Ever since it was announced that Gillette Stadium will host this year’s Army-Navy Game, one of the biggest questions has been how much and in what ways New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick will be involved. Belichick is a long-time and vocal supporter of the Naval Academy, where his father Steve was a coach and scout from 1956-1989. In the past, Belichick has talked at length about the Army-Navy Game each year the week the game is held.
While Belichick’s full plans for the game remain unknown, he will play one staring role early in the day. On Thursday night, ESPN’s College GameDay announced Belichick will be the celebrity guest picker for Saturday’s show in Foxborough.
College GameDay is ESPN’s flagship college football show. Featuring host Rece Davis with a panel of Desmond Howard, Pat McAfee, Kirk Herbstreit, and Lee Corso, the show broadcasts each week from the site of college football’s biggest game. Each broadcasts concludes with the panel picking the winners for that week’s slate of games, while joined by a celebrity with a tie to the host school/team. This week, that will be Belichick.
For the Army-Navy show, the Gameday crew typically picks the games for the upcoming bowl season, as well as the Army-Navy Game itself. That means Belichick will have quite a few picks ahead of him.
Belichick will be the 15th current or former Boston sports figure to be the guest picker on GameDay. How have the previous 14 stacked up? Here’s a look from worst to first.