{"id":75641,"date":"2025-07-24T23:23:03","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T03:23:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/?p=75641"},"modified":"2025-09-20T14:46:54","modified_gmt":"2025-09-20T18:46:54","slug":"acc-media-days-and-the-belichick-effect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/2025\/07\/24\/acc-media-days-and-the-belichick-effect\/","title":{"rendered":"ACC Media Days and the Belichick Effect"},"content":{"rendered":"

The three-day ACC media days<\/a> in Charlotte came to a chaotic end on Thursday. We call it the Bill Belichick effect.<\/p>\n

While each day has had its story lines, Thursday was written in advance. Belichick has declined nearly all media interviews for the last four months. But this event is not really optional, barring medical issues. Would Belichick do the traditional media row interviews with national radio shows? Would he do the stage interview with his three players in the press conference room? And would he do the breakout room, where each player has their own interview table separate from the one the coach has?<\/p>\n

The quick answers were no, yes, and yes. But those answers lack needed context.<\/p>\n

ACC Media Days, Day Three<\/h2>\n

Media Masses<\/h3>\n

The media crowd for Thursday was far bigger than any of the previous two days. There were multiple reasons. Most of the \u201carea\u201d schools were there on Thursday. Duke, NC State, UNC, and Clemson bring out the local TV stations. Dabo Swinney always draws a crowd. And there is the biggest of big changes this year with Belichick. It was the talk of the town far in advance of the actual day (and no, Jordon Hudson did not attend the event).<\/p>\n

Press Conference<\/h3>\n

Belichick did not do any of the radio row shows. He, of course, visited the ESPN set. And he did the press conference room. Although the head coach has 15 minutes, followed by five minutes with each of the three players on the stage, Belichick only needed to take three questions. His opening statement wasn\u2019t outrageously long. But with all there was to discuss, one of the media members felt the need to ask him about the history of the fullback, why the position never gets used, and can it make a comeback. The question was so absurd under the circumstances that it is not unbelievable to think it was a plant in order to kill time.<\/p>\n

About the only thing remotely entertaining or enlightening about the media time with him in that room was when he was approached with the idea that his old friend, Swinney, had talked about how much he has learned from Belichick over the years. \u201cYeah, we’re all learning from Dabo,\u201d Belichick said. \u201cThat’s very nice of him to say that, very complimentary. Dabo has been a friend for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breakout<\/h3>\n
\"ACC
Photo from Tony Siracusa<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then it was time for the real chaos. The breakout room. The players were in there doing their interviews with the media well ahead of their head coach. Usually, it is easy enough for the members of the media to gather around the table and get their questions in for the player and the coach alike. But these are different times in the ACC. The scaffolding in the back of the room was packed with TV cameras. The print and digital media were greeted by a sign at Belichick\u2019s table that asked them not to stand and be in the way of the cameras.<\/p>\n

The gathering of media was so big that an ACC staffer had to stand on a chair to get everyone to quiet down. He then advised them that there were too many people there to do it the normal way. They would turn this into another press conference with someone calling on people to ask questions.<\/p>\n

Players<\/h3>\n

The UNC players were ultimately more interesting. We asked quarterback Will Hardy about his thoughts at the end of last season when the rumors started about the eight-time Super Bowl champ going to Chapel Hill. \u201cI didn\u2019t think much of it. But then the momentum started rolling. The rumors spread heavier. The moment they actually hired him, I was completely shocked,\u201d he said. In the seven months that Belichick has been there, has Hardy seen the jewelry? \u201cNot yet,\u201d he said. \u201cIt might be in his office, but I have not been in there yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Receiver Jordan Shipp gave some insights about Belichick that might surprise others. He said the media portrayal of his coach that he is a dour guy who does not care is untrue. \u201cCoach is a great guy. He cares for his players. He loves his players,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd he will do whatever he can for his players to get to that next level, even if it\u2019s outside of football.\u201d<\/p>\n

Who Else<\/h3>\n

By late afternoon Thursday, it was hard to remember that there had already been an entire lineup of coaches and players from other schools there.<\/p>\n

Swinney talked about how he went through a couple of years where fans and media wondered if the changes in the game had caused him to fall behind. \u201cWe did something last year that only four teams in 160 years of college football have done. Nebraska did it with Coach Osborne. Coach Bowden at Florida State, Coach Saban at Alabama, and now Clemson. 14 straight nine-plus win seasons, 13 of those ten-plus win seasons. We’ve earned that through consistency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Coach Speak<\/h3>\n

Yes, there was still plenty of that Thursday. Virginia Tech head Brent Pry threw in the often claimed, \u201cWe feel like we have something to prove.\u201d And Swinney gave us, \u201cExperience doesn\u2019t come at a discount.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unexpected Maternity Story<\/h3>\n

Boston College linebacker Daveon Crouch is also known by his nickname, \u201cBam.\u201d It has been assumed that it had something to do with his football prowess or how hard he hits. When asked to give more background, he gave the real story. We now present his version, uninterrupted.<\/p>\n

\u201cUh, my mom gave it to me when I was born. My cousin was born April 4, and I was born April 3, but I was born at like 11:30 p.m., and my auntie told my mom, ‘You better not have your baby the same day as my baby’s birthday.’ So my mom was telling the doctors, I’ve got to get this baby out of here. My mom basically said I bammed my way out of here. That’s where that name came from. It’s not football related at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

We believe it was the only birth story told at ACC media days this year.<\/p>\n

The Bling Is The Thing<\/h3>\n

One of the most notable things this week is something many players are spending their NIL or revenue-sharing money on, watches. We saw several variations from diamond Cartier watches to Patek Philippe. There was even a Rolex that was customized to have the school colors on the face of the watch.<\/p>\n

We asked UNC\u2019s Shipp why the watches were the purchase of choice for the newly paid players. \u201cIt\u2019s something you can keep for a long time. Other things you buy come and go. But you can keep your watch forever or even pass it down to your kids someday.\u201d<\/p>\n

Training camps open across the country next week.<\/p>\n

Main Image: : Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The three-day ACC media days in Charlotte came to a chaotic end on Thursday. We call it the Bill Belichick effect. While each day has had its story lines, Thursday was written in advance. Belichick has declined nearly all media interviews for the last four months. But this event is not really optional, barring medical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1534,"featured_media":75643,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,35645,2,17],"tags":[465,36,10631],"class_list":["post-75641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acc","category-clemson-tigers","category-featured","category-news","tag-boston-college-eagles","tag-clemson-tigers","tag-north-carolina-tarheels"],"modified_by":"Michael Kovacs, ADMIN","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75641","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1534"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75641"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75641\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75646,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75641\/revisions\/75646"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75643"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75641"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75641"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/collegefootball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75641"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}