Over the weekend, the 124th football matchup between the Army Black Knights and Navy Midshipmen took place from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. and there were plenty of festivities throughout the day underscoring the tradition associated with the game. Specifically before the game, ESPN brought College GameDay outside of the venue which included Pat McAfee’s kicking contest and a special appearance by Bill Belichick as the guest picker.
Throughout the football season, there have been rumors of Belichick being fired as the general manager and head coach of the New England Patriots upon the conclusion of the year. Although he won six Super Bowl championships during his tenure with the franchise, the team currently sits in last place in the AFC East division with a 3-10 overall record.
Belichick’s father was an assistant coach for the Navy football team for 34 seasons, and College GameDay analyst Lee Corso was with the team for three years coaching defensive backs. Both Bill Belichick and Lee Corso recalled memories from their days with the team, including presenting footage of Corso as the team prepared for a game against the Army football program. At the program’s conclusion, Belichick provided the moment everyone was waiting for when he made his selection on camera.
“Alright, so he puts on a Navy helmet and they go, ‘Woah, woah, woah!,’” Fred Toucher said on 98.5 The Sports Hub. “I don’t mean to let the cat out of the bag, but he had it in his hand the whole time. They knew it was coming but they still have to pretend.”
Toucher surmised that the College GameDay panel all needed to fabricate their reactions to Belichick revealing and wearing the Navy helmet on camera. As he continued his remarks, he queried if other people would pretend if they were on that panel. Show contributor Rob “Hardy” Poole conveyed a sarcastic response about being caught in a suspension of disbelief and playing to the camera before bluntly answering that he would not.
“I can tell you as someone who’s been in media for over 20 years that there’s no way that I would react that way to it,” Toucher said. “I wouldn’t be a dick and say like, ‘I knew you were going to put it on,’ but I wouldn’t go, ‘Woah, woah, woah!’”
Poole received a text message on Saturday that read “amazing” in all capital letters to discuss how Bill Belichick was doing on television. If he indeed finds himself out of a job after the season, it remains unknown whether or not he would consider pursuing this path, let alone remain involved with the game of football.
“I wasn’t going to say anything because I thought he was fine,” Hardy explained, “but then he was bad, but it wasn’t amazing either.”
“It’s Stockholm syndrome,” Toucher said. “No, it wasn’t amazing at all. In fact, it was below average. I would counter that he is worse than most of the guests that they have on. They have comedians on and stuff that are paid to entertain. Bill Belichick – that’s not him – but going, ‘It’s the jolly roger,’ and, ‘This is writing in another language.’”
He compared the instance to Rex Ryan, who began making regular appearances on ESPN in 2017 and is a member of Sunday NFL Countdown, in that Ryan seemed uncomfortable in front of the camera in the beginning.
“Yeah, Rex didn’t even get the five-minute rule,” show contributor Jon Wallach said, referring to the mulligan some eminent figures receive when first appearing on the air. “He was bad right from the start.”
“Right, and that’s for somebody with a personality; with a discernible personality,” Hardy replied. “If Belichick has one, I don’t know what it is.”
