubs to win big games. And it's not, it's no different with us. We're going to be in a very similar situation. So I think that, you know, this, this World Cup, I think, is going to be a great experience for the group. You know, we're going to be pushing. Sometimes I think if you don't know any better, you can go out and do it, right? But once you realize what it takes, it's harder. Right. So that might be in our benefit. as well. But, you know, it's going to be fun. It's going to be exciting for sure. Listen, you're in a group with England, Iran. This may be Iran's best team, a Euro playoff winner. The English press said it was the easiest group, kind of a shot at your team. How did

you take that? I think it's typical. You know, when you actually, if you look at the FIFA rankings, if Wales makes it as well, we'll have the hardest group by FIFA ranking. if you add up all the numbers. Right. But I can understand. You know, the English press are what they are. You know, we don't have that respect yet from the English press. And that's fine, you know, because we're going to have to earn that respect. And the World Cup is a platform to do that.

Greg, there is a balance of having a star player and then being overly reliant on a Messier Ronaldo. And one of the problems of that is your opponents can identify that. I noticed Panama got very chippy with Polisic. You smartly, I mean, I literally tweeted it. Get him out of it. Boom, you pulled him out so you saw the same thing. How do you create a synergy on the team where you need and can rely on Christian in big moments, but are not overly dependent on him because it's very clear to me over the last,

since you took this team over, he's a target. People are coming after him physically. Yep. And part of that has to do with his skill set and how he's most effective. You know, a lot of times he likes the ball to feed. He likes to dribble the ball. So by nature, you have the ball longer and by nature you can be fouled easier. But with him in particular, it's just us understanding the team, the coaches and his teammates understanding what makes him special and then utilizing him in that way. he's very good at arriving in the penalty box.

He's very good at scoring goals when he does. And that's what we need to focus on. And then him understanding that there's no extra pressure on him to do more. He just needs to be himself because that's good enough for us. And I think once he comes to that realization and then his teammates know how to utilize him in the best possible way, he's going to shine for us. All right. long time and now retired Boston Globe Sports Rider, but he's on social media, relevant as ever, opinions as strong as ever. Somebody I enjoy talking to a couple times of the year and having lived in that area for about 10 to 11 years, I was not introduced to him, certainly in Connecticut, but saw more of him and I loved it.

And now I'm back out west and Bob remains in Boston. All right, let's start with this. There are those who are saying in the Boston media, they subscribe to the theory that, Tom is a little bit of a sellout. You know, the new Tom is, you know, a little into social media, a little goofy, is not paying respect, you know, to sort of his historic relevance and his greater half, which is the New England half. I've argued this, that he suppressed a lot of his personality in New England for the betterment of the organization. And this is really who Tom is. Tom's kind of funny.

Tom is wildly competitive. He just bumped Brouserians to a job. He never wanted a cubicle upstairs. He's a lot more cutthroat than we think. You know, hyper vigilant and willful. That's who he is. But Tom also, especially early in New England, suppressed it because he realized very quickly,

this is a great owner and this is the best coach in the history of football. And my defenses are remarkable. Which is the truth? Is this the real Tom? Is the other guy the real Tom? What do you make if you? his transformation in Tampa. Well, it's interesting.

He left the ranks of the normal human being a long time ago when he just completely went off the rails with this regimen of his and the whole TB12 thing and claiming that, you know, you could, you could wheel your way away from concussions and, you know, come on, Tom, let's get, you know, real here. That surfaced. But you're right, some of this other stuff came out after he got away from Bill. And now we find, you know, if you read it, you know, if you read it. the two books that are out, the dynasty by Jeff Benedict and the,

better to be feared book. And it's pretty evident that he was happy to get away from Bill after all these years. He had done enough winning with Bill and he had enough of Bill's methodology and he wanted to get away from Bill. I think it's pretty evident for that. But you're right, there probably was more of a, I won't say carefree but worthful personality than he was ever allowed to, which shows to display in Boston.

So I think you're probably on their right track with that. You know, Pete Carroll has a lot of power when Paul Allen died and the Seahawk drafts have gotten progressively worse, the more power Pete Carroll had. Belichick historically is a terrible drafter, the more power he had, especially of skill people. Last year, he had his best draft in a decade, arguably, because, you know, it was documented that he sort of relinquished some of his power.

Bill will always be as smart as any coach I've ever seen. But the league is now, Bob, as you see clearly, moving in a different direction. The middle of the field is now the offenses. You can't hit quarterbacks or wide receivers. The NFC, every playoff team had an offensive coach. If you eliminate the AFC East that had only defensive coaches, seven of eight remaining divisions were won by an offensive coach. McVeigh's, Zach Taylor's, the young coaches, McVeigh's Tree, they're all. working. Belichick's defensive tree, many aren't working.

Is it reasonable to say, as brilliant as Bill is, that between drafting and the cultural changes, Bill is starting, I mean, he's going to be his own coordinator now offensively, according to reports. Bill's starting, not Jurassic, but feeling a tad, a tad outdated. there are cultural changes. Greg Popovich face this. It's more, you know, letting Kauai go in petty fashion. They've never really recovered from that. Do you think it's fair to say, I see Bill and I think, not that he's Bobby Knight, right,

who refused to embrace the one and done. But he feels C.J. Jackson or J.C. Jackson. Bill, he's arguably your best player, Shaq Mason, arguably your best offensive lineman. He's starting to feel a little outdated, Bob. There's a clear sense of arrogance that has manifested itself here that he thinks he can do it the way he did it. And we mentioned that he's just lost his offensive coordinator. And we don't know how that's going to, you know, evolve this year. He's infested. He's a festive to have a lot of faith in Matt Patricia to his, he's just He's his number one lieutenant now.

And back maybe where he belongs because he certainly wasn't a success as a head guy. You know, you write, the coaching tree of his is pretty undistinguished. I mean, including McDaniel's first foray, you know, when he flopped in Denver. No, there's an arrogance there. And believe me, people are watching this,

all these major things happen around the league and in the division and starting in Buffalo. You know, where now they have the kid. You'll have the guy for a damn near 20 years. They have the guy now. Think about this. I mean, I know you know this, but for people to think about this. A stunning thing.

And you wonder if it was anybody else. But would have gotten any more... Buffalo, they played Buffalo twice in the end, and they never punted. They never forced Buffalo off the field. Not once. Not once. Not once in 120 minutes of football. Did they force Buffalo off the field?

I mean, that was chilling. It's stunning. So, no, you're right. There's an arrogance there. And you know what the famous Lord acting quote is? Power corrupts, an absolute power corrupts absolutely. So if he hangs around long enough, now he's going to be 70, his next birthday. And that's a decision Bob Kraft is what's what's Bob Kraft seeing?

What's he thinking? Bob Kraft has been able to function for all these years in Bill, I trust, you know, let Bill do what he wants. Bill runs everything the way Bill wants to run it. Fine. Bill can be an ass after a game and, you know, and that's fine. you know, embarrassed your organization, that's fine. You know, we'll get the benefit in the end.

But maybe the benefits aren't going to be so good from now. But I think that I'd love to know with Bob Kraft, you know, how close to his attention is he really paying to all this? Well, he said at the owner meetings. Right. Yeah, about, I'm tired of three years. Yeah, okay, fine. But what does that mean?

All right. So how are you going to affect this or affect this? I don't know. You're right. He did say that. So clearly publicly he says that. But what's, meanwhile, what's he saying behind closed doors? I love to know.

Belichick had said years ago, and this is something I think Robert Kraft has to look at. Belichick said years ago, maybe six or seven years ago, he was only going to acquire draft or trade for players he wanted to coach. It's like, okay, be very careful. Okay. Some of the great players, you may not love coaching. I heard one of the reasons that they let Jayce, Jackson walk is because they didn't think if they franchise tagged him, they thought he would be difficult. And I think to myself, Bill, sometimes great players are difficult. This is the interesting

thing with Belichick. When he said that, they had Brady and they were winning. But this is where, this is the Greg Popovich connection here, is that not everybody is going to buy into your culture, but sometimes you need a great pass rusher and you need a great wide receiver because and that's where I am a little fearful that Belichick he's got his legacy. He's got his net worth. Bob, he doesn't, too much power. He won't let go because he loves every aspect of his job. He loves it all.

Like he's in glory. He's in his glory calling right now. He loves preparing for the draft. he loves it he loves everything about coaching he likes OTAs he likes training camp he likes Sundays you know Monday nights he likes to home but the only thing he doesn't like you and even this is misunderstood is it doing with the media he can manipulate it the way he wants and gets better and better as the week goes on that's a whole other story you know the Pelagic that you see on Saturday Sunday after a game or Monday night after a game is not

the same Belichick you get on Saturday when he's relaxed and has opened the discussion about a lot of things. The man loves football. I would dare say no coach in the history of the league has had more football empirical knowledge stored in this head, which includes history than anybody. He's the number one football person that's ever coached in the NFL in terms of empirical knowledge about football. I say he knows more about Paul Brown than Mike Brown does. I mean, and that's not a slain, that's just a joke, you know, that's a throwaway line, but that's the point. But the point is he loves it all. And he has a, there's no sign he loves He loves the name less.

Now, as he approaches 70, then he did 5, 10, or 15 years ago when he was win. So he's going to be hard to let the dislodge. I think your inference is completely accurate. But now, this is where Bob Kraft comes in. Can Bob Kraft, you know, how does he handle this? You know, and that's going to be very, very interesting. At the volume sports, Twitter, Instagram. Go to our YouTube page.

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