Six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Belichick is unemployed, and the New York Giants just wrapped up a disappointing 6-11 season that featured some coaching staff turmoil. Add it all up and Belichick-to-the Giants is a possibility that isn’t likely to die any time soon (especially if Brian Daboll’s team struggles in 2024).
But would Belichick be open about returning to the Giants, where he spent 12 seasons as a defensive coach (five as defensive coordinator) from 1979-90? Don’t get your hopes up, Giants fans.
“I’ve heard this multiple times over the past five, six, seven years. And it’s a dirty little secret, maybe, about Bill Belichick and the Giants,” ESPN Giants reporter Jordan Raanan said on Thursday’s “Breaking Big Blue” podcast. “… (Belichick) has great affinity and memories with the Giants organization. … (But) I don’t think he looks at the Giants the same way he used to look at the Giants when he was here.”
Belichick has watched the Giants from afar while he coached the Patriots for 24 seasons. Since 2009, the Giants have reached the playoffs three times, including the Super Bowl title following the 2011 campaign. In between those times, there has been a lot of losing, and, perhaps, an organization structure that is not conducive to winning.
“Over the years, Bill Belichick has given advice to people that he didn’t really like the setup of the Giants organization,” Raanan said. “Like, he didn’t think the Giants (were) this great organization,” Raanan said. “Bill Belichick, like everybody else watching from the outside (and) watching the way it’s set up, doesn’t think — at least this is what I’ve heard — it’s this great organization in its current iteration.
Raanan was quick to point out that Belichick appreciates the Giants and what they have meant to his career. But Belichick, a control freak, is a fan of Wellington Mara, the Giants’ late owner, and not so fond of his son John Mara and Steve Tisch, the current co-owners since 2005.
It also means that, say, as the Giants fill out the coaching staff this offseason for a job like defensive coordinator after Wink Martindale parted ways, Belichick won’t be speaking glowingly about the organization.
“He’s directly told that to people — be careful about the organization and their setup and the way it’s run. That’s happened. That’s been relayed to me on multiple occasions,” Raanan said. “So, yes, Bill Belichick loves the New York Football Giants, the organization, the memories he has from the past. It doesn’t mean he’s bat**** crazy in love with the Giants organization right now.”
