Coaches make or break a team; there’s a reason why Georgia gave Kirby Smart a 10-year, $130 million deal. He has won two national championships with a 105-19 record over nine seasons, meaning he’s been worth every penny for the Georgia Bulldogs, with his three SEC championships proving the price point.
In the same breath, Colorado Buffaloes Head Coach Deion Sanders had to prove himself to earn the same salary as North Carolina’s Bill Belichick, who is being paid at the jump. FOX Sports analyst RJ Young wonders who will last longer in their post.
RJ Young Sizes Up Deion Sanders, Bill Belichick and Their Coaching Longevity
Colorado HC Deion Sanders is headed into his third go-round in Boulder, showing marked improvement during his second. Meanwhile, Bill Belichick’s next game leading a college program will be his first.
“I am not really throwing age into this so much as I’m asking, ‘Which guy gets tired of it first?'” Young said Saturday on “Adapt & Respond with RJ Young.”
“It doesn’t seem like [Coach] Prime is getting tired of it, and Prime has got lots of data to show he likes what he’s doing and he’s good at it,” Young explained. “That’s a good way to ensure you keep doing it… Now that he is doing it without one of his sons on the roster, I don’t see a reason for him to stop.”
Young then gave his perspective and asked the essential questions.
“Like, he wants to make the College Football Playoff. That is a goal. That is a stated ambition. They get there, they wanna win. He wants to play for national championships. I’m sure Bill Belichick wants nothing less, but how hard is it going to be for him? How long is it gonna take?”
Young said he’ll be measuring Belichick up to Sanders, who’s already proven to be able to excel at the sideline craft. His Colorado Buffaloes went 9-4 last season, appearing in the Alamo Bowl after two-way star Travis Hunter brought home the Heisman Trophy.
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Coach Prime reeled in a pair of solid quarterbacks, highly-touted freshman Julian Lewis and Liberty transfer Kaidon Salter, to replace his son, Shedeur Sanders. The staff around Deion Sanders includes notable names, like fellow former NFL players Byron Leftwich, Marshall Faulk, and Warren Sapp.
Meanwhile, Belichick, widely regarded as the best professional football coach of all time, has transitioned to the college level after 24 seasons with the New England Patriots. Michael Lombardi tagged along, assuming general manager duties for the Tar Heels.
Young stressed that Belichick must find diamond-in-the-rough-type players to succeed in Chapel Hill.
“He’s got something there, but do we think it’s gonna last?” Young said. “Like, he’s gonna coach through this year. We know that much. I think how they play in that [TCU] game is gonna give us a national take, right? We’ll take a lot from that, and then we’ll see.”
Young concluded, “If they keep winning, we’ll keep talking about it. If they don’t, we might look up and not be talking about them.”
The North Carolina Tar Heels will begin the Belichick era on Monday, September 1, against TCU in Chapel Hill. Sanders and the Buffaloes, meanwhile, begin the season on Friday, August 29, against Georgia Tech in Boulder.
