Steve Belichick took the opportunity to make light of his dad’s age and experience and ran with it.
The younger Belichick was asked Tuesday about how Patriots head coach Bill Belichick’s approach has changed, if at all, at 71 years old in his 49th season coaching.
“I mean, he’s obviously old,” Steve Belichick deadpanned on a video conference call. “He’s definitely old.”
But then the Patriots linebackers coach gave an insightful and complimentary answer about his father’s adaptability despite Bill Belichick being more than twice as old as some of his staff members and widely regarded as one of the greatest coaches in sports history.
“He’s not stuck in his ways,” Steve Belichick said. “He listens to feedback, and he implements it how he wants to. But he’s always open to feedback. He’ll listen and that’s from a lot of people in the building — players, coaches, support staff, everybody — to try to learn and improve. I’ve never heard him say like, ‘I got this. It is what it is. We’re done. We’re not gonna progress or change based on what we have.’ There’s always a level of ‘what can we do better? What do we need to do better?’ I appreciate that from him, especially as a young person. Sometimes you get stuck in your ways more than him, being so old.
“But I appreciate him listening to us and taking the feedback we have. As a head coach, it’s up to him whether he wants to implement the changes or do things differently than how it may be. That’s up to him. But he listens to our feedback, and he’s not a micromanager. He lets us do what we do. He hired us to do a job. He has trust in us to do a job. But if it’s not good enough, then he’ll step in and tell you that you’re just flat-out not good enough.”
Steve Belichick would know. He’s only known his dad for 36 years, and he’s currently the second-longest tenured coach on staff behind head strength and conditioning coach Moses Cabrera, who has him beat by one year. Steve Belichick isn’t just a linebackers coach either, he handles defensive coordinator responsibilities with fellow linebackers coach Jerod Mayo and is the team’s defensive play-caller.
The Patriots did seem to handle training camp slightly differently this year, giving key players more rest early in the summer.
Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien hasn’t coached with Bill Belichick for 12 years, but he’s also still impressed with the head coach’s youthful approach.
“The building’s changed a little bit, but the guy who runs the football part of it has not changed a bit,” O’Brien said. “He’s a guy who we all learn from every day. I’m personally always impressed with his energy. It’s unmatched. I’ve always enjoyed working for Bill. It’s a great place to come to work every day, it really is.”
Bill Belichick is 19 wins shy of passing Don Shula on the all-time NFL coaching wins list. Unless the Patriots go undefeated this year, it will take at least two more seasons to break Shula’s record.