How about we give Kraft credit for hiring Belichick and Belichick credit for what the Patriots have done since 2000.
Among Kraft moves, coach gets top billing - Page 2 - Boston.com
Understand that by this time Kraft had received a thorough education in the whys and wherefores of being an owner in the NFL. He had inherited Parcells from James Busch Orthwein, and from the beginning, Parcells made it clear that Kraft’s primary function, in his eyes, was to sign the checks and get out of the way. And, by the way, contracts be damned.
He had a five-year contract,’’ Kraft says, “but all you’d hear was, ‘I coach year to year.’ ’’
That was very unsettling to a businessman such as Bob Kraft.
“I had to grow up as an owner,’’ he says. “I was a kid. It [i.e. dealing with Parcells] made me a man, very quickly.’’
Kraft spent a great deal of time talking to Belichick that year, and the more he did, the more impressed he became. The native intelligence and the devotion to the game were very obvious.
“I remember a conversation we had about [linebacker] Chris Slade,’’ recalls Kraft. “He knew everything about him. He pulled out a book with information.’’
Kraft also was blown away by Belichick’s awareness of the entire NFL. Back in 2000, Kraft had marveled, “Every recommendation he had made in ’96 was an excellent recommendation.’’
Kraft even thought about hiring Belichick to succeed Parcells, but he admits he simply chickened out. He had been so scarred by Parcells that he was afraid to hire someone with a Parcells connection. He reached out for the anti-Parcells instead, and by the end of the 1999 season, he knew Mr. Nice Guy Pete Carroll had to go. The team was clearly regressing.
“Pete was a great guy,’’ Kraft acknowledges. “But I know how to run a business, and by then I knew Bill Belichick was the right guy for me.’’
It wasn’t one thing; it was everything. The NFL world was changing, and new skills were needed for a coach to succeed.
“Bill Parcells was not transitioning well into the salary-cap era,’’ Kraft maintains.
He felt that Wesleyan economics major Belichick would not have that problem.