BILL BELICHICK-MASTER PLANNER

Bill Belichick was born on April 16, 1952 in Nashville, Tennessee. He was raised in Annapolis where his father was as assistant football coach with Navy at the United States Military Academy. He attended Wesleyan University in Middleton, Connecticut, where he earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics in 1975. It was there that he played Center and Tight end and also played squash and Lacrosse where he was captain of his team. He is a member of Chi Psi Fraternity.

Beginnings of his career

After graduating, Belichick took a $25-per-week job as an assistant to Baltimore Colts head coach Ted Marchibroda back in 1975. In 1976 the Detroit Lions hired him as their assistant special teams coach. Soon his responsibilities included tight ends and wide receivers in 1977. The 1978 season found him with Denver as the Bronco assistant special teams coach and defensive assistant.

In ‘79, Belichick began his 12-year stint with the Giants under head coach Ray Perkins as defensive assistant and special teams coach. In 1980  he expanded his duties to linebackers, and named defensive coordinator in 1985, while under head coach Bill Parcells, who had replaced Perkins in 1983. The Giants won Super Bowls following the 1986 and 1990 seasons. His game plan was so successful tin the Giants’ 20-19 victory over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV it is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame!

From 1991 until 1995, Belichick moved on to head coach the Cleveland Browns. As head coach of Cleveland he compiled a 36–44 record. In 1994 the team made the playoffs, his only winning year as head coach. Belichick resigned from the team in early February 1996 as the team was moving to Baltimore.

After departing Cleveland, Belichick reunited under Parcells once again as assistant head coach and defensive backs coach for the Patriots during the 1996 season. The Patriots finished 11-5 record, won the AFC championship, but fell to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XXXI.

           

After Super Bowl XXXI, Belichick moved on with Parcells to the New York Jets.  From 1997 to 1999 Belichick was assistant head coach and defensive coordinator for the Jets. As Parcells stepped down as head coach in 1999, he arranged for Belichick to succeed him with team management. However, Belichick would be the New York Jets' head coach for only one day only. As he was introduced as head coach to the media—the day after his hiring was publicized—he made a resignation announcement, scrawling a resignation note on a sheet of loose leaf paper that read: "I resign as HC of the NYJ."  Soon after he was introduced as the New England Patriots' new head coach; the team that had tried to hire him away from the Jets in the past, Parcells and the Jets claimed that Belichick was still under contract to the Jets. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue agreed that compensation was due the NY Jets, and the Patriots gave the Jets a first-round draft pick in 2000in exchange for the right to hire Belichick.

Bill Belichick succeeded Pete Carroll as New England Patriots head coach in 2000, Team owner Robert Kraft has given Belichick almost complete authority over football operations, effectively making him the team's GM as well. The Patriots went 5-11 in the regular season and didn’t make the playoffs, his only losing Patriot season. In 2001, the Patriots went 11–5 in the regular season, and defeated both Oakland and Pittsburg to qualify for the Super Bowl. In Super Bowl XXXI, New England's defense held the St. Louis' offense, having averaged 31 points per game during the season, to just 17 points, as the Patriots won on a last second field goal. It was the first championship in Patriots Super Bowl history.

In 2002 the Patriots went 9–7 and but 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 badly with a 31–0 loss to Buffalo in week 1. The team finished by winning 14 out of their remaining 15 games. Ironically the final week of the regular season,  the Patriots avenged their loss to the Bills by the same 31–0 score. They beat Tennessee in the AFC Divisional Round. Playing against the Indianapolis Colts the Patriots recorded 4 interceptions, and went to Super Bowl XXXVIII and defeated the Carolina Panthers, 32-29 on a field goal, which helped Belichick win the NFL Coach of the Year award. In 2004, the Patriots once again went 14–2, as they defeated Indianapolis in the AFC divisional round.

New England opened the next season at 6–0, which combined with the 15 straight wins to end the previous regular season, made for 21 straight wins and                                                                           broke the record for most wins in a row (18 regular season wins in a row), once held by the Miami Dolphins during and after their perfect season in 1972 with 18 straight wins (16 regular season, 1971–73). They defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship game then defeated the Philadelphia Eagles  in Super Bowl XXXIX and became only the second team to win three Super Bowls in four tries. Belichick is the only coach to it.

The Patriots went 10–6 in 2005 and defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Wild Card round before bowing to the Denver Broncos in the divisional round.

In 2006 the Patriots went 12-4 and defeated the NY 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 were leading 21-3 mid-way through the second quarter, when the Colts came back, it was the largest comeback in AFC playoff history since the Bills overcame a 35-3 halftime deficit to beat the Houston Oilers.

Bill Belichick led the 2007 Patriots to the first perfect season since the introduction of the 16-game regular season schedule in 1978, becoming only the fourth team to do so in the history of the league after the 1934 and 1942 Chicago Bears and 1972 Miami Dolphins. However, the New York Giants upset the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII! The Patriots' failure to attain a "perfect season" (undefeated and untied, including playoffs) kept the Miami Dolphins as the only team to do so, having finished their 1972 regular season at 14-0 and having won three games in the playoffs.

In the Patriots' 2008 season-opener against the Kansas City Chiefs,  Tom Brady, quarterback suffered a season-ending injury in the first quarter, leading to the substitution by backup quarterback Matt Cassel for the rest of the season. 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, the Patriots still managed their league-leading eighth consecutive season with a winning record, going 11–5. The Patriots, who finished second in the AFC East failed to qualify for the NFL playoffs losing tiebreakers to the Dolphins who were 11-5 and won the division. On January 22nd, 2012 the Patriots won the AFC Championship game when Baltimore Ravens kicker, Billy Cundiff missed a routine 32-yard field goal attempt, sending New England to their fifth Super Bowl under Belichick.

Illegal sideline videotaping

In an incident called "Spygate," on September 9, 2007, NFL security caught a Patriots video assistant taping the defensive signals of the New York Jets from an on-field location. Jets coach Eric Mangini, the former Patriots assistant under Belichick, 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 2008 first round draft. Commissioner Goodell 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.

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."

Following the incident and its fallout, Belichick was awarded the 2007 NFL Coach of the Year Award, as voted on by the Associated Press.

Belichick has led the Patriots to a 139–53-0 in 12 regular seasons. The team also boasts a 16-5 record in the playoffs, and 3–1 in Super Bowls. They have won eight division titles, including five consecutive titles from 2003 to 2007 (and only missed the playoffs on tiebreakers in 2002 and 2008).