As the New England Patriots have struggled to win games in the 2023 season, the future of head coach and general manager Bill Belichick has been in question by fans and media members. The conversation surrounding Belichick being fired has continued to linger over the last several weeks, which led to a report from Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports Boston stating that team owner Robert Kraft has already made a decision in this regard. According to Curran, Kraft and the Patriots are reportedly prepared to part ways with Belichick at season’s end, news that was at the center of Boston sports talk radio – including part of an interview with play-by-play announcer Sean McDonough.
Greg Hill, Jermaine Wiggins and Courtney Cox of WEEI welcomed McDonough to the station’s morning program on Wednesday. Early in the conversation, Hill asked McDonough about how he feels regarding the decision, to which he spoke on the reputation and veracity that Curran brings to his job as a reporter.
“I think [he] has a long history of being plugged in and reputable, and he certainly isn’t a guy who makes stuff up or is a bomb tosser or ‘Look at me’ kind of guy,” McDonough said, “so he’s not making it up. Somebody he considers to have excellent information on this subject said this to him, so I would take it to be credible.”
McDonough is a Boston native who previously hosted a sports talk radio program and calls Boston Red Sox baseball games on WEEI throughout the season. As a college sports announcer and primary voice of the NHL on ESPN, he tends to have a busy schedule but makes the time to listen to the morning show, especially ahead of making interview appearances. He did not have a chance to watch Pat McAfee discuss the Belichick situation on his eponymous program, The Pat McAfee Show, he revealed when asked by Hill. For now, he is cognizant of the fact that everything is merely conjecture and that no final decision has been officially announced.
“Do you guys enjoy talking about this every day?,” Sean McDonough said. “See, when I did sports radio, which no one remembers nor should they, one of my frustrations was – that was actually the year that [Drew] Bledsoe got hurt and Tom Brady played, and then it was, ‘Should it be Brady or Bledsoe?,’ literally it seemed like for 1400 consecutive days.”
As a former sports talk radio host, Sean McDonough understands that The Greg Hill Show and other programs in the format need to appeal to the audience. Since one of the talking points among Boston sports fans is the future of Belichick and the Patriots, it is something the show needs to address. While a preponderance of Wednesday’s program was focused on the Patriots, the show also makes time to discuss other matters in local sports, including the Boston Bruins and Boston Celtics.
“Well it’s what people want to talk about,” Hill said. “The problem is until something actually happens, it’s all speculation.”
