“We’ve lot of won a big games in New England,” he said. “We’ve won a lot of games through the years. A lot of great wins, a lot of team victories. But you know, a night off training camp is pretty close to some of our biggest wins.”
From there, Belichick thanked the coaches and praised the state of Ohio — where his NFL head coaching career began with the Browns. He waved through an applause while exiting stage left. Tim Hinton, the Ohio State executive director for football relations, then took the mic and called for an encore.
“If you could take a minute for one more applause for the best coach in the United States of America?” Hinton asked.
Everyone obliged, and few could argue at this point. Even if he’ll never admit it, it’s clear Belichick is enjoying this victory lap. When will it end?
“Sometimes kids think they know it all,” Jim Kelly said then. “Chad’s like a lot of other kids. Sometimes your mom, dad or uncle have advice and you think you know better. It’s part of maturing — how much do you really want this?”
Chad Kelly got into legal trouble before he landed in Oxford. He reportedly fought with bouncers and police officers in Buffalo in late 2014. The Buffalo News said Kelly was accused — though it wasn’t clear by whom — of telling bouncers, “I’m going to go to my car and get my AK-47 and spray this place.”
Kelly later took a non-criminal plea deal and agreed to community service. He didn’t get into any similar trouble during his two seasons at Ole Miss.
And at the highlight of Ole Miss’ Hugh Freeze era, when the Rebels won the Sugar Bowl at the end of the 2015 season, Jim sat in the Superdome in New Orleans to watch — way, way up in the nosebleeds.