"It's just assumed" - When Nick Saban called out other bosses for not being more like Bill Belichick

Former New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick has hit the ground running as the coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels with high expectations foisted upon his shoulders. Belichick has continued his appearances on the "Pat McAfee Show" amid a rush to take advantage of the transfer portal window being open to recruit heavily.

In a video posted on CFB Archive's YouTube channel a year ago, retired Alabama coach Nick Saban spoke about the quality that he admired most from working with Belichick for the Cleveland Browns between 1991 and 1995 as his defensive coordinator. Saban revealed that other employers did not operate in the same manner (Timestamp 26:00).

"One of the things that I like the most working for you, I knew exactly what to expect," Saban said. "I knew exactly what to expect from me, and I worked other places and that was never, ever defined. It's amazing to me how many people work with or for someone and it's just assumed that they know what you'd like for them to do.

"And I thought that, whether it was the players that we brought to the team, the people that worked in personnel or whatever, you defined for them and then you let them do their jobs."

Bill Belichick models college career on Nick Saban

On Friday's segment of ESPN's pregame show "College GameDay," Bill Belichick said that he was modeling his college football recruitment practices for the North Carolina Tar Heels to the retired Nick Saban's Alabama ethos.

“I appreciate Coach Saban’s comments about the evaluations that we did in Cleveland,” Belichick said. “I think I learned a lot more from him than he did from me. He’s a great evaluator. And then, I watched him at Alabama put together essentially his scouting and evaluation staff.

"Now, I’m copying a lot of things that I watched him do there and learned from the system that he installed there. It’s been, really, each day, more players come into the portal. As these bowl games are completed, I’m sure there’ll continue to be more."

Belichick has already hired Michael Lombardi as the Tar Heels' general manager. The legendary coach has received significant NIL backing from North Carolina boosters, according to an ESPN report, and he talked about how he was approaching recruitment based on the Crimson Tide model.

“We’re on top of each guy – evaluating the players that we think will be coming in, but also some declare that maybe we didn’t expect or you start to hear players that are rumored to come in," Bill Belichick said. "We’re digging through all those guys. We have a lot to offer here at Carolina, both academically with this institution and the football program and what we have to offer.”

Bill Belichick already recruited former Alabama Crimson Tide defensive linesman Miles McVay, who played for Nick Saban in Tuscaloosa to join his revolution in Chapel Hill, perhaps borrowing more than a recruitment leaf from his former Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator.