The football world has received some shocking news in recent days, as it was reported on Thursday that Bill Belichick would not be returning to coach the New England Patriots in 2024. On top of that, Pete Carroll stepped down from his head coach position with the Seattle Seahawks and Nick Saban retired as head coach of the Alabama Crimson Tide.
Those three coaches played a huge part in the last two decades between the NFL and college games, and for them to all move on from their respective jobs in a matter of 24 hours is stunning, to say the least.
Miami Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel was asked to share his thoughts on the Belichick news, and he actually opened it up to all three coaches.
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Mike McDaniel on the last 24 hours 😂 pic.twitter.com/oHHCAtryLb
— zach ragan (@zachtnt) January 11, 2024
“It’s really mixed emotions, I would say,” McDaniel said. “I’m more kind of just taken aback by that, in conjunction with coach Saban and Pete Carroll. They have as much responsibility to what the game is right now as anybody that’s around. I’ve so much respect and regard for being able to do what they’ve done for that amount of time. I have a very close, first-hand experience on what it means, the sacrifice it takes to do this job. That, it is a sacrifice, such a blessing, such an opportunity, but you really have to pour yourself into it. And, when you do that for a quarter-century. I can’t say enough positive words about coach Belichick, and I lump coach Carroll and Saban in there because it feels the same way. It’s a reminder, to me, that, I’m just going to be candid, that father time is a (expletive). Really not a nice guy. But, it’s real, and I think it reminds you that everything is finite.
“I think a lot of people have gained a lot–the perspective, motivation, the leadership of coach Belichick has been really cool to watch. He’s been at the chair for 24 years in one organization, and it wasn’t because of entertaining press conferences. It was because he did his due diligence at what his job was. I have a lot of regard, as you can tell, I’m kind of mourning the loss of those three.”
As big of a football guy as McDaniel is, he’s clearly spent a lot of time learning and watching all three of them over the years, and he’s had the opportunity to coach against two of them (Belichick as a head coach with Miami and Carroll when McDaniel was with the San Francisco 49ers).
It’ll be very weird to see Belichick on a different sideline or the Seahawks or Crimson Tide take the field without Carroll or Saban, but, as McDaniel noted, everything is finite.