On Sunday, several former Patriots expressed skepticism about Bill Belichick as a college football coach.
Ross Tucker can add his name to that list after he somewhat jokingly predicted Belichick would be “the worst college head coach” during an appearance on WEEI on Tuesday.
Tucker spent one season in New England during his five-year NFL career and now hosts a podcast for the DraftKings Network.
“Based on my experience playing college football, which is not the current era, and based on my experience playing for coach Belichick — which was almost 20 years ago — he would be probably, by far, the worst college head coach I could ever imagine,” Tucker told hosts Christian Arcand and Andy Hart.
“I mean the idea of the guy that I was around, recruiting, or like going into the living room of a 17-year-old — I want this to happen so bad I can taste it. I mean, if they do it, they’ve gotta have cameras everywhere. The guy, when I was in New England, was like 100 percent negative reinforcement. I would love to just see how quickly those kids go into the transfer portal.”
Tucker will get his wish with Belichick set to become the next head coach at the University of North Carolina, multiple outlets reported on Wednesday evening.
Belichick’s interest in the position came as a surprise to just about everyone, with the expectation that he would attempt to make his coaching comeback in the NFL once the offseason came around.
Belichick confirmed that he was in talks with UNC officials for the position during an interview this week on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
Tucker continued that with the changes in college football and the hiring of the right people, maybe Belichick can succeed.
But there was one big difference, in Tucker’s eyes, between coaching in the NFL and college.
“One of the reasons why Chip Kelly never had as much success when he went back to college to UCLA is, he doesn’t like recruiting,” Tucker said. “He doesn’t like doing it. He doesn’t like the recruiting or the donors or all the stuff. College, right or wrong, for the head coach it’s a lot less about the football X’s and O’s and a lot more about your personality. Your charisma and your ability to convince adults to give you money and your ability to convince young people and their parents that you’re the right person to watch over them and put them in the best position.”
