After several days of uncertainty surrounding New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, we now know what his fate will be for 2024.
He’ll no longer be on the sidelines the next time we see this team take the field.
According to ESPN’s Mike Reiss and Adam Schefter, after multiple meetings with owner Robert Kraft this week, the two sides have reached an agreement to part ways after 24 seasons together.
The two report that the split is amicable, with “no conflict” and “no disagreement” following the discussion between the owner and now-former coach.
Coming off of Sunday’s loss to the Jets, Belichick sounded like someone who hoped to have an opportunity to finish what he started when he spoke to the media on Monday. He was still dressed in the same shirt from the night before, and spoke as someone who planned to be a part of the team moving forward.
“I’m under contract. I’m going to do what I always do, which is every day I come in, work as hard as I can to help the team in whatever way I can, so that’s what I’m going to continue to do,” said Belichick. “I’ll meet with Robert like I always do, meet with the staff, meet with the personnel department, kind of recap the season with the big picture and look at some of the individual situations that are looming, one way or another, but that’s obviously a long, long way off from where we are right now.”
“So we’ll start, at the end of the day, putting the pieces back together in terms of setting things up to go through a good detailed analysis and kind of start a reconstruction, if you will.”
There will certainly be a reconstruction, and today’s news is one of the biggest dominoes to fall in an offseason that is expected to see more changes to come beyond the head coach position.
For anyone hoping to see Belichick traded or the team to receive compensation, it sounds like that’s not going to be explored. ESPN reports that Belichick does indeed want to continue his coaching career, but he’s expected to essentially be a free agent, allowing him to move forward to whatever franchise he decides to coach for.
Schefter reports that Jerod Mayo “projects to be a – if not the – leading candidate” for the head coaching vacancy, which will now be the next focus with this move finally becoming official.
As for where Belichick might coach next, Schefter has repeatedly cited interest from Atlanta in multiple Tweets following this morning’s news, making that franchise potentially one that will be worth watching as a possible landing spot for Belichick.
The Patriots and Belichick are expected to hold a press conference at noon on Thursday to announce the news, which will mark the end of an era for the future Hall of Fame head coach who joined the team after the club fired former coach Pete Carroll following the 1999 season.
For now, Belichick will leave the team having won six Super Bowl championships while finishing with a 266-120 record in the regular season, along with a 30-12 postseason record.
Those totals leave him currently 15 wins shy of breaking the all-time win record, which is currently held by former Dolphins head coach, Don Shula.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
