President Trump Set to Appoint Patriots Coach Bill Belichick to White House Sports Council

AP Trump and Belichick
The Associated Press

President Donald Trump is set to appoint New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick to his Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition, according to a report.

The president put a spike in former First Lady Michelle Obama’s sports and exercise initiative by ending her “Let’s Move” kid’s health program and revamping it to emphasize organized sports.

Presidents have been hosting health initiatives for children for decades. Barack Obama’s version of the program was entitled the “President’s Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.” But, after a year in office, President Trump turned his attention to this program to put his own stamp on it renaming the program the “President’s Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition.”

The Trump administration has yet to officially announce all the members of the refurbished council, and as of last year, some reports maintained that actor and bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno was a leading candidate to head the effort.

But now, according to Axios, Belichick is also in the running to join the president’s health initiative.

“According to a source with direct knowledge,” Axios added on May 4, “alongside Belichick, Trump will also appoint golfer Natalie Gulbis, three-time Olympic beach volleyball gold medalist Misty May-Treanor, retired Major League Baseball pitcher Mariano Rivera, retired NFL running back Herschel Walker, and Dr. Mehmet Oz.”

It was also reported that Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar would host the first meeting of the council, but no date has yet been for the meeting.

Ahead of the relaunch of the fitness initiative, the president recently designated May as “National Physical Fitness and Sports Month.”

Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.

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