Bret Bielema on working with Bill Belichick

Illinois head coach talks with Jim Rome about his time in the NFL with Bill Belichick.

Transcript

00:00three years in the NFL, and you spent a couple of years with Bill Belichick and the Patriots.

00:04You won a Super Bowl, in fact, in 2019. I'm curious, what was it like to work with Bill

00:10Belichick? And then secondarily, what do you make of him now living his best life

00:14on Nantucket in the summer and broadcasting after torturing the media for all these years?

00:19You know, twofold. First, my time with him and the Patriots in general was kind of football

00:25utopia. I had never been in the college of the NFL side as a coach. I was there six days as a

00:31player. The Seahawks gave me a great career and a contract for six days before they cut me, so

00:36that was short-lived. But my NFL coaching career was, A, we won a Super Bowl, so a lot of fun. But

00:41to work with Bill and that staff, had Brian Flores on that staff, who I worked with on a daily,

00:46Brendan Daly, who's now with the Chiefs, all these coaches that have gone on and had success,

00:50it was really football utopia. Every day, you kind of had something every day to learn. As far as

00:54working for Bill, you know, I love to watch him handle the media because he's truly, in my opinion,

00:59one of the most misunderstood men in sport. Like, he incredibly great personality, had a great sense

01:04of humor, loves people, and kind of, you know, has that persona that the media saw just because he

01:10doesn't like talking to him. But what he's doing right now in the media world does not surprise me

01:15at all. He's extremely intelligent, very charismatic, has a great way of doing things. He really doesn't

01:20care what anybody else thinks. He just knows what he wants to do. So, a lot of fun. I'm happy for

01:25him, living, like you said, his best life, but I wouldn't be surprised a year from now if you

01:29see him back on the sidelines and, you know, going about it. I don't know anything other

01:32than what I know, but a super guy that I enjoyed learning from in a big way.