On a day when the New England Patriots would play their final preseason game before opening their most highly anticipated season since the departure of legendary quarterback Tom Brady in early 2020, Boston-area radio could not stop taking about the former Patriots coach who parted ways with the franchise almost two years ago after 24 years, six Super Bowl championships and 19 trips to the postseason.

That coach, of course, is Bill Belichick, the best coach in Patriots history — by a long shot — and widely considered the greatest head coach in the history of the NFL.

Belichick’s Career Takes Surprising Turns

Since his firing by owner Robert Kraft after a 4-13 season in 2023, Belichick’s career, and personal life, has taken a series of unexpected turns.

In 2024, he became a seemingly ubiquitous presence in the national media after more than two decades of a laconic approach to publicity while in New England.

Belichick’s television blitz came after he failed to land a new NFL coaching job despite his record-setting run at the helm of the Patriots.

But in December, Belichick stunned football observers and experts by taking the head coaching job at the University of North Carolina.

May-December Romance and Feud With Pats

But perhaps the biggest post-Patriots stunner came when Belichick — who was divorced from his childhood sweetheart and wife of 29 years Debby Clarke in 2006, then ended a 12-year relationship with TV host Linda Holloway in 2023 — revealed his new relationship with former cheerleader Jordon Hudson.

Belichick is 73 years old. Hudson is 24.

But for Patriots fans, and media, perhaps the most notable aspect of Belichick’s post-New England career has been his ongoing feud with his former employer — a conflict that continued on Thursday with comments by Belichick quoted in a Boston Globe interview.

Latest Shots at Patriots Organization

Belichick appeared to say that the Patriots organization functioned better when he was in charge, and allowed to run the Patriots with minimal collaboration.

“There’s no owner, there’s no owner’s son,” Belichick said, explaining what he prefers about his UNC job, compared to the Patriots.

“When we had our best years in New England, we had fewer people and more of a direct vision. And as that expanded, it became harder to be successful.”

Those remarks triggered veteran radio hosts Tony Massarotti and Michael Felger, who unloaded on Belichick on their Thursday broadcast, in a borderline NSFW tirade.

Radio Talkers Go Ballistic on Belichick

“The guy is a raging a-hole. He’s an ass. He always has been an ass,” Massarotti said on the 98.5 The Sports Hub broadcast.

“Just the need to still throw people under the bus, to be completely oblivious to the realities of why they won … there’s no accountability, there’s no real self-reflection there.”

Felger then blasted Belichick as “a delusional, obstinate, completely arrogant, out of his mind, horny, old, half-nuts, old man,” according to the sports media site Awful Announcing.

Over on competing station WEEI, former Patriots linebacker and now local media personality Ted Johnson also criticized his former coach, albeit in less over-the-top terms.

“He’s still taking shots, he can’t help himself. He’s still bitter,” Johnson said on the WEEI broadcast. “He was the highest-paid coach for years. He got chosen over Tom Brady.

He got whatever he wanted. And he still isn’t happy.”