Bill Belichick is the head coach of the New England Patriots, consistently described as one of the best coaches in the NFL. He has won a Super Bowl, a conference championship, and played a role in an NFL record 14 Super Bowl berths. While he is well known as the head coach of the Patriots, many know him as the architect behind their success. He has worked with the Patriots for a long time, since they were in the AFL, but before that he was mentored by two men who have greatly influenced his career.
The Patriots head coach has spent the last 25 years working his way up from a young assistant coach to NFL legend. He started out as an intern in the front office of the New York Giants, working under legendary defensive coordinator Bill Belichick. After two years he joined the Patriots as a defensive assistant in 1991, and quickly established himself as one of the most astute and knowledgeable coaches in the game.
Bill Belichick is a football genius. There is no doubt about it. However, the way he became one is not as pretty as the way he has been winning games for the Patriots.
Bill Belichick has eight Super Bowl rings to his name. He earned six as the head coach of the New England Patriots and two more as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants.
Belichick, widely regarded as one of the greatest NFL coaches of all time, had a head start in his career. He also soaked up information from his two heroes, learning from the finest.
Bill Belichick is a descendant of Steve Belichick.
Former Navy coach Steve Belichick was a member of the 1958 Cotton Bowl winners squad, which was recognized at halftime of a game on October 25, 2003, at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland. He is Bill Belichick’s father. | WireImage/Getty Images/Tim Cammett
Football is in Bill Belichick’s blood. Bill Belichick got the football bug from his father, Steve, who was a player, coach, and scout with the Patriots. From 1956 until 1989, Steve worked for Navy as an assistant coach and scout. When Bill was nine years old, he would accompany his father to practices and team meetings whenever he was permitted. He sat in on Monday-night meetings when the squad discussed the scouting report on the opponent for the upcoming week.
In 2004, Steve told Sports Illustrated, “He’d sit in the back of the room, maybe for 90 minutes a session.” “I never had to confront him about his actions. He’d just gaze at the front of the room, without saying anything.”
Bill was taken under the wing of a few of the other instructors. Every Thursday night, Bill received an envelope from Ernie Jorge, an offensive assistant coach. ‘Bill’s Ready List’ was written on it, and it included the week’s game plan.
Bill had mastered the offensive language of the Navy by the age of ten. He was able to pick up on formations and strategies. He was a pioneer in his field.
Steve Belichick died in November 2005 at the age of 86. Bill looked up to him as a mentor and idol.
According to ESPN, Bill stated after his passing, “Obviously, he had a huge impact on my life individually, and especially in the football aspect.” “It was wonderful to be able to share some of our recent achievements with him, as well as some of our incredible memories.”
As a kid, Bill used to hang out with the Navy football team and got to know quite a number of the guys. Joe Bellino, the running back, was one of his favorites.
Bellino was a celebrity. He was a two-sport standout at Navy, playing baseball and football, but it was football where he established a name for himself. Bellino was capable of doing any task. He ran for 834 yards and caught 15 receptions for 264 yards in his final year. He also threw two touchdown passes.
He would go on to win the Heisman Trophy in 1960. He wasn’t selected until the 17th round of the 1961 NFL Draft because of his five-year commitment to the United States Navy following graduation. The Boston Patriots chose him in the 19th round of the 1961 AFL Draft. Beginning in 1965, he spent three seasons with the Patriots, mostly as a kick returner.
Steve remarked of Bellino, “That was his first hero.” “Back then, Joe was a hero to a lot of youngsters in America, and Bill was his pal.”
“Imagine what Bill must have taken in,” Bellino, who died in 2019, added. “He’d listen to his father deliver the scouting report from the back of the room. He’s a little boy of six, seven, or eight years old who hangs around at the Naval Academy. Midshipmen in uniform, parades, the brass, visiting presidents, and a football team with two Heisman Trophy winners are all part of the experience (Bellino and 1963 recipient Roger Staubach). He also saw his father’s work ethic. Everyone in the room seemed to be soaking up what his father was saying, thinking that if we did what he said, we could defeat anyone.”
Belichick has one of the finest coaching credentials in the NFL.
All of his time spent studying from his father and other Navy coaches and players was well worth it. Bill Belichick has established himself as one of the most successful NFL coaches in history. In 1975, he got his first NFL job, working for the Baltimore Colts’ Ted Marchibroda for $25 per week. He joined the Giants in 1979 after brief stints with the Detroit Lions and Denver Broncos.
He worked with the Giants for 12 years in various capacities, including special teams coach, linebackers coach, and defensive coordinator. In 1991, he was hired as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. From 1991 through 1995, Belichick was 36-44 with one postseason participation.
Before becoming the Patriots’ head coach in 2000, Belichick served as an assistant under Bill Parcells in both New England and the New York Jets. He rubbed Patriots owner Robert Kraft the wrong way at first.
Kraft told Sports Illustrated, “He used to be a junior Parcells.” “He went around saying stuff like, ‘This team is worse than I anticipated,’ and ‘We can’t win with this.’ I urged him to remove it. Who needs that? Let’s talk about what we can do to improve things. And he succeeded.”
He went ahead and did it. He made the Patriots a dynasty, and he has six Super Bowl rings to show for it.
RELATED: One Former NFL Player Would Have Been Cut Had Bill Belichick’s Derogatory “Favorite Word” Been Used
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