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NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – MARCH 31: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils speaks during a press conference before the 2022 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Final Four at Caesars Superdome on March 31, 2022 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Jamie Squire\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Former Duke Blue Devils men\u2019s college basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski\u00a0took a shot at former New England Patriots<\/a> coach Bill Belichick. The coaching legend referenced the Patriots legend when talking about coaches adapting to new jobs and situations.<\/p>\n The North Carolina Tar Heels men\u2019s basketball program recently hired former Denver Nuggets<\/a> head coach Michael Malone to replace Hubert Davis. This marks another former professional coach hired by the Tar Heels. Belichick was brought on to coach the football program at the end of 2024. Now, the coaching legend will enter 2025 looking to improve upon his first season.<\/p>\n Patriots Legend Catches Stray From Coach K<\/p>\n In the meantime, Krzyzewski wasted no time in taking a shot at his former rival. He appeared on the Pat McAfee Show<\/a> on Monday afternoon, and poked fun at the Tar Heels\u2019 expense.<\/p>\n They had an NFL<\/a> champ hired as the coach and Duke beat Carolina in football this year,\u201d Krzyzewski said. \u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean Coach Belichick isn\u2019t a great coach. There\u2019s time for adjustments. It takes longer if you ever get adjusted coming from the pros to college.<\/p>\n Belichick learned the hard way that the college ranks are not necessarily like the NFL. The program regressed in his first season in Chapel Hill, finishing with a 4-8 record.<\/p>\n Patriots Legend Suffered Adversity Early<\/p>\n The tone was set early in the season, as they suffered a 48-14 season-opening loss to TCU. The opener highlighted some issues with the defense. The Tar Heels gave up three touchdowns of 40-plus yards or more. This was particularly shocking, given Belichick\u2019s reputation as a stellar defensive coach.<\/p>\n Things did not get better after that, as they suffered a 38-10 loss to Clemson. The loss to Clemson was particularly eye-opening. The Tar Heels did not cross the 50-yard line until the third quarter offensively. The offensive line surrendered six sacks, in what was a microcosm of the day overall.<\/p>\n Things did not get any better towards the end of the season. They finished the final game of the season with a 42-19 loss to North Carolina State. This marked the fifth consecutive loss to the Wolfpack, something the Tar Heels would have liked to forget. The Tar Heels missed a bowl game for the first time in six seasons.<\/p>\n It\u2019s safe to say that the first season of the Belichick era was anything but smooth for the Tar Heels. Difficultly, it highlighted the transition from the professional ranks to the college game. As Krzyzewski\u00a0noted, it does take a bit more time to adjust to the college game after coaching in the pros.<\/p>\n If anything, his comments serve as a warning to Malone. It also hits home the point that things have not been easy for Belichick since he departed from the Patriots. In the meantime, things have been looking up for the Patriots organization, as they are coming off their first Super Bowl appearance in seven seasons. One has to wonder if Belichick will find his footing in the college ranks or if he will continue to struggle. Whatever the case may be, his first season at UNC could serve as a potential warning for many coaches moving forward.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tDanny Jaillet<\/a> Danny Jaillet is a sportswriter with more than 15 years experience in the industry. He has been featured on Fox Sports, USA Today, and Yahoo Sports among others. He graduated from Worcester State University with a B.A. in communications and a minor in writing. More about Danny Jaillet<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Patriots\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – MARCH 31: Head coach Mike Krzyzewski of the Duke Blue Devils speaks during…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-858062","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-new-england","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-newengland","12":"tag-newenglandpatriots","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116361283717045813","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}