Somewhere between Bill Belichick’s last Super Bowl victory and Wednesday, the day he became head coach at the University of North Carolina, the NFL as a whole must have grown inextricably tired of its most legendary modern coach. This feeling also seems to have been mutual.

As with most problems, a kind of increasing corporatization of everything – but especially the front offices around the league – is to blame. Owners, team presidents and others with high six-figure salaries were wary of the underdog Belichick his desire to lead a football organization like a secret division of the FBI where everyone runs everything based on “need-to-know” information (in addition to his insistence on taking his favorite buddies to his right for an eternal date). Belichick, too, seems to long for a taste of the Wild West without the responsibility of having to answer to MBAs, JDs, other paid initials and, most of all, the owners to whom he had always felt intellectually superior.

This is the story of this breathtaking day. What’s interesting is the idea that Belichick got some sort of Windsor Castle deal and equally royal succession plan from the desperate UNC board. So does the fact that for Andy Reid — not Belichick — the path to becoming the league’s all-time wins leader seems as clear as ever. He is currently 58 points shy of Don Shula’s 328 regular season wins.

But our focus should be on how we got to this moment. I’m pretty confident that Belichick didn’t enter the 2024 NFL season as a media personality hell-bent on blazing a trail in college sports. There was near-constant excitement about it among industry insiders where he may have had his sights set on the NFL. Ultimately, it was probably the lack of counteroffers – LinkedIn-style “We’d like to, but…” – that forced him into a move that landed him a top coaching position full of all the aspects he loves about the job and completely free from what he doesn’t do. One might assume that the fact that this deal happened had something to do with the fact that no NFL job was promised when the carousel opened.

At first glance this seems absurd, but it completely reflects the current situation in the NFL. To say that Belichick isn’t one of the best head coaching candidates available is ridiculous. To say that “Belichick” was made by Tom Brady is also ridiculous and ignorant of even the most nuanced retelling the New England Patriots dynasty.

However, Belichick is difficult to control and does not fit the archetype favored by the increasingly homogeneous ownership group in the NFL. This is a group of people who don’t like to be told no, who don’t like rocking the boat, and who enjoy their fun little gaming experience provided by a whole small, bustling village of interchangeable townspeople who can torment them when life no longer works. Things aren’t going well up on the mountain.

This is not about Belichick seeking power in the traditional sense. It’s about Belichick foregoing formality. Of course, owners who buck the trend and actually hire someone who is interesting for qualities not included in the Search Firm 101 package – Dan Campbell, Mike Tomlin, John Harbaugh – will be rewarded with business-changing success. You just have to endure the sideways glances at the next black tie gala until it works out.

I have no doubt that Belichick can succeed at the NCAA level, where there is a ridiculous — or perhaps intentional — lack of control. All the adults in the room are in a court of chaos, disinterested or unable to conjure the kind of congressional weight that haunted Belichick on his worst days in the NFL. While it’s not the innocence of the Naval Academy that his father enjoyed, the closest he gets to it is venturing into East Dillon High and teaming up with a wealthy local car dealer.

By and large, the league should be happy about this, meaning some sort of crisis at the ownership level has been averted. As always, what’s best for the people at the top is far from what’s best for the people who play the game and dedicate their lives to it, be it as coaches, staff, scouts or trainers. The NFL and Belichick once belonged together. However, like many good marriages, the dynamic began to change when one side became unrecognizable to the other.