Bill Belichick led the New England Patriots for over two decades before the two sides decided to mutually part ways, paving the way for Jerod Mayo to replace him. Now, the Patriots are looking for a new head coach once again after firing Mayo, and Belichick offered his reaction this week.
During the latest episode of the Let’s Go! podcast Bill Belichick was asked his thoughts on New England Patriots team owner Robert Kraft firing Jerod Mayo after just one year.
Belichick got rather candid.
“You know, that’s his choice,” Belichick said. “People that own the team have the choice to do whatever they wanna do. The other people that were in place. . . it’s also the rest of the organization, it’s not just the head coach. So, you know, {executive V.P. of football business and senior adviser to head coach] Robyn Glaser, [Kraft Group president] Jonathan Kraft, whoever the other people are that are involved in those decisions and the structure of the organization. But you need that shared vision between ownership and coaching and scouting. And that’s when you can be successful.”
As for himself, Belichick indicated that he had that unified vision throughout most of his time leading the Patriots, until the last several years.
“I had that up until about the last four years in New England, Belichick said. “And when you have that shared vision and everybody pulling in the same direction, you have a chance and you can get a lot done. And even if you don’t win at all, you’re still really competitive. . . . But when you’re going in different directions, then that makes it really hard to keep up with everybody else. I think you look at the organizations and you can kind of see the ones that are and the ones that aren’t. But look, it’s no surprise. There’s so many coaches now that are being released after a year, year and a half, or two years in place, and you just don’t see the Tom Landry situations anymore. That’s just not like that in the NFL or honestly in the other professional sports. And I think when you don’t have any continuity, it’s really hard to build.”
After taking a year off from coaching, Belichick will return to the sidelines next season as the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels.
We’ll have to see how he performs in his first college job.
