FOXBORO – Look at Bill Belichick and you cannot help but marvel at how far he’s come.

Look at everything the oddly-compelling coach of the 15-2 Patriots has already accomplished, winning a Super Bowl two years ago and gunning for a second title in three years as he prepares to face the Colts in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game at Gillette Stadium, and remember that shocking January day four years ago when he stood before New York and resigned as the “H.C. of the N.Y.J.” on the day he was to be named as the Jets’ head coach.

It’s difficult to look at Belichick as the resoundingly successful H.C of the N.E.P. without recalling that bizarre day of masterpiece theater that unfolded before our disbelieving eyes on Jan. 4, 2000.

After an obviously nervous and uncomfortable Belichick was finished with his stunning resignation in an awkward and rambling press conference that lasted some 55 minutes, Steve Gutman, then the Jets’ president, irresponsibly tried to make Belichick out to be some kind of lunatic, saying, “I think we listened for an hour and a half to someone in turmoil.”

Yesterday, in an exclusive interview with The Post, Belichick recalled that day and those damning words from Gutman and delivered his most revealing public words about the subject since it occurred.

“I’m going to make one comment and we can close the book on it,” Belichick told The Post. “I can’t think of anybody in professional sports – and certainly in my 30 years of professional football – who has said more and won less than Steve Gutman.”

Truer words have never been spoken.

Belichick, of course, has persevered despite that inner turmoil he was supposedly burdened with, according to Gutman, who must have fancied himself as a psychology specialist that day.

The path for Belichick, as he’s weaved his way to where he is today – widely respected as arguably the best head coach in his profession – was not without its share of angst, uncertainty and even embarrassment.

“I knew I did the right thing and I didn’t know where my career was going to go,” Belichick said of that fateful day. “I knew what wasn’t going to happen.”

Asked why he bolted from the Jets, he said, “I said it all in that press conference,” referring to his concerns about a lack of stability in the organization at the time with Bill Parcells orchestrating his departure and a new owner about to come in and take over.

“All the things I said then, frankly they’ve all come true,” Belichick said. “Every aspect of the organization that I commented on, it looks to me like that’s the way I saw it then and that’s the way it turned out.”

Belichick knew he was going to be criticized and ridiculed for his bold move, but he said, “I can’t really worry about what other people say. I had to do what was right for me, and that’s what I did.”

And look where he is now.

“I remember being at the facility and watching the press conference and being shocked when he made the announcement that he was leaving,” Patriots defensive end Rick Lyle, a former Jet, said. “I remember saying, ‘Good for him.’ He knew he was going to face a lot of criticism from it, but he did it because it was best for his career and his family.”

Patriots linebacker Roman Phifer, also a Jet back then, recalled, “I remember being home and watching the press conference and I thought it was just kind of chaotic. The feeling I got was, ‘Damn, who’s going to be the coach?’ And, I was wondering what coach Belichick was thinking. Obviously, he had other plans.

“You’ve got to take your hat off to him, because maybe he had been under the shadow of Parcells for so many years, and sometimes you’ve got to spread your wings and go your own way. I felt like that’s what he was doing.”

It, of course, has worked out just fine for Belichick . . . in spite of that inner turmoil that was supposedly churning inside of him.