Chip Kelly’s firing proves NFL is no country for Bill Belichick clones
By Josh Hill
Sports in general are an interesting place, as we live in a culture that is about as far removed from the glorified Lombardi and Landry days as humanly possible. We’re the participation trophy generation, where showing up and doing your best is good enough to earn you credit.
But there are throwbacks among us that push all that aside and harken back to the much romanticized “man’s man” days of the NFL. Bill Belichick is perhaps the best example of that, as he could exist as he is now in 1965 as much as he does in 2015.
Chip Kelly was the latest head coach to be deemed the next Bill Belichick thanks to his “revolutionary” approach to the game and his dictator-like ways of running the Eagles. But after three years and sucking the Eagles dry of talent like they were a jelly donut, Kelly has been fired.
Once again we are reminded that there is no copying Bill Belichick in any way, no matter how hard everyone tries.
When you look at the success Belichick has had over the course of his career, it’s hard to not want to copy that. It’s how mostly everything that is successful in this world is created — by copying something that worked. Whether it’s movies, music or television shows, everything is a copy or an homage to something.
But while Quentin Tarantino can homage to Scorsese and Kubrick with Oscar-winning success, not everyone is able to be copied. Belichick is rare in that way, even though so many have tried.
Nick Saban tried to emulate his old colleague when he left LSU in 2004 to take the Miami Dolphins job. That lasted just two seasons and maybe would have only lasted three if Saban hadn’t wised up and showed himself the door rather than receive his pink slip in 2007.
Greg Schiano was infamously a guy that Belichick supported for his no-nonsense ways when he was hired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The end result to that was Belichick fleecing the Bucs of LeGarrette Blount and Aqib Talib while Tampa ended up firing Schiano after two seasons.
Josh McDaniels left the Patriots staff to coach the Broncos with Belichick’s totalitarian style. His most memorable moves were trading Brandon Marshall and Jay Cutler while trading way too high in the draft to pick Tim Tebow in the first round. He was fired after — you guessed it, almost two years.
Noticing a trend here?
Romeo Crenel, Charlie Weis and Eric Mangini were all given basically carte blanche due to their connection with Belichick and all three flamed out hard as head coaches.
Look, not everyone who is a hard-nosed head coach is a screwup and not all are trying to copy Belichick. But the track record for guys who rule with an iron fist who aren’t named Bill Belichick having success isn’t good.
That’s bad news for Houston Texans head coach Bill O’Brien, who is actually having success right now — mostly by default.
You may not like him because of his salty exterior, but there’s no denying that there is only one Bill Belichick. No amount of carbon copying will ever change this, and it’s about time we stop trying.