Legends Leave Home

Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots announce they are parting ways. After 24 years and 6 super bowls the New England Patriots will have a new head coach in 2024. There was word of this coming in the last month or so but still comes as a shock so a couple reasons.

The first is that Bill Belichick is one of the greatest to ever coach the game. moving on from a legend and first ballot hall a famer like Bill Belichick is never easy but as we’ve seen before at some point you must move on, no matter the success of the head coach.

Belichick leaves New England with 6 super bowl rings and appeared in 2 other super bowls.

Belichick not only enhanced the organization in Foxborough, but the NFL as well. Giving us great playoff memories with Brady vs Manning match ups. Falling just one game short of a perfect season going 18-1 in 2007, and giving us so many undervalued, under apricated players rising to NFL stardom. Bill Belichick left his mark on the hearts of NFL fans and every diehard patriot fan. Even if you loved to hate em it was a great show to watch unfold.

The surprising part of how this came about to me what that owner, Robert Kraft could have got have benefited from dealing Belichick but chose not to. I think that Kraft looked at what Belichick has done for him and his organization and decided that Bill like Brady did, deserves to go out on own terms with out gain and bad blood.  

When I close my eyes and think of a cold fall Sunday afternoon as a kid I think of Belichick, Brady and all those amazing season Belichick put together. The good news is that Bill is not retiring and has plenty of options to find a new team that I believe will be more than happy to take him on the headset.

From one hall of famer to another, Nick Saban decides to retire from the game after 16 years at Alabama. This was more shocking news than that of Bill Belichick. After a tough loss to Michigan in the Rose bowl Nick Saban decides to call it quits.

Nick Saban is for my vote the best college football coach. Saban finishes his career with 7 National championships. Winning 1 at LSU and 6 at Alabama. Nick Saban leaves Alabama with a 201-29 record. Nick Saban reached heights that were never reached in the game of college football. What’s so impressive about this is he did this in the BCS Era, 4 team CFP, and NIL/transfer portal era. He did this at the time that college football changed the most.

Saban was a football guy more than we will ever know. This is part of the reason he coached into his 70’s. Saban needed football like we need oxygen and water to live. What Saben did to our beloved sport I believe will never be done again. There will never be another Nick Saban.

As Alabama turns the page this should be in the fore front of the Alabama administration. You never want to be the guy that replaces the guy but especially if the administration expects you to be the same as the best to ever do it.

It will be interesting to see where Alabama goes to replace Saban as head coach. Do they go after a former assistant that is not a head coach elsewhere. Like Dan Lanning at Oregon or Steve Sarkisian at Texas. Do they go in a different direction and hire a coordinator on the current staff or elsewhere. Will be a big topic of news over the next couple of weeks.