Well … was not expecting to see this today.
Recently at a coaching clinic, Georgia Bulldogs head coach Kirby Smart shared a secret of Bill Belichick‘s success: the fact that he likes to draft players who have big butts. Yes, you read that correctly.
Smart claims that Nick Saban told him this in 2006 when Saban was head coach for the Miami Dolphins and Kirby Smart was a position coach, which I’m just now becoming aware of as a Phins fan. Like, wow, we had actually had both Nick Saban and Kirby Smart running our coaching staff at one time — what could have been. But I digress.
“So we go to Indianapolis for the Combine and I’m sitting there with Coach Saban, and he’s trying to teach you the ropes of how to evaluate guys at the Combine,” said Smart. “He said, ‘Come over here with me, I want you to sit by Bill (Belichick).’”
Rather than being at the finish line of the 40-yard dash like a lot of scouts, Belichick puts himself where runners start.
“I’m like, ‘Why are we here? You can’t time the finish,’” said Smart. “And he’s like, ‘No, Bill likes to look to see how big their ass is when they get down into that 40-yard stance ’cause he wants to sign the biggest ass defensive linemen that he can sign.’” (RELATED: Could Things Fall Through? Green Bay Packers Reportedly Want A Boatload For Aaron Rodgers)
And the reason:
“Those backers want to line up behind those guys and be protected by ’em, and they wanna have an anchor.”
Kirby Smart said at a coaching clinic that Nick Saban taught him that Bill Belichick goes to the combine to scout players with huge asses. pic.twitter.com/JcmJY6zCxl
— Kevin Clark (@bykevinclark) March 15, 2023
And this is exactly why this man has six Super Bowl rings.