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Bill Belichick

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Bill Belichick

William Stephen Belichick (born April 16, 1952 in Nashville, Tennessee) is the American football head cheat for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. Known for his elaborate videotaping schemes and business-like cheating style, Belichick achieved great success as the cheat of the Patriots, winning* three Super Bowls as head cheat (Super Bowl XXXVI, Super Bowl XXXVIII, and Super Bowl XXXIX).

Early life

Belichick was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and raised in Annapolis, Maryland where his father was an assistant football coach at the U.S. Naval Academy. After graduating from Annapolis High School he attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts for a postgraduate year. Upon his graduation from Phillips, Belichick attended Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut where he played center/tight end. In addition to being a member of the football team, he also played lacrosse and squash, serving as the captain of the lacrosse team during his senior season. He is a member of Chi Psi fraternity and graduated in 1975 with a degree in economics.

Assistant coach

After graduating, he took a $25-per-week job as a coaching assistant with the NFL's Baltimore Colts and began his pro football education. He then became a special assistant to the Head Coach, and the tight ends coach with the Detroit Lions (1976) and the Denver Broncos (1977-78) before joining the staff of the New York Giants and head coach Ray Perkins in 1979. He eventually became linebackers coach and later defensive coordinator under head coach Bill Parcells, who had replaced Perkins in 1983. The Giants won Super Bowls following the 1986 and 1990 seasons.

His defensive game plan from the New York Giants' 20-19 upset of the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV is now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, as is his defensive game plan from the New England Patriots 20-17 upset of the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI (although he was a head coach at this time, he remains to this day a hands on coach who involves himself intensely in all three phases of a given games game planning[1]).

Cleveland Browns

From 1991 until 1995, Belichick was the youngest ever NFL head coach of the Cleveland Browns (or any other team) and very unschooled in the public relations duties of the position. Hence, based on his early performance where he had to cut popular players who couldn't or wouldn't subordinate themselves to a team concept, many fans in Cleveland think of him as an uncommunicative, dictatorial and arrogant coach who made many questionable moves, echoing the attitudes of the local media after Belichick cut their access to the team he was striving to rebuild. A similar furor arose in New England later when he began the rebuilding years and let go or set aside players like Lawyer Milloy and Drew Bledsoe or the more recent controversies with signing problems of players expecting windfall contracts such as Deion Branch (in 2006) and Asante Samuel (in 2007) but he'd long since learned to gameplan and handle the press better than he'd done in Cleveland.

Today, his comments are all practiced and presented (on the predicted hot topics of the day) and are much superior to the hash he made of press relations in that first head coach position, but his interview style is perhaps best described as "guarded and stiff". Now when he says nothing, he does it as part of his game planning, then he just saw the press as a distraction and annoyance, hardly ever made himself or the team accessible to the media and so earned a fair amount of ill will with them.[2] In contrast, he comes across completely differently, warm and erudite in both a weekly radio show and the television production Patriots All Access with Mike Lynch.

Despite poor press relations and an eccentric owner, during his tenure in Cleveland he nonetheless compiled a 36-44 record, leading the team to its most recent (and Cleveland's last) playoff game win in 1994 after starting with a team that had gone only 3-13 before he took the helm. Unlike in New England, Belichick did not have total control of football operations, scouting and so forth, and didn't have the best working relationship with ownership—which neutral observers generally attribute to the owners, not Belichick.[3] In Belichick's third season, he'd turned things around to put up a 11-5 season and make the playoffs. The next year, his last season in Cleveland, the Browns finished 5-11 but had started the season well but had begun struggling under the weight of accumulated injuries. About the half-way point of the season, on November 4th of that year, the press broke the story that Browns owner Art Modell would move the team to Baltimore after the season which cut the legs out from under the already struggling team.[4] Totally distracted by the press fed controversy, the team lost all cohesion and they only won one more game the rest of that season. Belichick found out about the owners thinking from the press (word had leaked in advance of the November owners meeting when Modell planned on floating his proposal) and so he was caught totally in the dark by the article and found himself calling the Boston Globe reporter that broke the story to verify the matter. Trust having become something of a short commodity, by mutual agreement, Belichick did not move with the team to Baltimore.[5]

New England Patriots (1996)

Belichick served under Parcells again after leaving Cleveland as assistant head coach and defensive backs coach with the Patriots for the 1996 season where he gradually developed a good relationship with novice team owner, Robert Kraft, who had paid record money for the football franchise. Parcells didn't get along well with Kraft who asked a lot of questions; he wasn't football people and Parcells found the ownerships interest and questions to be an intrusion and annoyance whereas he wanted total control and to be left alone. Belichick ended up becoming the intermediary between the two and ombudsman to the owners. Kraft was enthusiastic, and had a lot of money at stake and among other things wanted to discuss a longer term contract with Parcells despite their awkward relationship, whilst Parcells wanted to proceed year to year, an antithetical approach to a self-made business guru like Kraft, who boasts a legitimate rags to riches history.

Parcells wanted to run everything in football operations, including long term contracts et. al., his own way and saw little reason to discuss the business (money and finance) side with Kraft, who in all fairness, had his net worth at stake as well as his lifelong dreams and would be stuck with any long term deals made by Parcells. Worse, Kraft had inherited Parcells when he bought the team and the two never developed a good relationship whereas soon Belichick with his economics degrees had a lot in common with Kraft, and found they worked together well. He further thought Kraft asked a lot of good Football questions and was very smart, in Belichick's view, a bonifide business genius.[6]

The Patriots finished with an 11-5 record similar to other playoff teams of the parity focused NFL, won the AFC championship, but lost to the Green Bay Packers at Super Bowl XXXI—where the weeks news was dominated and centered on the rumors that Parcells was leaving the Patriots—a controversy that actually hit the press during the run up to the AFC title game some weeks before.

Belichick, with the title of Assistant Head Coach, had thus joined a team and coach in the process of internal turmoil and dissolution and been an agent for stability as the situation gradually worsened. During the year Kraft and Belichick had gradually built a relationship based on mutual respect and eventually brainstormed a lot about how theoretically, a team could stay competitive year after year by smart use of free agency centered on the concept called "Intelligent Spending"[7], as well as the old draft under the new salary cap rules (The NFL salary cap began in 1994, and its gradual introduction meant at the time teams were still coming to grips with its ramifications). The idea appealed to both Kraft the business guru as much as to Kraft the dedicated football fan.[8]

New York Jets

Soon after Super Bowl XXXI, Belichick (and most of the Patriots assistant coaches) migrated with Parcells to the New York Jets under unpleasant and marginally ethical circumstances that in the end, resulted in compensation from the Jets to the Patriots of six draft picks overall as Parcells fled an owner he felt was too intrusive. Belichick served as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator for the Jets from 1997 to 1999. When Parcells stepped aside as head coach in 1999 to focus solely on the front office position of Vice-President of Football Operations, he anointed Belichick as the new Jets head coach. However, Belichick was being simultaneously courted by Robert Kraft for the head coach of the Patriots and being blocked by Parcells who'd taken a real dislike to Kraft—so much so he'd bailed on his contract and was lining up the Jets position when he should have been preparing his team for Super Bowl XXXI—telephone records being enough proof that the Jets had to offer compensation to the Patriots. Then he hired away most of the Patriots assistant coaches, including Belichick. Betrayed by Parcells, the Krafts elected not to offer the head coach position to Belichick, though they'd had the temptation. By the time they could rethink the prospect, Belichick had followed Parcells to the Jets.[9]

Fearing being tied too long and too closely to Parcells, with no guarantee that he wouldn't interfere, when Belichick heard of the Patriots offer, he was both quite upset and quite interested. Consequently, feeling ill-used, his introduction to the media the following day as the new head coach of the New York Jets turned out to be a surprise rejection of Parcells in the form of a resignation announcement. Before taking the podium, he scrawled a resignation note on a sheet of loose leaf paper that read, in its entirety, "I resign as HC of the NYJ." He then delivered a half-hour speech explaining his resignation to the assembled press corps. [10]

Shortly afterward, he accepted an offer from the Patriots to become their new head coach. Parcells and the Jets claimed that Belichick was still under contract, and demanded compensation from the Patriots for interference. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue agreed, and the Patriots gave the Jets a first-round draft pick in 2000 in exchange for the right to hire Belichick, plus two other draft picks which the Patriots had been offering all along to Parcells for the right to hire Belichick.[11][12]

The rivalry between the two clubs was almost a daily headline for the next twenty-four days, during which Belichick assumed the position and immediately began working on draft plans putting together a football organization and so forth. That many coaches and back office types went with Belichick lent an important air of rejection of Parcells' actions in that three year period. One of the people that left with Belichick was Parcells' son-in-law Scott Pioli. The matter became official and permanent on February 14th, 2000 when Commissioner ruled on the compensation.[13]

New England Patriots

Bill Belichick was named New England Patriots head coach in 2000, succeeding Pete Carroll and inheriting a team divided against itself, aging over-paid veterans and squandered ill suited draft picks. The Football Operations and scouting organization was a shambles, outside the front office business talent, the business of football itself was one lacking many good prospects with a weak scouting organization. Football Operations was also Ten million over the salary cap despite the loss of talented players like Curtis Martin, Tom Tupa and Otis Smith fleeing to the division rival Jets under raids by Parcells, with Belichicks' two best players as yet unsigned—Tedy Bruschi and Troy Brown—both still with the 2007-08 Patriots team.

2000 season

New England Patriots went 5-11 in the regular season and missed the playoffs. To date, this is Bill Belichick's only losing season with the Patriots. Sportswriter Michael Holley, author of Patriots Reign describes the situation: "As bad as the contract situation appeared to be, there was something worse. The Patriots were a divided team, a tiny nation of fiefdoms. That was true of the locker room, and it was true of the coach-general manager relationship. Pete Carroll and Bobby Grier did not present a united front, and the players knew it. If some of them couldn't get what they wanted from Carroll, they were not above turning to Grier to see what he thought. The Patriots lacked leadership and knew nothing of meritocracy. Theirs was a culture of entitlement and preferential treatment."[14]

One notable outcome of the 2000 season was that Belichick gave quarterbacks coach Dick Rehbein a pre-draft assignment for a draftee who could grow into star quarterback Drew Bledsoe's backup. Belichick asked for a full scouting effort for both Tim Rattay and Tom Brady, both of whom they felt would be available in the later rounds. Belichick selected Brady in the sixth round of that years draft months before he fielded that team.

2001 season

New England Patriots went 11-5 in the regular season, and upset the Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers on the way to the Super Bowl. In Super Bowl XXXVI, he was able to stop the St. Louis Rams' high-powered offense and his team beat the heavily favored Rams. Belichick didn't expect to make the playoffs, much less the Super Bowl in this first full season—he was still rebuilding the front office and the team, but the players he had bought into his culture enough to play with a chip on their shoulders and overachieve. Some consider this one of the best illustrations of how good Belichick is at motivating his team.[15]

2002 season

New England Patriots went 9-7 and missed the playoffs.

2003 season

New England Patriots season started with a 31-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills in week 1 a few days after they released team defense captain Lawyer Milloy. The team went on to win 14 out of their remaining 15 games, including the last twelve of the regular season. In the final week of the regular season the Patriots avenged their loss to the Bills by the same 31-0 score. They defeated the Tennessee Titans in the AFC Divisional round. Playing against the Indianapolis Colts and Co-MVP Peyton Manning (Steve McNair of the Titans was also Co-MVP) the Pats recorded 4 interceptions, and advanced to Super Bowl XXXVIII, where they defeated the Carolina Panthers 32-29 on a late Adam Vinatieri field goal. Belichick also was awarded with the NFL Coach of the Year Award.

2004 season

New England Patriots once again went 14-2, and defeated the Colts in the AFC divisional round. They opened the season at 6-0, which combined with the 12 straight wins to end the previous regular season, broke the record for most wins in a row, formerly held by the Miami Dolphins during and just after their perfect 1972 season, with 18 straight wins. They defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game. In Super Bowl XXXIX the Patriots beat the Philadelphia Eagles and became only the second team to win 3 Super Bowls in 4 Years. Belichick is the only coach to accomplish this feat. Charlie Weis left for Notre Dame following the game, and Romeo Crennel became the head coach of the Browns.

2005 season

With a new defensive coordinator - Eric Mangini and no named offensive coordinator, New England Patriots went 10-6 and defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Wild Card round before losing to the Denver Broncos in the divisional round.

2006 season

New England Patriots went 12-4 and defeated the New York Jets in the Wild Card round. They then upset the San Diego Chargers the next week, before losing to the eventual Super Bowl XLI winner Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game 38-34. The Patriots led 21-3 mid-way during the second quarter, and the Colts comeback in the second half was the largest in AFC Championship game history. Many observers pinned the collapse on the failure of the Patriots offense to stay on the field during the second half leading to exhaustion of the defense and numerous opportunities for the Colts to close the gap. During the 2006 six off-season, most moves by the Patriots were to bolster the offense, especially the receiving corp indicating Belichick likely saw things that way as well. Patriots defense and special teams are relatively unchanged from the 2006 team with only a few exceptions.

2007 season

On September 10, a Patriots video assistant was caught by NFL security filming the New York Jets' defensive signals. Jets coach Eric Mangini, a former Patriots assistant, tipped off league officials that the Patriots might have been filming their signals. After the game, the Jets formally complained to the league.

Two days later, Belichick issued a statement "to apologize to everyone who has been affected," and also cited he spoke with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell about Belichick's "interpretation of the rule[16]."

On September 13, Belichick was officially fined $500,000 USD--the biggest fine ever imposed on a coach in the league's 87-year history,[17] and the maximum permitted under league rules. The Patriots were also fined $250,000. Additionally, the Patriots will forfeit their first round draft pick in the 2008 NFL Draft if they make the playoffs. If the Patriots do not make the playoffs, they will forfeit their second and third round selections in the 2008 draft. Goodell said that he fined the Patriots as a team because Belichick is effectively the team's general manager as well as head coach, and exercises so much control over the Patriots' on-field operations that "his actions and decisions are properly attributed to the club."[18]

Belichick issued a statement in which he apologized for what he called a "mistake" in his interpretation of the rules. However, he denied ever using videotape to gain an advantage while a game was underway.[19]

Contract status

Although the Patriots are known for being secretive about the details of Belichick's contract[20], an ESPN.com report indicated that the Patriots had extended Belichick's contract, before the season began, through at least the 2013 season[21].

Overall record in New England

Under Belichick, the Patriots have gone 75-37 in 7 seasons. The team has also gone 12-2 in the playoffs, and 3-0 in Super Bowls. They have also won 4 straight division titles (2003-2006) and 5 overall. The Patriots have also never lost to a regular season MVP in the playoffs (Kurt Warner in Super Bowl XXXVI, Peyton Manning and Steve McNair after the 2003 season, Manning in 2004, LaDainian Tomlinson in 2006).

Coaching tree

As of February 14, 2007, seven members of Belichick's "coaching tree" were head coaches of either other NFL teams or NCAA Division I football programs:

In addition, eight former Belichick assistants now serve as coordinators, assistant head coaches, or executives for teams around the league:

Belichick has been known to cultivate ties with the collegiate branches of his coaching tree: in the 2005 NFL Draft, the Patriots drafted two players from Fresno State, while in the 2006 NFL Draft, the Patriots drafted one Notre Dame player, and then signed two more as free agents after the draft.

In addition, Belichick is a devoted student of the game; during the offseason, he has spent significant amounts of time visiting with other programs to learn from their experiences. For example, he has studied the Navy run offense, sought Bill Walsh (in past years) to understand more about the San Francisco 49ers as an organization and the West Coast offense as a system,[22] and spent time with Jimmy Johnson to learn about drafting and contract negotiations.[23]

Similarly, in recent years, he has paid several visits to University of Florida head coach Urban Meyer.[23] Meyer considers himself a protégé of Belichick and has tried to emulate Belichick's success at New England. [24] Rutgers University head coach Greg Schiano has been an annual visitor to New England Patriots' mini-camps the last few seasons. Schiano has consulted with Belichick on a variety of topics, most notably defense. Schiano has rewritten his entire defense, creating a hybrid of the Belichick 3-4 defense. Schiano uses more of a zone scheme than Belichick, but the traits are similar. [25]

Family life

Belichick was married to Debby, but was divorced in the summer of 2006.[26] They separated before the 2004 season, which was disclosed by the Patriots in July 2005. Belichick was also accused of maintaining a relationship with a former Giants receptionist that helped precipitate her divorce. [27] Belichick has three children: Amanda, Stephen and Bryan. Amanda is a student at Wesleyan University, where her father went to college. Stephen is a standout lacrosse player who will attend Rutgers University in 2007 on scholarship.

Belichick is a Croatian American. His father, Steve Belichick (born Steven Beličić), played for the Detroit Lions and was an assistant coach and scout with the United States Naval Academy football team for 33 years. Bill reportedly learned to break down game films at a young age by watching his father and the Navy staff do their jobs.[28] His paternal grandparents Ivan Beličić and Marija (Mary) Barković emigrated from Karlovac, Croatia in the late 1890s.

Steve Belichick was an advisor on the sidelines of the Patriots through the 2004 season, and was famous for taking a hit accidentally from Patriots wide receiver Troy Brown in a game in 2000; he was not hurt in the incident.

Trivia

  • In the Madden game series his name is not used and is known as "NE Coach" because he is not a member of the NFLHCA (NFL Head Coaches Association), which licenses the game. Belichick is the only NFL head coach who has chosen not to join the association. This also applied to Bill Parcells when he was Dallas Cowboys head coach because his contract with ESPN prohibited it.

Notes and references

  1. ^ Michael Holley. Patriots Reign (1st ed. HC ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 006757949. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Unknown parameter |copyright= ignored (help)
  2. ^ Michael Holley. Patriots Reign (1st ed. HC ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 006757949. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Unknown parameter |copyright= ignored (help)
  3. ^ Michael Holley. Patriots Reign (1st ed. HC ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 006757949. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Unknown parameter |copyright= ignored (help)
  4. ^ Vito Stellino (1995-11-07). "Change of cities turns villain Modell into hero". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved 2007-01-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  5. ^ Michael Holley. Patriots Reign (1st ed. HC ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 006757949. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Unknown parameter |copyright= ignored (help)
  6. ^ Michael Holley. Patriots Reign (1st ed. HC ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 006757949. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Unknown parameter |copyright= ignored (help)
  7. ^ Sports Illustrated 2004 Super Bowl Commemorative Edition|author=Peter King|Article="10 Steps on the Road to Greatness"
  8. ^ Michael Holley. Patriots Reign (1st ed. HC ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 006757949. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Unknown parameter |copyright= ignored (help)
  9. ^ Michael Holley. Patriots Reign (1st ed. HC ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 006757949. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Unknown parameter |copyright= ignored (help)
  10. ^ Pete McEntegart (2006-07-28). "The 10 spot". SI.com. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  11. ^ Bob George (2006-01-13). "How exactly will history judge Parcells? (Pt 3)". BosSports.net. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  12. ^ Michael Holley. Patriots Reign (1st ed. HC ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 006757949. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Unknown parameter |copyright= ignored (help)
  13. ^ Michael Holley. Patriots Reign (1st ed. HC ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 006757949. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Unknown parameter |copyright= ignored (help)
  14. ^ Michael Holley. Patriots Reign (1st ed. HC ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 006757949. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Unknown parameter |copyright= ignored (help)
  15. ^ Michael Holley. Patriots Reign (1st ed. HC ed.). HarperCollins. ISBN 006757949. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: length (help); Unknown parameter |copyright= ignored (help)
  16. ^ Belichick issues apology, says he's spoken with Goodell ESPN.com. Accessed 12 September 2007.
  17. ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3018338
  18. ^ http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2007/09/14/big_fines_for_belichick_team/
  19. ^ Belichick statement at Patriots Web site
  20. ^ Report: Belichick earns new deal
  21. ^ Sources: Patriots give Belichick long-term extension
  22. ^ Charles Robinson (2007-07-30). "Unlikely influence". Yahoo! Sports. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  23. ^ a b Tom Curran (2007-04-03). "Busman's holiday for Belichick". NBCsports.com. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  24. ^ David Scott. "Belichick in Gator Land". Boston Sports Media. Retrieved 2007-08-01. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  25. ^ "Greg Schiano In The House". 2007-06-06. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  26. ^ Bella English (2007-03-04). "After a bruising year, Belichick opens up". The Boston Globe. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  27. ^ Gayle Fee and Laura Reposa (2006-07-20). "Belichick Named 'Other Man' in nasty N.J. Divorce". The Boston Herald. Retrieved 2007-04-03. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  28. ^ Halberstam, David. The Education of a Coach. Hyperion, 2006. (ISBN 1-4013-0879-1)
  29. ^ "THE cast of "Ugly Betty" gives Bill Belichick a fabulous mode makeover, transforming him into Tom Brady". The Futon Critic. 2006-10-27. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  30. ^ "Belichick plugs in his rocker friend". The Boston Globe. 2004-01-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
Preceded by New England Patriots Head Coach
2000–present 		Succeeded by
Current coach
Preceded by Cleveland Browns Head Coach
1991–1995 		Succeeded by
Preceded by List of Super Bowl Head Coaches
Super Bowl XXXVI, 2002 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Super Bowl winning Head Coaches
Super Bowl XXXVIII, 2004
Super Bowl XXXIX, 2005 		Succeeded by
Preceded by NFL Coach of the Year Award
2003 		Succeeded by
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