Bill Belichick Breaks Down Bill Parcells’s Strict Rules for Playing in the Rain

Bill Belichick is ready for a new challenge.

Just a few weeks ago, the six-time Super Bowl champion head coach shocked the sports world with the news that he was heading back to school to lead North Carolina, where he will take a lifetime’s worth of lessons and pour them into Tar Heel football.

Those lessons go back to Belichick’s earliest days as a coach, which included time spent as an assistant on the staff of fellow coaching legend Bill Parcells. Speaking on his podcast Coach with Bill Belichick, the longtime Patriots maestro broke down the two strict rules Parcells laid out for his team ahead of rain games.

First, players were not to wear tape around their cleats, as it could hinder their ability to grip the wet turf. Belichick said Parcells would even head into the training room and have tape cut from players' cleats if it had been applied.

“Number two—all the backs wore long sleeves,” Belichick continued. “There was no skin on the ball. It was skin, cloth, ball. That was a must. If they didn’t have it on, he would send them back in to get it, or they wouldn’t get the ball.”

Belichick also said Parcells would go through wet ball drills a lot, dunking footballs in soapy water so that they were tougher in practice than they would be in the game.

“It just forces a higher level of concentration,” Belichick said.