Chansky’s Notebook: A Big Plan

Art Chansky’s Sports Notebook is presented by The Casual Pint. YOUR place for delicious pub grub paired with local beer. Choose from 35 rotating taps and over 200 beers in the cooler.

Carolina pulled off the unlikely coaching coup for Bill Belichick.

Did anyone really believe this could happen? And what will happen next?

Now that it’s official, the questions will increase.

For example, how will 20-year-olds react to the next 73-year-old?

How long will it take Belichick to build a big winner at UNC?

Three years ago this would never have happened. Since then, the college game has resembled the professional game with forms of free agency for players and compensation based on their value.

What about the stark difference between running a professional football franchise and a college program?

And so forth?

I’m an opinion maker who grew up in Boston and, like everyone else from New England, loved what the surly Belichick built over 20 years with the Patriots and Tom Brady. Sure, it’s a gamble, but one that could change the culture of Carolina football for a long time.

Despite the age difference and performance gap between NFL pros and college players, the Hoodie will run his program the same way the Patriots do. The players won’t see much of him other than meetings, practices and games. He is never allowed to visit a recruit’s home.

Every other aspect of Carolina football is overseen by carefully selected staff, such as new general manager Mike Lombardi, who has been a colleague and confidant of Belichick’s for years and is involved in negotiations with John Preyer, chairman of the UNC Board of Trustees was that put pressure on the rent.

Certainly he will need more ZERO money than the school committed to before the deal was finalized. But without having to break the bank, Belichick will attract a lot of players because of his reputation and his ability to pave their way to the NFL.

Quick processing of the program, which would not have been so easy a few years ago, can be aided immediately by identifying and signing dozens of players through the transfer portal.

Recruits are similar to rookies in the NFL: some are ready to play in their first year, but most need some development time. They will accomplish this through the assistant coaching, strength and training staff Belichick has assembled. He has unlimited connections in the professional and collegiate ranks to find the best people to fill these positions.

How will he interact with the media? Not much.

Mack Brown’s hour-long press conferences will be shortened to 20 minutes, if they are that long. Belichick, a Wesleyan graduate and eager CEO, has won enough to view the media as a necessary evil.

He will build a successful team and probably win sooner than expected. What he did in the NFL could mean he knows a lot more than most college coaches. The next three years will bring a lot of excitement and excitement.

And yes, some of the feedback was about the head coach’s girlfriend, 24-year-old Jordan Hudson, a champion cheerleader who could end up as an advisor in that role. People will talk about her a lot more if he doesn’t win.

Featured image via Associated Press/Steven Senne

Art Chansky is a veteran journalist who has written ten books, including bestsellers “Game Changers,” “Blue Bloods,” and “The Dean’s List.” He has been a contributor to the WCHL for decades, making his first appearance as a student in 1971 The “Sports Notebook” commentary airs daily on 97.9 The Hill WCHL and his opinion column “Art’s Angle” appears weekly on Chapelboro.

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Chansky’s Notebook: A Big Plan

UNC pulled off the unlikely coaching coup for Bill Belichick. Did anyone really believe this could happen? And what will happen next?

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