Belichick coaching tree has more dead branches
HOUSTON — Bill Belichick is the greatest coach in NFL history and one of the sport's sharpest minds.
So this should be easy, right? Pluck the latest flowering name from the annually tempting Belichick Tree. Turn a football team or roster — or both — over to the up-and-coming disciple. Add water, throw around money, wait a couple years and magic: The name that apprenticed under Belichick in New England becomes the name for another team.
Unfortunately for the Texans, New York Giants, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Detroit Lions, Denver Broncos, Cleveland Browns and more, it's not as simple as that.
A fired Joe Judge (Giants) and a fired Brian Flores (Dolphins) are the NFL'S latest proof that the much-discussed Belichick Tree has rarely, if ever, lived up to its famous name.
Factor in that the rebuilding Texans are being led at the top by two ex-patriots and could fire David Culley as a first-year head coach, and one of the league's most important lessons during the last 20-plus years is that just because you spent a lot of time working under Belichick doesn't make you the next Belichick.
Tom Brady winning a Super Bowl last season was lasting proof that the game's greatest quarterback was far more than just a system QB in Belichick's system. Veteran head coach Bruce Arians was a perfect match for Brady. The same for Tampa Bay, a boatload of veteran talent and Rob Gronkowski, who also left Belichick and the
Pats to win another world title.
This week, Flores' firing in Miami defined the league's annual Black Monday, while Judge was axed a day later after failing and falling apart in New York.
“I kept thinking during this season that we had hit rock bottom, and then each week it got a little worse,” Giants coowner John Mara told reporters on Wednesday.
He added: “We just got to a point where I thought we had dug ourselves a hole so deep that I didn't see a clear path to getting out of it unless we completely blew it up and started it all over again with a new general manager and new head coach.”
That dilemma sounds familiar to Texans fans. Former team owner Bob Mcnair hired Bill O'brien in 2014, partly because of O'brien's brief yet impressive run at Penn State, but mostly because O'brien had worked his
way up the ladder in New England and risen to Brady's offensive coordinator under Belichick.
O'brien accumulated more and more power in Houston, peaking as HC/GM under Cal Mcnair's leadership and falling only behind Belichick in the league's unofficial Internal Power Rankings.
O'brien is also the most successful head coach with direct ties to Belichick. That fact will make eyes roll locally and is a reminder that Belichick's tree has struggled to produce lasting fruit.
Names with Patriot ties ( Jerod Mayo, Josh Mcdaniels, Flores) have been linked with the Texans since Sunday, when the organization leaked that it was evaluating its entire football operations, starting with Culley as head coach. But there was a time not that long ago on Kirby Drive when O'brien was trying to get current Texans GM Nick
Caserio to join Houston's NFL team. The Texans also were too public with their desire for Caserio in the summer of 2019 and were accused by the Patriots of tampering while new hire Jack Easterby was in the messy middle of everything.
With Easterby's 2020 run as interim GM, the Texans have been led by an ex-pat since 2014.
“We thank the New England Patriots, specifically Robert and Jonathan Kraft and coach Belichick, for being a first-class organization that builds winners,” Mcnair said on Jan. 8, 2021, after Caserio was hired. “With respect to their organization, we do not consider ourselves the Patriots South. We are here to lead this team the Texans way. Following this press conference, we will hit the ground running and get to work on our football team. First order of business will be to focus on our next head coach, as we look for the right person to join the
Texans culture of integrity, hard work, and doing things the right way.”
Trying to replicate Belichick's way — hard coaching, complementary football, player development, free agency, roster building, the Patriots' overall system — hasn't consistently worked for any of the league's other 31 teams.
Matt Patricia was a disaster in Detroit, compiling a 13-29-1 record before being canned midseason in 2020. Once one of the hottest must-haves on the coaching market, Patricia is now back with the Patriots as the team's senior football advisor.
Mcdaniels, who's only 45 and is clearly one of the game's best OCS, is still publicly recovering from his 11-17 run in Denver that didn't last two full seasons and his flimsy indecision with Indianapolis in 2018, which became a national story.
Romeo Crennel is widely respected throughout the NFL, was a key early part of the Patriots' dynasty under Belichick, and was ideal for O'brien's early defenses with the Texans. As a head coach, though, Crennel holds a 32-63 record with three teams and went 4-8 as the Texans' interim leader in 2020. He spent last season as the team's senior advisor for football performance.
Tennessee GM Jon Robinson, who spent 12 seasons with New England, and Tampa Bay GM Jason Licht (six years) are reminders that the front-office part of the Belichick Tree has often been the most successful.
Eric Mangini, Patricia, Mcdaniels, Judge and more are reminders that imitation doesn't guarantee anything in pro football.
In a league that loves to borrow and steal, originality is still underrated.
Many teams have failed while trying to copy the Patriots. Despite what the tree teases, there is only one Belichick.