Could Bill Belichick coach the Jets? This seems unlikely given 25 years of bitterness

You can hear the disgust in Bill Belichick's voice when he has to say the NFL name to the team he took so much pleasure in beating.

In the 2018 ESPN “30 for 30” documentary “The Two Bills,” producers tried to get Belichick and his mentor Bill Parcells to go to New York's Jets Theater locker room at MetLife Stadium. You know, considering the old times, considering Belichick's brief tenure as coach there in the early 2000s, which ended with a simple message scrawled on a napkin that he was resigning as “HC of the New York club.” He is a man of few words – even after resigning from a position he held for only one day.

Belichick and Parcells wanting NOTHING to do with the Jets locker room is the best part of this documentary pic.twitter.com/huu6vsVyVe

— Steve Perrault (@Steve_Perrault) February 2, 2018

He left amid turmoil within the Jets' ownership group over concerns about Woody Johnson and another potential owner, as he said in the documentary, jumping at the head coaching job with the rival New England Patriots. And so began what could generously be called Belichick's distaste for the Jets, which has lasted for 25 years and shows no signs of changing any time soon.

That's important context to keep in mind as the Jets have a head coaching vacancy following Tuesday's game with the unexpected firing of Robert Salih. New York defensive coordinator Jeff Ulbrich was named interim coach for the remainder of the 2024 season.

Meanwhile, after parting ways with the Patriots in January after 266 wins and six Super Bowl titles, Belichick is waiting – he hopes – for another coaching job that will give him the remaining 15 wins he needs to become the league's all-time leader in coaching wins, which will is a record he really wants to break.

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Linking the 72-year-old coach to the Jets in the coming months could be easy for obvious reasons and the drama it would provide. Can you imagine? Belichick in New York with a good team in win mode and quarterback Aaron Rodgers often praised? In the same league as the Patriots, no less, with a chance to return to his old team? Broadway would have nothing on the theater at the Meadowlands!

But this is probably little more than fantasy. Why?

Belichick is one of the biggest grudge holders in the league. He was a close friend of coach Eric Mangini until he joined the Jets and became the person largely responsible for the Spygate scandal.

Belichick grew up in Annapolis, Maryland, the son of a football coach, a student of the sport and a creator of its history. He used to talk about his respect for Don Shula, the legendary NFL coach he grew up watching play with the Baltimore Colts. After Spygate, Shula stated that the controversy would “taint” what the Patriots had built. Belichick didn't like it, so now he wants Shula's all-time winning record.

Want more? Belichick also helped Wes Welker become one of the best wingers in the league from 2007-2012. Still, after the contract dispute became public, Welker left the team and was essentially erased from Patriots history. Although Welker is the franchise's all-time leader in receptions and ranks third in receiving yards, he is not in the franchise's Hall of Fame. There are no photos of Welker on the walls of Gillette Stadium, although photos from that era include many of his teammates. And although he is now an assistant coach with the Miami Dolphins — which means two games a year against the Patriots — he and Belichick have never been seen catching up before or after games, as many former teammates do.

But let's get back to the Jets.

They have what should be a good lineup. Belichick loves Rodgers, even though the 40-year-old's play has declined somewhat. And huge payouts help people bury the hatchet.

But for this to work, for Belichick to truly consider the Jets, one of the greatest grudge-holders the NFL has ever seen, would have to shed the bitterness he's spent more than two decades working on. And that's assuming Johnson would even consider Belichick after their checkered past. The Jets owner seems like a proud man. He apparently insists that the Jets refer to him as “Ambassador Johnson” on their website due to his role as ambassador to the UK from 2017-2021.

All of this makes it seem unlikely that Belichick and Johnson would team up, even if it would be a fascinating fit.

Which seems to be the case better in good shape – with almost as much drama – would be Jets running back Mike Vrabel, a Patriots Hall of Famer under Belichick. After six highly successful seasons as coach of the Tennessee Titans, Vrabel was reportedly interested in coaching the Patriots, but he never even got an interview for the job when owner Robert Kraft quickly hired Jerod Mayo, who he wrote would replace Belichick.

Of course, there is much more to the story of Belichick and the Jets. The coach once called leaving the Jets “one of the greatest moments of my career.” He was proud to have beaten them 15 times in a row between 2016 and 2023, an incredibly long winning streak in a competitive league. He smiled on the sidelines in 2019 when, in another stunning victory over the Jets, he used a loophole to shave two minutes off the clock without a play as the Jets looked on in confusion.

Even after all these years, Belichick Nadal looks like he's trolling the Jets. Just two weeks ago, during his weekly appearance with ESPN's Pat McAfee, Belichick talked about Minnesota Vikings and quarterback Sam Darnold, who the Jets drafted No. 3 overall in 2018 but struggled through his first six seasons in the NFL. “I will say this,” Belichick added sheepishly. “Everyone liked Darnold – except the Jets.”

None of this will help slow down the speculation surrounding Belichick and the Jets. Whenever a coaching job opens up, it will likely lead to a discussion about whether Belichick will fit there.

But it doesn't seem right for either side.