You’ll remember him for a lot of things.
You’ll remember him for his hoodie.
You’ll remember him for his resting bitch face.
You’ll remember him for his dour, mumbled, clipped responses during press conferences.
You’ll remember him for his bizarre but memorable resignation as the “HC of the NYJ.’’
You’ll remember him for “Spygate’’ and “Deflategate.’’
You’ll remember him for the awkward postgame head-coach handshakes.
You’ll remember him for being “on to Cincinnati.’’
But, after 24 seasons as the HC of the NEP as he’s “on to’’ his next chapter following his official parting of ways with the Patriots on Thursday, you should remember Bill Belichick for what he really is: The greatest coach in NFL history.
You may not have liked Belichick while he was unapologetically dominating the NFL and beating up on your favorite teams along the way, but you cannot help but respect and marvel at the results:
- The 333 career victories (including playoffs), ranking second all-time behind Don Shula’s 347.
- The 266-121 record in New England, going to nine Super Bowls and winning six of them.
- The 17 division titles, which are the most by any head coach in NFL history.
- The nine conference championships to which he coached the Patriots, which are the most by a head coach in the Super Bowl era.
But those remarkable numbers and the gruff public press-conference persona that eventually turned Belichick into a caricature of himself shouldn’t cloud your perspective of who he is, which is a guy with a personality, a pretty sharp sense of humor behind closed doors and someone you’d like to have a few beers with over a round of golf.
I’ve had the unique experience of covering Belichick since his assistant coach days with the Giants under head coach Bill Parcells, and I’ve seen a very different side to him than the unlikable side he’s portrayed in public over the past couple of decades.
I’ll remember Belichick as an assistant coach under Parcells who was terrific, willing and informative source for reporters who regularly covered the team.
I’ll remember a humble and self-effacing side to Belichick, too. I’ll never forget former Jets head coach Herman Edwards telling me a story about he and Belichick chatting on the sideline before their Week 2 meeting at Foxborough in the 2001 season.
Follow the Post’s coverage on Bill Belichick’s Patriots exit
The Patriots had gone 5-11 in Belichick’s first season in New England and were 0-1 as they faced the Jets that day, Sept. 23, 2001, and Belichick told Edwards before the game that he expected to be fired after the season with the way things were going.
In that game, which the Jets won 10-3 to drop the Patriots to 0-2, Jets linebacker Mo Lewis would knock New England quarterback Drew Bledsoe out with a punishing hit to his chest to cause internal injury, and that forced Belichick to replace him with rookie Tom Brady.
The rest, of course, is history.
What we know about the split between the Patriots and Bill Belichick
The Patriots and Bill Belichick will reportedly part ways on Thursday after 24 years and six Super Bowl wins.
Rumors had swirled around Belichick’s future all season as the Patriots finished with a 4-13 record and missed the playoffs for the third time in four seasons. Belichick met with Patriots owner Robert Kraft over the past several days before reaching the mutual decision.
Belichick notched a 266-121 overall record with the Patriots and has another 31 playoff victories.
The 71-year-old has no plans to retire, and needs just 15 more wins to match Don Shula’s all-time wins record — regular season and playoffs — by a head coach in NFL history.
The Falcons, who fired Arthur Smith after the season, are the most likely suitor for Belichick, according to ESPN.
Patriots inside linebackers coach Jerod Mayo is the favorite to replace Belichick with Mike Vrabel, who was fired by the Titans, also a possibility. Others with prior ties to the Patriots, including Brian Flores and Josh McDaniels, could be in the mix as well.
So, as Belichick said “goodbye’’ to New England on Thursday, my memories of him are for his greatness as a coach that I believe eventually became taken for granted in New England and the fact that there’s a human being behind the caricature everyone loves to hate.
My favorite moment ever with Belichick came in the 2003 season as he was about to coach the Patriots in the AFC championship game against the Colts to get to a second Super Bowl in three seasons.
I arranged, in advance, a one-on-one interview with Belichick in Foxborough to speak to him about his controversial departure from the Jets in January 2000 and how far he’d come since that calamity. The first question I asked him was about Steve Gutman, then the president of the Jets, who on the day of Belichick’s famous resignation portrayed him as one step away from being institutionalized.
“I think we listened for an hour and a half to someone in turmoil,” Gutman said that day.
Belichick’s response to my question, in what were his first public comments on the topic since he left the Jets: “I’m going to make one comment and we can close the book on it. I can’t think of anybody in professional sports — and certainly in my 30 years of professional football — who has said more and won less than Steve Gutman.”
This, for a coach as low-key and uncontroversial as Belichick, qualified as a bona fide bombshell.
My most moving memory of Belichick in New England was the relationship he had with his father, Steve, who was an assistant coach and scout for the U.S. Naval Academy for 34 years. I used to love seeing Steve Belichick present at the Patriots Super Bowls watching his son coach.
Belichick had a special love and reverence for his father, whose long and distinguished coaching career completely shaped his own remarkable 49 years in coaching (and counting), and there’s always a warm smile on his face when you ask him about his father.
There is, indeed, much more substance to the man wearing the hoodie and the scowl on his face.