Bill Belichick turned down a coaching job this year… in lacrosse?

Patriots

“I almost had him. I almost had him. He went to him. He made him say no.”

Former Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is taking a break from the NFL this season as six-time Super Bowl champion New England failed to land a head coaching job in the last wave hiring NFL off-season coaches this winter.

Instead, Belichick, 72, will spend a year away from coaching in 2024, with the former Patriots stalwart reportedly set to join Peyton and Eli Manning on their “Manningcast” shows during Monday Night Football on ESPN .

But even though Belichick will remain involved in the NFL in some capacity in 2024, there was seemingly a chance that Belichick could have shifted his coaching priorities to another sport near and dear to him this summer.

During an interview with ESPN this weekend, Premier Lacrosse League president and co-founder Paul Rabil acknowledged that the PLL tried to convince Belichick to sign on as defensive coach for the season 2024.

While talking with Paul Carcaterra about the PLL’s ability to convince seven-time NCAA champion coach Bill Tierney to agree to coach the Philadelphia Waterdogs, Rabil said Tierney tried to convince Belichick to join his team in Philadelphia.

“Do you know who Bill (Tierney) went to for his defensive coordinator position? Bill Belichick,” Rabil said. “I almost had it. I almost had it. He went to him. He made her say no.

Although it would have been strange to see Belichick on the sidelines coaching a sport other than football, lacrosse has been linked to the Belichick family over the years.

“I would say it’s his second favorite sport,” Bob Shriver, former lacrosse coach at Boys’ Latin School of Maryland, said of Belichick’s affinity for lacrosse in a GQ profile. “But sometimes you wonder if it’s not his favorite.”

Belichick played football and lacrosse during his time at Phillips Academy Andover and later during his college years at Wesleyan University. All three of Belichick’s children went on to play lacrosse in college – with Steve playing the sport at Rutgers and Brian following suit at Trinity before both became football coaches.

Belichick’s daughter, Amanda, played lacrosse at Wesleyan and was head coach of the Holy Cross women’s lacrosse team for the past nine years.