Coaching career

Early coaching positions

After graduating, Belichick took a $25-per-week job as an assistant to Baltimore Colts head coach Ted Marchibroda in 1975. In 1976, he joined the Detroit Lions as their assistant special teams coach before adding tight ends and wide receivers to his coaching duties in 1977. He spent the 1978 season with the Denver Broncos as their assistant special teams coach and defensive assistant.

New York Giants (1979-1990)

In 1979, Belichick began a 12-year stint with the New York Giants alongside head coach Ray Perkins as a defensive assistant and special teams coach. He added linebackers coaching to his duties in 1980 and was named defensive coordinator in 1985 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.

Cleveland Browns (1991-1995)

From 1991 until 1995, Belichick was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. During his tenure in Cleveland he compiled a 36-44 record, leading the team to the playoffs in 1994, his only winning year with the team. Coincidentally, his one playoff victory during his Browns tenure was achieved against the Patriots in the wild card round during this postseason. In Belichick's last season in Cleveland the Browns finished 5-11, despite starting 3-1. In November of that year in the middle of the ongoing football season, Browns owner Art Modell had announced he would move his franchise to Baltimore after the season. After first being given assurances that he would coach the transplanted Baltimore Ravens, Belichick was instead fired on February 14, 1996, one week after the shift was officially announced.

New England Patriots (1996)

After his dismissal by the new Baltimore Ravens, Belichick served under Parcells again as assistant head coach and defensive backs coach with the Patriots for the 1996 season. The Patriots finished with an 11-5 record and won the AFC championship, but they lost to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXI amid rumors of Parcells' impending defection.

New York Jets (1997-1999)

Belichick had two different stints as the head coach of the Jets without ever coaching a game.

In February 1997, Belichick, who had been an assistant coach under Bill Parcells with the New York Giants and New England Patriots, was named the Jets interim head coach while the Jets and Patriots continued to negotiate compensation to release Parcells from his contract with Patriots and allow Parcells to coach the Jets. Six days later, the Patriots and Jets reached an agreement that allowed Parcells to coach the Jets and Belichick became the team's assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. When Parcells stepped down as head coach in 1999, he had already arranged with team management to have Belichick succeed him. However, Belichick would be the New York Jets' head coach for only one day. When Belichick was introduced as head coach to the media—the day after his hiring was publicized—he turned it into a surprise-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.

Soon after this bizarre turn of events, he was introduced as the Patriots' 12th full-time head coach, succeeding the recently fired Pete Carroll. The Patriots had tried to hire him away from Parcells/the Jets in the past. Parcells and the Jets claimed that Belichick was still under contract to the Jets, and demanded compensation from the Patriots. 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.

New England Patriots (2000-present)

Soon after hiring Belichick, owner Robert Kraft gave him near-complete control over the team's football operations, effectively making him the team's general manager as well. He is one of two NFL coaches with the title or powers of general manager, the other being the Seattle Seahawks' Pete Carroll. Until 2009, Belichick split many of the duties normally held by a general manager on other clubs with player personnel director Scott Pioli, though Belichick had the final say on football matters. Pioli left for the Kansas City Chiefs after the 2009 season.

The Patriots went 5-11 in the 2000 regular season and missed the playoffs. To date, this is Belichick's only losing season with the Patriots, and also the only year in which Tom Brady did not start at quarterback in any regular season games.

In 2001, the Patriots went 11-5 in the regular season, and defeated the Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers on the way to the Super Bowl. In Super Bowl XXXVI, Belichick's defense held the St. Louis Rams' offense, which had averaged 31 points during the season, to 17 points, and the Patriots won on a last second field goal by Adam Vinatieri. The win was the first Super Bowl championship in Patriots history.

The following season (2002) — the first in Gillette Stadium — the Patriots went 9-7 and missed the playoffs. New England finished with the same record as the New York Jets, but the Jets clinched the AFC East title as a result of the third tiebreaker (record among common opponents).

The Patriots' 2003 season started with a 31-0 loss to the Buffalo Bills in week 1 a few days after they released team defensive captain Lawyer Milloy. However, they roared through the remainder of the season to finish 14-2, setting a new franchise record for wins in a 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 Patriots 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.

In 2004, the 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 15 straight wins to end the previous regular season, those 21 straight wins broke the record for most wins in a row (18 regular season wins in a row), formerly held by the Miami Dolphins during and just after their perfect 1972 season with 18 straight wins (16 regular season, 1971-73). 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 three Super Bowls in four years. Belichick is the only coach to accomplish this feat.

With a new defensive coordinator in Eric Mangini and no named offensive coordinator, the Patriots went 10-6 in 2005 and defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Wild Card round before losing to the Denver Broncos in the divisional round. Earlier, with a season-opening win over the Raiders, Belichick notched his 54th win with the Patriots, passing Mike Holovak as the winningest coach in Patriots history.

The Patriots went 12-4 in 2006 and defeated the New York Jets in the Wild Card round. They then beat 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, but the Colts mounted one of the great comebacks in playoff history.

In 2007, Belichick led the Patriots to the first perfect regular season since the introduction of the 16-game regular season schedule in 1978, only the fourth team to do so in National Football League history after the 1934 and 1942 Chicago Bears and 1972 Miami Dolphins. However, the Patriots were upset in Super Bowl XLII by the New York Giants The Patriots' failure to attain a "perfect season" (undefeated and untied, including playoffs) preserved the Miami Dolphins as the sole team to do so, having finished their 1972 regular season at 14-0 and having won three games in the playoffs. Only two other teams in professional football have recorded a perfect season — the 1948 Cleveland Browns (14-0) of the then All-America Football Conference and the 1948 Calgary Stampeders (12-0) of the Canadian Football League. No team in the former American Football League had a perfect season.

In the Patriots' 2008 season-opener against the Kansas City Chiefs, quarterback Tom Brady suffered a season-ending injury in the first quarter. Backup quarterback Matt Cassel was named the starter for the remainder of the season. However, with a win in week 2, the Patriots broke their own record for regular season wins in a row with 21 (2006-08). After losing over a dozen players to the injured reserve list, including Rodney Harrison, Adalius Thomas, and Laurence Maroney, the Patriots still managed their league-leading eighth consecutive season with a winning record, going 11-5. Nevertheless, the Patriots, who finished second in the AFC East, missed the playoffs for the first time since 2002, losing tiebreakers to the Dolphins (who won the division on the fourth tiebreaker, better conference record) and the Ravens (who beat out the Patriots for the last playoff spot due to a better conference record). The 1985 Denver Broncos are the only other 11-win team to miss the playoffs in a 16-game season.

On January 22, 2012, the Patriots won the AFC Championship game beating the Baltimore Ravens 23-20 when the Ravens failed to score a touchdown and Baltimore's kicker, Billy Cundiff, missed a routine 32-yard field goal attempt to tie the game and send it into overtime. This sent New England to their fifth Super Bowl under Belichick. In Super Bowl XLVI, the Patriots lost in the Super Bowl XLII rematch to the Giants 21-17.

On September 26, 2012, following a 31-30 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Belichick was fined $50,000 for grabbing a replacement official's arm while asking for more specific clarity on a ruling after Baltimore had narrowly converted a last-second field goal attempt to secure the win. The Patriots finished the 2012 regular season with a 12-4 record and made it to the AFC Championship game before losing to the Baltimore Ravens, ending their season.

2013 season

Belichick's New England Patriots began the season with much upheaval on the offensive side of the ball with the injury of Rob Gronkowski, the arrest and subsequent release of Aaron Hernandez, the departure of Wes Welker to the Denver Broncos and Danny Woodhead to the San Diego Chargers in free agency, and the release of Brandon Lloyd. To replace them, the Patriots signed Danny Amendola in free agency, drafted rookies Aaron Dobson and Josh Boyce, and signed undrafted rookie free agent Kenbrell Thompkins.

The team ended the season with a 12-4 record, winning the AFC East and securing a playoff berth and a first-round bye, seeding second in the AFC standings. The team started off 4-0 before losing to the Bengals in Week 5, when the New England offense failed to score a touchdown. Defensive captains Vince Wilfork and Jerod Mayo went on Injured Reserve with and Achilles tear in Week 4 and a Pectoral tear in Week 6 respectively. In Week 6 against the New York Jets, star Tight End Rob Gronkowski made his 2013 debut, catching 8 passes for 114 yards in a losing effort. With Gronkowski healthy again, the Patriots had wins in Week 7 against divisional rival Miami Dolphins and Week 8 against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Patriots headed into the bye week with a 7-2 record.

In a Week 10 loss to the Carolina Panthers, the Patriots trailed by 4 and quarterback Tom Brady, with only 59 second left and three timeouts, drove his offense downfield to Carolina's 18 yard line, and with 3 seconds left, threw a pass to Rob Gronkowski that was intercepted despite the officials calling a defensive pass interference penalty on Luke Kuechly that was waved off. The Patriots fell to 7-3 and faced 2013 NFL MVP Peyton Manning and the eventual record-breaking offense of the Denver Broncos. After going to the half trailing by 24, the Patriots scored 31 unanswered points and won in overtime after a muffed fair catch led to a Stephen Gostkowski field goal. After that, the Patriots began their Week 13 and Week 14 matchups trailing in the first half to then pull out comebacks in the 4th quarter. In the Week 15 AFC East clash versus the rival Dolphins, the Patriots fell to 10-4. With a Week 16 win over the Baltimore Ravens, Belichick collected his 198th win regular season win as a head coach. With the Week 17 win over the Buffalo Bills, Belichick pulled within 1 win from achieving 200 career wins.

Sideline videotaping controversy

In an incident dubbed "Spygate," on September 9, 2007, NFL security caught a Patriots video assistant taping the New York Jets' defensive signals from the sidelines. The NFL rules state “No video recording devices of any kind are permitted to be in use in the coaches’ booth, on the field, or in the locker room during the game.” 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.

On September 13, the NFL fined Belichick $500,000—the largest fine ever imposed on a coach in the league's 87-year history, and fined the Patriots $250,000. Additionally, the Patriots forfeited their first round draft pick in the 2008 NFL Draft. Goodell, a former employee of the Jets, said that he fined the Patriots as a team because Belichick exercises so much control over the Patriots' on-field operations that "his actions and decisions are properly attributed to the club." Goodell considered suspending Belichick, but decided that taking away draft picks would be more severe in the long run. Gary Myers, New York Daily News columnist, stated Belichick should have been suspended by Goodell for the Patriots' next game against the Jets.

Belichick later issued the following statement:

I accept full responsibility for the actions that led to tonight's ruling. Once again, I apologize to the Kraft family and every person directly or indirectly associated with the New England Patriots for the embarrassment, distraction and penalty my mistake caused. I also apologize to Patriots fans and would like to thank them for their support during the past few days and throughout my career. As the Commissioner acknowledged, our use of sideline video had no impact on the outcome of last week's game. We have never used sideline video to obtain a competitive advantage while the game was in progress. Part of my job as head coach is to ensure that our football operations are conducted in compliance of the league rules and all accepted interpretations of them. My interpretation of a rule in the Constitution and Bylaws was incorrect. With tonight's resolution, I will not be offering any further comments on this matter. We are moving on with our preparations for Sunday's game.

The sanctions against Belichick were the harshest imposed on a head coach in league history until the New Orleans Saints' Sean Payton was suspended for the entire 2012 season for allegedly covering up a scheme in which bounties were paid for deliberately knocking opponents out of games.

Following the incident and its fallout, Belichick led the Patriots to a perfect 16-0 regular season record, and was awarded the 2007 NFL Coach of the Year Award, as voted on by the Associated Press.

Contract status

Belichick is represented by Neil Cornrich. Although the Patriots are known for being very secretive about the details of Belichick's contract, an ESPN.com report in September 2007, shortly after the Spygate incident began, indicated that the Patriots had extended Belichick's contract, before the 2007 season began, through at least the 2013 season.

Overall record in New England

Under Belichick, the Patriots have gone 187-69-0 in 16 seasons. Belichick is far and away the winningest coach in Patriots history; his 187 wins with the franchise are more than triple those of runner-up Holovak. Belichick also has compiled a 22-9 record in the playoffs with New England, and 4-2 in Super Bowls. He has led the Patriots to thirteen division titles, including five consecutive titles from 2003 to 2007 and seven consecutive titles from 2009 to 2015 (and only missed the playoffs on tiebreakers in 2002 and 2008). He and the Patriots lost to the Giants in Super Bowl XLVI 21-17. But in 2015, the Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX 28-24, winning their first championship in a decade.

Head coaching record

Coaching tree

Bill Belichick has worked under five head coaches:

• Ted Marchibroda, Baltimore Colts (1975)
• Tommy Hudspeth, Detroit Lions (1976-1977)
• Red Miller, Denver Broncos (1978)
• Ray Perkins, New York Giants (1979-1982)
• Bill Parcells, New York Giants (1982-1990), New England Patriots (1996), New York Jets (1997-1999)

Seven of Belichick's assistant coaches have become NFL head coaches:

• Romeo Crennel, Cleveland Browns (2005-2008), Kansas City Chiefs (2011-2012)
• Al Groh, New York Jets (2000)
• Josh McDaniels, Denver Broncos (2009-2010)
• Eric Mangini, New York Jets (2006-2008), Cleveland Browns (2009-2010)
• Nick Saban, Miami Dolphins (2005-2006)
• Jim Schwartz, Detroit Lions (2009-2013)
• Bill O'Brien, Houston Texans (2014-present)

Seven assistant coaches have become NCAA Division I head coaches:

• Kirk Ferentz, Iowa (1999-present)
  • Ferentz's son Brian Ferentz, who played for his father at Iowa from 2001-2005, joined the Patriots scouting department in 2008 and later their coaching staff in 2009. He left New England to join his father's staff in 2012.
• Al Groh, Wake Forest (1981-1986), Virginia (2001-2009)
• Pat Hill, Fresno State (1997-2011)
• Bill O'Brien, Penn State (2012-2014)
• Nick Saban, Michigan State (1995-1999), LSU (2000-2004), Alabama (2007-present)
  • Josh McDaniels was a graduate assistant under Saban in 1999 before joining the Patriots.
• Charlie Weis, Notre Dame (2005-2009), Kansas (2011-2014)
  • A graduate assistant for Weis at Notre Dame, Patrick Graham, is an assistant coach for Belichick. Former Patriots assistant Shane Waldron also served as a graduate assistant under Weis.
• Pete Mangurian, Columbia (2012-2014)

One assistant coach has become a Canadian Football League head coach:

• John Hufnagel, Calgary Stampeders (2008-present)

Fourteen assistant coaches or executives under Belichick have become assistant head coaches, coordinators or executives in the NFL:

• Jeff Davidson, offensive coordinator of the Carolina Panthers (2007-2010), assistant head coach and offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns (2006)
• Thomas Dimitroff, general manager for the Atlanta Falcons (2008-present)
• John Mitchell, assistant head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers (2007-present)
• Ozzie Newsome, general manager for the Baltimore Ravens (2002-present)
• Scott Pioli, general manager for the Kansas City Chiefs (2009-2012)
• Joel Collier, assistant general manager for the Kansas City Chiefs (2009-present)
• Mike Tannenbaum, general manager for the New York Jets (2006-2012)
• Brian Daboll, offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns (2009-2011), offensive coordinator for the Miami Dolphins (2011), offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs (2012)
• Rob Ryan, defensive coordinator for the Buffalo Bills (2016-present), defensive coordinator for the New Orleans Saints (2013-2016), defensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys (2011-2012), defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns (2009-2010), defensive coordinator for the Oakland Raiders (2004-2008)
• Brad Seely, special teams coordinator of the San Francisco 49ers (2011-present), assistant head coach/special teams coordinator for the Cleveland Browns (2009-2011)
• Charlie Weis, offensive coordinator for the Kansas City Chiefs (2010)
• Josh McDaniels, offensive coordinator for the St. Louis Rams (2011)
• Phil Savage, general manager Cleveland Browns (2005-2008), player personal executive Philadelphia Eagles (2010-present)
• Jim Bates, defensive coordinator Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2009), Green Bay Packers (2005), Miami Dolphins (2000-2003), Atlanta Falcons (1994)
• Chuck Bresnahan, defensive coordinator Oakland Raiders (2011)
• Dean Pees, defensive coordinator Baltimore Ravens (2012-present)

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, and spent time with Jimmy Johnson to learn about drafting and contract negotiations.

Similarly, Belichick paid several visits to former University of Florida head coach Urban Meyer. Meyer considers himself a protégé of Belichick and has tried to emulate Belichick's success at New England. Former Rutgers University head coach Greg Schiano had been an annual visitor to New England Patriots' minicamps prior to becoming the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Schiano has consulted with Belichick on a variety of topics, most notably defense.

Personal life

Belichick was married to Debby Clarke, but they divorced in the summer of 2006. They allegedly separated before the 2004 season, which was disclosed by the Patriots in July 2005. Belichick was also accused of maintaining a relationship with former Giants receptionist Sharon Shenocca, which helped precipitate her divorce. Belichick was seen with Linda Holliday of Jupiter, Florida several times in Arizona during the week leading up to Super Bowl XLII. Belichick also had Sharon Shenocca flown in for the game.

He has three children with Debby Clarke Belichick: Amanda, Stephen, and Brian. Amanda is a 2007 graduate of Wesleyan University, where both she and her father played lacrosse. After college, she worked at Connecticut preparatory school Choate Rosemary Hall as a lacrosse coach and member of the admissions department. In 2009, she became an assistant coach for the University of Massachusetts Amherst women's lacrosse team, before joining the Ohio State Buckeyes in the same position the next year. After serving as interim head women's lacrosse coach at Wesleyan, her alma mater, she was named head women's lacrosse coach at Holy Cross College in Massachusetts in July 2015. Stephen played lacrosse and football at Rutgers University on scholarship. Stephen was hired as an assistant coach for the New England Patriots in May 2012 and currently serves as the team's safeties coach, a position he attained in 2016. Brian attends Trinity College where he plays lacrosse.

Belichick is of Croatian ancestry. His father, Steve Belichick (born Stephen Biličić), 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. His paternal grandparents Ivan Biličić and Marija (Mary) Barković emigrated from Karlovac, Croatia (from the village of Draganić) in 1897 and left for the USA, where they settled in Monessen near Pittsburgh.

Media and entertainment

• A two-hour documentary following Belichick through the entire 2009 season was aired as the first two episodes of the NFL Network documentary series A Football Life. According to NFL Network, the premiere was the most-watched documentary in the history of the NFL Network, and the second-most watched broadcast in the Boston media market, beating all the broadcast networks, and finishing second only to a Boston Red Sox game.
• Belichick had a cameo appearance in an episode of the Denis Leary drama Rescue Me as a mourner at a funeral, alongside former Boston Bruin Phil Esposito.
• In the Madden NFL video game series, his name is not used and is known as "NE Coach" because he is not a member of the NFL 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.
• Belichick is well known as a fan of the rock band Bon Jovi, who visited Patriots training camp on August 14, 2006. Their 2002 song "Bounce" is dedicated to Belichick.
• In a 2012 interview, Star Wars novelist Drew Karpyshyn named Belichick the NFL personality most likely to become a Sith. "Stealing signals in the Super Bowl? Total Sith move. The guy is always looking for every advantage; he's cunning and crafty and amoral. That may sound like an insult, but I’d love to have him coaching the Chargers."
• In an interview, A Song of Ice and Fire author George R.R. Martin called the Patriots the "Lannisters" of the NFL. And in a blog post dated March 15, 2013, Martin wrote, "what a vile thing is Evil Little Bill. ... Man has absolutely no loyalty to anyone. Watch and see, when Tom Brady's talents start to fade -- and they will, it happens to all of them -- Evil Little Bill will ship him out as well."
  • The A Song of Ice and Fire novel A Dance with Dragons contains a passage referencing Belichick: "The galley was also where the ship's books were kept... the fourth and final volume of The Life of the Triarch Belicho, a famous Volantene patriot whose unbroken succession of conquests and triumphs ended rather abruptly when he was eaten by giants," referring to the New England Patriots' 2007 season, in which the Patriots went undefeated until losing in the Super Bowl to the New York Giants.
• In the Family Guy episode "3 Acts of God" it is revealed that God won't let the New England Patriots win games because Belichick never smiles.
• The 2008 South Park episode "Eek, a Penis!" deals with fallout from the 2007 National Football League videotaping controversy. As the character Eric Cartman is coaching inner-city children to cheat on achievement tests, several students raise objections to his morally questionable methods. Cartman twice raises a photo of Belichick and states that the Patriots' coach got caught red-handed, and nobody cared. The lesson for Cartman's students was that America doesn't mind a cheater, as long as he cheats his way to the top.
• Belichick's "We're on to Cincinnati" press conference during the 2014 season is spoofed by comedian Frank Caliendo.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]