It's the professional leagues, not high school. It's also a 2-way street; Mac can always go and ask what the deal is.I don't know how that all happens. But it's insane to not have these conversations. Sometimes it's obvious to the coach but not obvious to the player. If you care at ALL about a person's development - which you should as their head coach - you have the conversation. Again, it's not a massive time consumer.
"Hey Mac, have a seat. I haven't been seeing what I want to see, and your attitude is not what we need. We've asked you to do X, Y, and Z, and it's not happening. I just want you to know you're being demoted to third string."
That takes 20 seconds to say. Less, even. At least then he knows what the deal is.
I mean don't get me wrong. I've seen lots of times in HS sports where a coach doesn't communicate with his players, but - speaking as a HS coach myself - it's malpractice to not do so. If you care at all about these people.
There's literally no reason to not have these conversations. When I put a kid on the bench, I tell her what the deal is so she's not left in the dark. Even if it's for an obvious reason. It's not hard to do and it leaves no room for the whole "coach just doesn't like me for some reason; he plays favorites" crap.
Mac may indeed have been a model citizen after his benching, although I am personally skeptical. But that doesn't undo everything that happened to cause the benching in the first place. And the reality is that the coaches have a job to do with the players expected to play.
And if he was indeed still going outside the team to air the locker room laundry, then Belichick doesn't owe him the time of day.