Patriots Country

Cowboys Could’ve Landed Patriots Legend Bill Belichick

The Dallas Cowboys could have ended up with New England Patriots' legend Bill Belichick as their new head coach.

Evan Massey

Dec 12, 2024; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels new head coach Bill Belichick speaks to those attending his hiring announcement at Loudermilk Center for Excellence.
Dec 12, 2024; Chapel Hill, NC, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels new head coach Bill Belichick speaks to those attending his hiring announcement at Loudermilk Center for Excellence. / Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images
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New England Patriots legendary head coach Bill Belichick made the jump from the NFL to college football with the North Carolina Tar Heels. It was a surprise, but it's a move that seems to have rejuvenated Belichick.

However, it is being reported that he had interest in one NFL coaching job before making the jump, but did not know if it would open up or not.

According to a report from NFL insider Jordan Schultz, Belichick would have had interest in coaching the Dallas Cowboys, but he never received any indication about what Jerry Jones and company were going to do.

"Bill Belichick would have been interested in the Cowboys' job, and it's believed that Dallas would have been interested in him, had he known the position would become available," Schultz reported. "Belichick and his camp never received any indication during backchannel conversations that the job would open up, which is partly why he ended up at UNC. Belichick has an excellent relationship with the Jones family."

Obviously, that is big news today, as NFL insider Tom Pelissero has reported that Mike McCarthy will not be the head coach in Dallas moving forward.

Rumors have come out that NFL teams have called Belichick to gauge his interest in jumping back into the NFL. However, Belichick has made it clear to those teams that he is happy at North Carolina.

For the Cowboys, this could end up being a major miss. Belichick would have been a big addition for a franchise that is desperately wanting to win.

Instead, Jones and Dallas will need to get aggressive, as they're behind the eight ball when it comes to current head coaching candidates.

Among the list of names who could be of interest to the Cowboys are Ben Johnson, Aaron Glenn, and Robert Saleh. There are plenty of other names who could be candidates for the job as well.

Seeing Belichick end up in Dallas would have been painful for Patriots fans. They could not be more happy to be able to root for him now that he's a college head coach. Nothing that Belichick does could have a negative impact on New England.

All of that being said, the Cowboys hiring Belichick would have made for wild news. But, Dallas did not make a decision in time and they missed out on potentially adding the greatest head coach in NFL history.

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Evan Massey
EVAN MASSEY

Evan Massey is a sports reporter and analyst who covers college football, the NFL and NBA. He has contributed to the On SI network since July 2021. He has also written for ESPN, Yahoo! Sports, Forbes, Bleacher Report, NFLAnalysis.net, NBAAnalysis.net and many other publications. In his free time, Evan enjoys spending time with his wife and son.

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