Mayo’s Plan Moving Forward: Wants “Developers” as He Builds His Staff
(PHOTO: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 7 minutes
Posted Under: Patriots News
(PHOTO: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports) 🕑 Read Time: 7 minutes
New England Patriots > Patriots Blog
(PHOTO: Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports) The page was turned on Wednesday, with new head coach Jerod Mayo joining Patriots owner Robert Kraft in front of reporters in front of a packed house at Gillette Stadium.
Kraft was beaming as he spoke with reporters, with the owner emphasizing how long it’s been since the last time he introduced a new coach. He also recalled a funny interaction with the former linebacker when they first met after he was drafted.
“It’s been nearly a quarter of a century since we announced a new head coach,” said Kraft on Wednesday. “Today, I’m happy to welcome you all here as we introduce the 15th head coach of the New England Patriots, Jerod Mayo.”
“I remember him immediately coming up to me and saying, ‘Kraft and Mayo, they go together pretty well.’ Sixteen years later – sixteen years later – here we are.”
Mayo, dressed in a black t-shirt and black sportcoat, was direct and honest throughout his portion of the press conference, addressing a variety of topics as he begins his tenure as head coach.
One thing he spoke at length about throughout was his belief in “developing people,” telling reporters that it’s something he feels strongly about and he’s looking forward to stepping into that role.
“I would say I’m a huge believer in just developing people,” said Mayo. “Whether it’s on the football field, whether it’s off the football field, in the media world, in business, my calling is to be a teacher and to develop people and help them see pretty much what they don’t want to see, but they need to see. So my job, that is been my calling.”
The two clearly have a good relationship. Mayo even has a nickname for Kraft, who he referred to as “Thunder” throughout his press conference.
“I call him ‘Young Thundercat,’ he has a young heart,” said Mayo, explaining where the name stemmed from.
Mayo credited his time at Optum, which was a place he spent multiple years away from the game in the business world after he walked away from football.
“I learned a lot at Optum about diversity and inclusion and you better believe it, being the first black coach in New England means a lot to me,” said Mayo. “But those guys taught me you have to take ideas from other people, black, white, green, yellow, it really doesn’t matter. Old, young …”
“One thing you’ll notice about me in our interaction as we continue to go, is I don’t like echo chambers. I want people around me that are going to question my ideas or question the way we have done things in the past. Because realistically, this game is a lot different from when I was drafted in 2008. At the same time, that’s why I try to spend so much time in developing young men and young women. I don’t want to teach them what to think, I want to teach them how to think. And once we get to that point, I think we can get back to where we need to be, at the top.”
“I’m an open book, I’m honored, I’m ready to go and I’m excited to be the next head coach of the Patriots.”
There appear to be decisions still left to be made as it pertains to the coaching staff, but Mayo made his vision very clear.
He wants coaches who both take the time to get to know the players they’re working with, and he wants people who will help them grow and get better.
“Everything’s still under consideration,” said Mayo when asked about what moves he’ll be making. “Obviously, the staff that I’ve been working with isn’t the staff that I’ve chosen. But everything’s under evaluation. One thing I would say with all of my coaches, the number one thing is developing people.”
One thing that stood out is the fact Mayo emphasized how important it is to deal with this generation of players, which certainly makes you wonder if this may have been a weakness with Belichick in the final years of his tenure. He pointed out that moving forward, it’s important for coaches to take the time to understand the players they’re working with, which is something Mayo believes is a point of emphasis moving forward.
“With this generation, I mean, back when I first started playing, most of the time coach would say something, and guys would do it,” said Mayo. “I think with this generation, it’s about, you have to show them that you care about them before you get into competency as far as X’s and O’s are concerned. And that’s one thing I feel like, with all my coaches, they should know the players. They should know their room better than I do. They’re closer to those guys and they have that day-to-day interaction.”
“But to me, whether we’re talking offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator, special teams coordinator, all that stuff is under [evaluation] and my number one thing is, I want to bring in developers.”
When it comes to leadership, Mayo explained that his goal is to help his staff grow and that he wants to put together a foundation to hopefully help them develop, equating the situation to being like a garden.
“One thing I believe in, when I talk about leadership, most people think it’s like a chessboard and a guy moving pieces on the board,” said Mayo. “I really don’t believe that to be correct as far as developing leaders. I think of it more as gardening.”
“Gardeners really don’t, they don’t grow anything. They just make sure the soil is right. They grab the weeds out there, they water it every day, and whatever grows, grows. And that’s how I approach leadership.”
“I don’t want to be, and we’ve talked about it before, but collaboration is huge, I want to just water seeds. And right now, we’re in the evaluation process where we are planting seeds, and hopefully that will lead to the next dynasty here with the Kraft family.”
One other thing that was interesting as Mayo was asked if/when he might be naming his coordinators was his approach compared to what things were like under Belichick.
While Mayo said they’re still evaluating people, he did say that he believes it’s important for coaches to hold titles among the staff for professional reasons.
At the same time, he also stressed that it really comes down to what they do within the building that’s really the most important thing.
“I think it’s important. I think titles are important,” said Mayo. “And I know, no knock against Bill Belichick, who has been a huge mentor to me over the years as a player and as a colleague. What I would say is, I believe titles are important outward looking. But as far as in the building, I don’t care what your title is. It’s ‘What’s your job?’ ‘What value do you bring to the organization?’ And I think that’s the most important thing and sometimes I think in business and in sports, people get caught up in titles. But I also understand the other side, if you want to continue to get promoted, people have to know exactly what you do.”
“But like I said earlier, inside, it’s all about collaboration. That’s what Thunder [Kraft] talked about, and that’s what I’m about as well.”
Kraft was asked about that situation on Wednesday, with the front office decisions still seemingly being explored.
“We’re counting on our internal people whom we’re still learning and evaluating,” said Kraft. “So we’re going to let that evolve and develop and before the key decisions have to be made, we will appoint someone. And at the same time, we’ll probably start doing interviews and looking at people from the outside. But my bias has always been, in all our family companies, to try to develop a culture from within where we understand one another.”
The Patriots owner also used the word “collaboration,” which appears to be the approach they’re prepared to take after he was asked who would have the “final say” as it pertained to draft picks, player signings, etc. He also used the words “continuity” and “stability,” which are also two things he said he’s very much focused on moving forward.
However, one thing that was interesting was the fact that Kraft assured everyone that there won’t be any influence from ownership on any of their personnel decisions.
At the same time, he emphasized there will be “accountability” as Kraft went on to make it clear that if the people within the building aren’t getting it done and players don’t pan out, they’ll look elsewhere if necessary.
“It will be the same input we’ve had for the last three decades. We try to hire the best people we can find and let them do their job and hold them accountable,” explained Kraft. “If you get involved, and tell them what to do or try to influence [them], then you can’t hold them responsible and have them accountable. So it’ll be within the people’s discretion who are the decision makers to do it. And if we’ve hired the wrong people, then we’ll have to make a change. But we’re going to try to enjoy it as fans.”
“The only area that we have really weighed in is when it comes to bringing in people that we might think are not the right character to be here and they have done things in their past, that’s the only time we’ve really weighed in.”
Mayo was asked about what it was like replacing Belichick, and his response was certainly telling.
The two are vastly different in terms of their personalities, but when it comes to how they think, there was one key similarity that will likely be an important one moving forward.
“One thing I learned from coach – and from Thunder [Kraft] – is about just surrounding yourself with good people,” said Mayo. “Now, as far as our staff and things like that, we’re going to be good. We’re going to be a lot better.”
“Now Bill always says this: ‘managing expectations.’ For me, I’m not trying to be Bill. I’m not trying to be Bill. I think that Bill is his own man. If you can’t tell by now, I’m a little bit different even up here. But what I will say is, the more I think about the lessons that I’ve taken from Bill, hard work works. Hard work works, and that’s what we’re all about.”
That’s clearly an attribute that will remain part of the foundation moving forward, as Mayo begins to evolve and build his own culture within the building.
All we know is that Wednesday is a fresh start to an important part in the next chapter of this team’s football journey.
Listening to Mayo, he looked calm and focused as he begins putting it all together and anyone who may have wondered if he was the right man for the job, he certainly said enough today where people should feel comfortable in who will be leading the team into the future.
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