Art Modell told Robert Kraft that hiring Belichick would be a huge mistake
The Patriots owner explains the unpopular decision that netted him a coaching legend
By
Will Brinson
•
2 min read
Bill Belichick has only been the head coach of two NFL teams (assuming you don't count his two brief stints with the Jets that didn't include coaching in any actual games) and the guy who fired him the first time didn't do him any favors when he was getting his second job.
In a revealing interview from Peter King of TheMMQB.com, Patriots owner Robert Kraft said that, when he was looking at Belichick in 2000, he was told by former Browns owner Art Modell not to hire Belichick.
Modell, Kraft recalls, said it would be "the biggest mistake of [his] life."
From King's article:
In fact, one team owner, when Kraft was about to make this momentous decision, advised against it. Kraft remembers this owner's exact words.
"He said if I did it, I'd be making the biggest mistake of my life," Kraft said, his voice taking an ominous tone.
The owner: Art Modell of the Baltimore Ravens.
The looming catastrophe: hiring Bill Belichick.
There was tons of drama surrounding Belichick's departure from the Jets. Really short version: He was supposed to succeed Bill Parcells with the Jets, but he quit at his introductory press conference (after scribbling a resignation note on a piece of paper) and the Patriots wanted to bring him in as their coach. The Jets wouldn't let him walk and a lawsuit broke out.
Kraft recalls getting "killed" for the month where he didn't have a head coach.
"To start," Kraft said, "you need to understand we were without a coach for almost a month, and the other coaches had been hired around the league, and they had hired coaching staffs, and I was getting killed for it. Killed. The league office thought I was crazy for wanting Bill. Everybody in there--George Young, Joe Browne, people at the highest level of the league. It was toxic. Nobody thought it was a good idea. I was getting killed by the media in Boston. Bill had one winning year in five seasons in Cleveland. And then I got sent video tapes of a couple of his press conferences in Cleveland."
And he also recalled being terrified when he watched some of Belichick's press conferences with the Browns.
"Of course!" he said. "How could I not be? I watched those tapes!"
The short version of the resolution? Parcells called Kraft for the first time in several years, demanded some picks and Kraft gave the Jets a first-round pick in the upcoming draft plus more for the right to get Belichick.
It's a reminder that nothing in football is a sure thing. Even the greatest coach in the history of football had people questioning the guy who wanted to hire him. Every team in the league would give up five first-round picks for Belichick now, but people thought Kraft was crazy for giving up one in 2000.
