Belichick gives ‘simple’ reason for banning Patriots scout at UNC

Belichick’s comments stand as the latest development in what developed into a fractured relationship between the future Hall of Famer and the team he helped lead to six Super Bowl titles.

Both Doug Kyed and Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald first reported on Thursday that Belichick banned a New England scout from the Tar Heels’ practices in August. 

“Why would we let them in our home after how he’s been treated since he left? We will help our players, but being treated fairly is a two-way street,” a UNC athletic source told the Herald, via text,” Kyed and Callahan wrote.

ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler reported on Thursday that New England’s personnel was informed in August that they weren’t able to view any practices at Chapel Hill.

“When reached by ESPN, North Carolina football general manager Michael Lombardi said, ‘Good luck’ and then hung up the phone. UNC did not respond to an ESPN request for comment,” Kahler wrote. 

“Lombardi and Tar Heels pro liason Frantzy Jourdain informed the Patriots that they would be banned from UNC the day before one of their scouts was scheduled to visit in August, a source with direct knowledge told ESPN,” Kahler added.

Speaking on Friday, Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel took the high road when asked about Belichick and the Tar Heels’ decision to ban their scouts. 

“Oh, no, that’s an individual choice and we’ll cross that bridge when we start looking at players,” Vrabel said. “I want to focus on our football team, and that’s their prerogative to make the decisions they feel like are best for them. And then we’ll have to find other ways to get the information for any players that we want to look at at North Carolina.”

Belichick — who is now 1-1 at UNC after Saturday’s win over Charlotte — has developed an icy relationship with the Patriots since leaving the organization after a four-win season in 2023. 

At the time of Belichick’s exit, both he and the Patriots deemed it as a “mutual” parting of ways. 

But Patriots team owner Robert Kraft reversed course in October 2024 when asked of Belichick’s departure during an interview on “The Breakfast Club”. 

“I kept him for 24 years,” Kraft said. “I didn’t enjoy having to fire him, but I tried to do it — if you look at the press conference and how it happened, tried to do it in a classy way.”

Belichick opted to omit any reference of Kraft in his new book, “The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football” earlier this year, with Belichick adding during a now-viral interview on CBS Sunday Morning that his decision to leave the Patriots  was still a “mutual decision.”

The war of words continued between Belichick and Kraft this summer. 

“I gave up a No. 1 draft pick for a coach that had only won a little over 40% of his games to get him out,” Kraft said of hiring Belichick during an interview on Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski’s “Dudes on Dudes” podcast in July. “I don’t know if there are any Jets fans here. I think getting Bill Belichick to come to the Patriots in 1999 was a big risk, and I got hammered in the Boston area, but he was with us for 24 years.”

Those comments prompted a response from Belichick. 

“As I told Robert multiple times through the years, I took a big risk by taking the New England Patriots head coaching job,” Belichick told ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. “I already had an opportunity to be the Head Coach of the New York Jets, but the ownership situation was unstable.”

Belichick landed another dig against the Kraft family in August when asked by Ben Volin of The Boston Globe about the leeway that he is afforded as head coach at UNC. 

“There’s no owner, there’s no owner’s son, there’s no cap, everything that goes with the marketing and everything else, which I’m all for that,” Belichick told Volin of the freedom he has at UNC. “But it’s way less of what it was at that level. Generic NFL teams, you have the owner, president, general manager, personnel director, college director, pro director, cap guy, some other consultant, then head coach.

“I’d say when we had our best years in New England, we had fewer people and more of a direct vision. And as that expanded, it became harder to be successful,” Belichick added.

Last week, Kraft told WBZ’s Dan Roche that he wants to build a statue of Belichick next to Tom Brady’s at Gillette Stadium. 

But after this latest drama, it remains to be seen if said plans will come to fruition. 

 

Conor Ryan is a staff writer covering the Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Red Sox for Boston.com, a role he has held since 2023.