For 24 seasons, Bill Belichick was in complete control of New England Patriots.
Many speculated that the head coach lost out on a job because he wanted to be in charge of roster decisions in his next act, but Arthur Blank, the owner of the Falcons, the only person to interview him, shot down that theory on Friday.
On Super Bowl Live, Blank stated:
“I want to be clear really on behalf of Bill, just as a human being and as a storied coach in the history of our league,”
“Been a coach 49 years in the NFL. Bill, during all of our discussions with him, it was never about power, control, needing people to work for him, etcetera. He was interested in coaching. Well he definitely wanted a collaborative relationship with personnel, scouting. He had done his reference checking on our department, had committed to me that he’d be happy to work with our people. In fact, did it in writing through a text message he sent to me at one point.
“Bill was really focused and is focused on being a great head coach, which is clearly what he has been. We looked at all the candidates that we interviewed, all the time together, and we felt for a variety of reasons that the best choice for us at this point in our lives, the life of the franchise going forward, is Raheem Morris.”
Why has Bill Belichick remained unemployed ?
The NFL’s second-winningest coach of all time became available when Belichick and the Patriots voluntarily decided to part ways, leaving many to speculate about where the living legend would end up next.
However, throughout the hiring process, he was only interviewed by one of the seven teams trying to fill the position of head coach. Bill was invited by the Falcons twice to discuss the role prior to Raheem Morris’s hire. Terry Fontenot, general manager, will be in charge of personnel while Morris would oversee all coaching choices.
If Belichick had earned the position, maybe the structure would have been different. However, Blank makes it clear that looking past him had nothing to do with the need for GM power.