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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Invoice Belichick had a imaginative and prescient of constructing the sort of sustained championship soccer group that had not often been seen earlier than within the NFL when he was employed by the New England Patriots.
He walks away feeling prefer it was a job effectively performed.
The six-time NFL champion agreed to half methods because the coach of the Patriots, ending his 24-year tenure because the architect of essentially the most embellished dynasty of the league’s Tremendous Bowl period.
“It is with so many fond reminiscences and ideas that I take into consideration the Patriots,” Belichick mentioned on Thursday in a media availability with proprietor Robert Kraft. “I will at all times be a Patriot. I sit up for coming again right here. However right now, we will transfer on. And I look ahead, excited for the longer term.”
Neither Belichick nor Kraft took questions, although Kraft scheduled an availability for later within the day.
Talking to reporters from the rostrum the place he had given so many terse, non-responsive postgame recaps, Belichick appeared in a jacket and tie and spoke first, adopted by Kraft. The coach even smiled a few occasions — together with when he conceded respect for the media “regardless that we do not at all times see eye to eye.”
He additionally thanked the followers for “the sendoffs, the parades, the Sundays.” However most of his time was spent thanking the individuals all through the group, particularly the greater than 1,000 Patriots gamers he coached in his time right here.
“Gamers win video games within the NFL,” Belichick mentioned. “I have been very, very lucky to educate a number of the biggest gamers to ever play the sport.”
Gamers win video games within the NFL. I have been very, very lucky to educate a number of the biggest gamers to ever play the sport.
– Invoice Belichick
Kraft known as the connection a wedding that had required work and had come to an finish.
“I am very proud that our partnership lasted for twenty-four years,” Kraft mentioned. “Invoice has taught me quite a bit over these years, and we had excessive expectations for what we might obtain collectively. I feel we had been the one ones who had these expectations, and I feel it is protected to say we exceeded them.”
“We did,” Belichick agreed.
“Due to you,” Kraft mentioned.
Belichick, 71, grew to become simply the third coach in NFL historical past to succeed in 300 profession regular-season victories earlier this season, becoming a member of Corridor of Famers Don Shula and George Halas. With 333 wins together with the playoffs, Belichick trails solely Shula (347) for the report for victories by a coach.
However the Patriots ended this season 4-13, Belichick’s worst report in 29 seasons as an NFL head coach. It supplanted the 5-11 mark he managed in his final 12 months in Cleveland in 1995 and once more in his first 12 months in New England in 2000. Together with the playoffs, he ends his Patriots tenure with a 333-178 general report.
Belichick is predicted to renew his pursuit of Shula’s report elsewhere.
Along with his cutoff hoodies and ever-present scowl, Belichick teamed with quarterback Tom Brady to guide the Patriots to 6 Tremendous Bowl victories, 9 AFC titles and 17 division championships in 19 years. Throughout a much less profitable — but in addition tumultuous — stint with the unique Cleveland Browns, Belichick earned 37 of his profession victories.
Response to Thursday’s announcement poured in throughout social media. It included one from Brady, who responded with three coronary heart emojis to a publish on ESPN’s Instagram web page which had pictures of Belichick and Kraft embracing throughout Thursday’s information convention.
It isn’t instantly clear who Kraft will faucet to exchange the longer term Corridor of Famer.
Patriots linebackers coach Jerod Mayo gained a Tremendous Bowl ring enjoying underneath Belichick and has interviewed for a number of head teaching vacancies since turning into a New England assistant in 2019. Mayo turned down a couple of interviews final offseason earlier than signing a contract extension to stay with the Patriots.
Mike Vrabel, who was fired earlier this week by the Tennessee Titans and gained three Tremendous Bowls with the Patriots, can be anticipated to be a candidate for the pinnacle teaching job.
Belichick had been grooming offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to exchange him earlier than McDaniels left following the 2021 season to develop into the coach of the Raiders. He has since been fired by Las Vegas. Belichick’s two sons, Steve and Brian, are additionally on the teaching workers.
Belichick’s exit from the Patriots comes only a day after one other teaching nice and longtime buddy Nick Saban introduced he’d retire after profitable seven faculty nationwide championships. Saban labored for Belichick’s father, Steve, within the Nineteen Eighties as a coach at Navy, and Invoice Belichick employed Saban as his defensive coordinator when he grew to become Cleveland’s head coach in 1991.
The six Tremendous Bowl wins tie Belichick with pre-merger mentors Halas and Curly Lambeau for essentially the most NFL championships. Belichick additionally gained two rings as Invoice Parcells’ defensive coordinator with the New York Giants.
However the Patriots have stumbled to a 29-38 report since Brady departed following the 2019 season and missed the playoffs in three of these 4 seasons. Starting in 2001 when Brady grew to become the beginning quarterback, the Patriots missed the playoffs solely as soon as — when Brady was injured in 2008. This marked New England’s fifth consecutive season with out a playoff victory.
Belichick’s subsequent options at quarterback have not panned out.
Brady’s preliminary substitute, Cam Newton, did not resemble the participant who gained the 2015 MVP award and was minimize after a 7-9 end in 2020. In the meantime, Brady gained his seventh Tremendous Bowl ring with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers that very same season.
Potential long-term substitute Mac Jones, a 2021 first-round draft selection, was a Professional Bowl choice as a rookie and led New England to the playoffs. However he regressed in 12 months 2 when Belichick put longtime defensive assistant Matt Patricia in control of the offense. Jones did not fare a lot better this season when Invoice O’Brien returned as offensive coordinator. He was benched 4 occasions earlier than being changed as starter by backup Bailey Zappe for the ultimate six video games.
That left the Patriots taking a look at a prolonged rebuild, with no candidate on the roster to convey stability to the game’s most necessary place.
Belichick, who additionally served because the de facto normal supervisor with last say on personnel choices, was celebrated for his ingenuity managing the wage cap in the course of the run of Tremendous Bowl success. It included getting stars like Brady and others to just accept cap-friendly contracts or regulate their offers to accommodate the signing of different gamers.
However that acclaim has waned within the years since Brady left, as a run of draft picks and high-priced free brokers did not stay as much as expectations. As well as, Belichick has seen a number of members of his personnel and scouting departments go away for different jobs. The listing consists of his former participant personnel director, Nick Caserio, who was employed as Houston’s normal supervisor in 2021.
Now it will not be Belichick making the selections for the Patriots on or off the sector.
Belichick, the one little one of a World Struggle II veteran who spent three many years as a Navy assistant coach, is a soccer historian with an encyclopedic data of technique from the game’s early days to present NFL developments. His gamers mentioned his consideration to element by no means left them unprepared.
Belichick has been a grasp of the NFL rule e book, unearthing loopholes in clock operations and offensive line formations that — although totally authorized — cemented his popularity as a mad genius.
However his legacy in New England additionally consists of two main dishonest investigations — and different minor ones — that value him and the group draft picks and greater than $1 million in fines. Opponents accused the Patriots of the whole lot from hacking their headsets to reducing corners on harm reviews.
His friendship with former President Donald Trump, which Belichick insisted was not political, landed the coach on the listing to obtain a Presidential Medal of Freedom within the waning days of the administration. After the outcry in opposition to the U.S. Capitol siege, Belichick introduced “the choice has been made to not transfer ahead.”
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