Bill Belichick reportedly bans Patriots scouts from UNC practices
“If you’re a scout from the New England Patriots, you are not allowed at the University of North Carolina. Which is funny, but also kind of embarrassing."
There doesn’t appear to be any love lost between Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots.
According to Doug Kyed and Andrew Callahan of the Boston Herald, Belichick has banned Patriots scouts from attending and viewing practices at the University of North Carolina in order to scout their players.
Per both Kyed and Callahan, Patriots scouting personnel can still request film for specific Tar Heels players and can call UNC staff for more information about certain prospects.
“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.
In a subsequent story released Thursday evening, ESPN’s Kalyn Kahler reported 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.
The Boston Herald’s report comes on the heels of former NFL scout John Middlekauff noting on his “3 & Out With John Middlekauff” show that Belichick had banned Patriots scouts from UNC practices.
“If you’re a scout from the New England Patriots, you are not allowed at the University of North Carolina. Which is funny, but also kind of embarrassing,” Middlekauff said.
Kahler’s ESPN also noted that the Tar Heels are curtailing plenty of access when it comes to NFL scouts and their ability to view practices this season.
“Two other NFL scouts told ESPN that North Carolina, under Belichick’s leadership, offers limited access to all NFL personnel. Clubs are only allowed to speak with Jourdain and UNC’s college relations website says that, “scouts will have zero access to coaches or other personnel people,” according to the scouts,” Kahler wrote.
Belichick and the Patriots have been on icy terms in the years since the former New England head coach left Foxborough after a disastrous four-win season in Foxborough in 2023.
While both the Patriots and Belichick said at the time of Belichick’s exit that it was a “mutual” parting of ways, the team owner said during an interview on “The Breakfast Club” in October that Belichick was fired.
“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.”
As noted during Belichick’s now-viral CBS Sunday Morning interview in April, he did not mention Kraft once in his new book, “The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football.” The six-time Super Bowl champion in New England also stressed during that interview with Tony Dokoupil that his decision to leave the Patriots was still a “mutual decision.”
Belichick also appeared to deliver a shot against the Kraft family last month during an interview with with Ben Volin of The Boston Globe — especially in regards to the level of involvement that ownership had in football operations over his final years in Foxborough.
“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.
Earlier this week, Kraft told WBZ’s Dan Roche that he wants to build a statue of Belichick next to Tom Brady’s at Gillette Stadium once his coaching career comes to a close.
Given these new reports, it doesn’t appear as though a friendly reunion between the now-UNC coach and his former NFL club will be achieved any time soon.
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