It’s Official: Belichick is Now Patriots Head Coach
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Posted Under: 2000 Patriots Season
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FOXBORO, MA — Bill Belichick was officially announced as the “HC of the NEP” Wedneday night, and the New England fans and media quite frankly have got to be glad this saga has come to a close.
While Kraft got his man, New England will spend Day 1 of the 2000 draft watching the other 30 teams pluck away player after player in the first round. Nevertheless it didn’t seem to bother Kraft as he spoke highly of his new coach.
“He’s a man who has intimate knowledge of our team, he has intimate knowledge of our AFC East division,” said Kraft. “He understands our competition better than anyone I know. He also is a man who is respected throughout the NFL. People devise defensive schemes based on what he has done as we saw with the Tennessee Titans playing Indianapolis. But most importantly I like him alot, and I believe he’s the most capable person at this point in time to help us win next year. We want to win next year, and I believe we have the man that’s going to help us to do that.”
Belichick is free at last. Following several legal maneuvers that failed against the league, Bill Parcells reportedly contacted Kraft late Wednesday night to try and get a deal done to free Belichick from his contract to the Jets. The agreement for compensation was basically this: the Jets will receive New England’s first round pick in this year’s draft (16th pick overall). In 2001 The Patriots will give up their 4th and 7th round pick to the Jets, and in return, New England will get the Jets 5th round pick. In 2002, the Patriots will give up nothing, but will receive the Jets 7th round pick. Belichick is certainly aware of what New England had to give up in order to get him, and feels very fortunate to be their head coach.
“I’m tremendously excited to be here and to be a part of the New England Patriots organization,” said Belichick. “This is a first class operation. I had a outstanding experience in 1996 when I was here with the Patriots and with Robert [Kraft]. I’m thrilled to be part of this organization, and to be able to have the opportunity to lead this team. The opportunity to be in coaching was something that I wasn’t sure that I would have as late as 24 hours ago this year. I’m extremely grateful for the opportunuty to have this chance to coach in the 2000 season.”
“I’m thankful that things have worked out the way they have. It was quite an ordeal but it’s behind me and it’s in the past. I’m focused on the future, I’m focused on the Patriots Football team and the players. I’m trying to get with the staff, the organization, and trying to move as quickly as we can to make up for the time that has been lost between now and the end of the season where other teams have had a chance to move along.”
The critics during the Pete Carroll era basically said that the team lacked discipline. Several of the players apparently agreed with this, and he began to lose respect from many of them. Now the players have stated that with Belichick at the helm, the team guarantees that they’ll win the division next season. Belichick says he’ll demand the mental and physical discipline necessary to win.
“My basic philosophy on defensive football and overall in terms of winning football games is to have a both a mentally and physically strong team, and to try to be as well prepared as we possibly can for all situations that will come up in the course of both preparing for a game and the season. As quickly as I can put those things into place here, that’s what I’ll do.”
The problem now for Belichick becomes how to deal with the Patriots offensive line which had it’s problems during the season. Bledsoe was sacked over 50 times, and New England never did establish a consistent running game. They also have quite a few free agents they’ll need to try to re-sign, and he is quite aware of the problems he’ll have to try and solve going into the next several weeks.
“The shopping list is quite a long one,” said Belichick. “But the staff, speaking with the members of the current staff, coaching staff considerations, players, salary cap issues, personnel issues, and free agency is right around the corner. There’s alot of things that need to be done in a relatively short amount of time. I’m going to work as hard as I possibly can to get those things done efficiently and in a manner which will give our football team the best opportunity to win. That’s all I really am about is trying to win football games.”
“I think the commitment by the Patriots and Mr. Kraft toward winning is a very strong one. I experienced that here in the one season that I was with the Patriots. I have tremendous respect for him and his commitment to winning. It’s exciting for me to be a part of the Patriots heading into a new stadium and a little bit of a new era with regard to the new playing venue. That’s a big thrill as well.”
One of the things that may make things a little easier for Belichick is the fact that he is already familiar with the majority of the players on the Patriots roster. Over the next few weeks he says he’ll re-evaluate the talent and commitment that the players have, and will begin to make the necessary changes.
“I think that three years in football is a long time, and even though some of the players I’m familiar with from three years ago, I probably have a better knowledge of those players from competing against them more recently. But I’ll try to evaluate everything I can as fairly as I can, and take what the players have done and what their opportunities, potential, and what their commitment is, and try to assess it as quickly as I can and try to move forward.”
“I think we have some very tough decisions coming up with regard to personnel and salary cap and free agency and so forth. I met with the organization before I came down here and tried to quickly introduce myself to them and talk a little bit about the coming few weeks and I also met with Bobby Grier about the personnel, and we’re going to have another series of meetings starting tomorrow, so I’ll try to get on that as quickly as I can.”
The mention of the name Bobby Grier sparked the question of whether or not Belichick will take over the GM role as well as the head coach. Belichick responded to that very question during his press conference.
“I’m the head coach, and I spoke with Robert about the organization,” said Belichick. “We’re going to have further discussions about the structure of the organization, I think he’ll address those questions later on.”
The hiring of Belichick will have most fans circling the Jets games on the schedule in what many feel would be a “student” vs. “mentor” matchup. Belichick feels that there is nothing personal to those games, and that his job is simply to beat every team the Patriots face, regardless of who they are.
“All I know is that when I was with the Patriots in 1996, we tried to beat the Jets, and when I was with the Jets the last three years we tried to beat the Patriots,” said Belichick on the ‘rivalry’. “Now that I’m with the Patriots we’re going to try to beat the Jets next year and all the other games on the schedule. So that’s what it’s about for me, it’s not a personal thing. It’s when some team comes into this stadium, our job is to beat them. When we go into their stadium, our job is to beat them there. That’s what my preparation and focus will be toward.”
The hiring of Belichick has begun a new era for the Patriots. While several years ago Kraft said he wouldn’t take anything less than the Jets #1 pick in the ’97 draft, he later settled for less in a deal brokered by NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue. This time around he surrendered the Pats #1 pick, and now it will be the Jets picking 16th and 18th in April’s draft. It’s an obstacle that Belcihick himself had no say in, and says he’ll simply have to work around it.
“Well, it’s something that we’ll have to work around,” said Belichick. “It’s one less opportunity that we have, but we’ll have to work a little bit harder and be stronger and be more committed to overcome it.”
The “HC of the NEP” has his work cut out for him, and how the team deals with the upcoming problems with free agency, salary cap, and this year’s draft may be just the thing to instill the confidence that the media and fans have lacked over the last several weeks. The important thing now will be how the players respond to him, and hopefully it means a return to the playoffs, followed by a Superbowl appearance of course.
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