Jerod Mayo was interested in keeping Steve Belichick on his first Patriots staff, but that’s not going to happen. Belichick’s college interview starts in Foxboro.
The second-generation NFL coach will leave the Patriots to become the defensive coordinator at the University of Washington, according to Matt Zenitz of 247Sports.com. ESPN.com’s Field Yates reports that Belichick has accepted the Huskies’ offer. It would be a significant change for Steve Belichick, but given what happened to his father and the Patriots, it wasn’t hard to predict he would be gone as well. Steve Belichick, 36, spent 12 seasons as a defensive assistant under Bill Belichick.Â
While his relationship with the greatest coach of all time undoubtedly contributed to that growth, the Bills have relied on Steve as their primary defensive player for the past four seasons.
The Patriots haven’t used a traditional defensive coordinator since Matt Patricia left in 2018, but Mayo and Brian Flores were considered the best assistants on the left side of the ball. But Steve Belichick played a big role in the 1920s. Steve moved from a defensive assistant position to safeties coach in 2016 and coached the Pats’ outside linebackers from 2020-2023.
Matt Judon and Josh Uche had productive seasons during this stretch, but the Pats couldn’t match Steve Belichick’s numbers even in their 20s. 3-4 rings. Mayo has offered staff positions through 2024 to Steve Belichick and Brian Belichick, who joined the team in 2017 and has been the team’s safeties coach the past four years. It’s unclear how Brian will go forward, but Steve will get his first job. As a coordinator.
Bill Belichick never coached in college, but his father served in the Navy for decades. Huskies hire Jedd Fish as HC to replace new Alabama HC Kalen DeBoer. Fish becomes the Patriots’ fourth coach in 2020. The Huskies will also hire Patriots quarterbacks coach Vinny Sunseri to help coach the secondary, Yates added. Sunseri, 32, with Pats since 2020; He spent the last three seasons as the RB coach, but originally joined Bill Belichick’s staff as a defensive assistant.
All of this is happening while the NFL coaching carousel is on hiatus and Bill Belichick is without a job. HC, a six-time Super Bowl champion, was expected to be the favorite, but the team was indifferent to Belichick and the power he sought. Only two people, the Falcons and the Commanders, told him about the HC vacancy. And he is not expected to join the team as an assistant. Belichick has been on an NFL staff every season since 1975, but hasn’t served as a coordinator since 1999. Bill, 71, has no plans to retire.
A revival in 2025 (likely the last opportunity to host a third NFL HC performance) will be on the radar.
Meanwhile, the Patriots are hiring Packers defensive backs coach Jerry Montgomery, according to ESPN.com’s Rob . Demosky. Montgomery has been a Packers assistant since 2015, working under Dom Capers, Mike Pettine and Joe Barry. The Packers drafted Montgomery out of college. From 2006 to 2014, I worked as a college D-line assistant. Montgomery, 44, replaces DeMarcus Covington, who was named to the DC role by the Patriots.Back in the college ranks, Patriots OC Bill O’Brien made two significant changes.
According to Rich Thompson of the Boston Herald , O’Brien is close to a deal to become Boston College’s next head coach after leaving the Pats to become Ohio State’s offensive coordinator. O’Brien was in the Ohio State gig before the Patriots hired a new OC (Alex Van Pelt). The Packers’ decision to hire former Boston College running back Jeff Hafley will likely have ripple effects in D.C.
