Patriots New Head Coach Jerod Mayo Joins Zolak & Bertrand

On Wednesday's edition of Zolak & Bertrand, New England Patriots' new head coach Jerod Mayo stops by and joins the show.

Zolak: Congratulations. About a year ago, you came on the show. You were promoting mayonnaise around the Super Bowl, and then this thing got fast tracked in about a year. How anxious are you to get going at this thing? Seriously? It happened quick.

Jerod Mayo: Absolutely. I would say, I started working at once, after it was announced. I kind of started working on a bunch of stuff, but it happened very fast. I'm excited to just get busy, you know, get busy, get the coaching staff put together. Make sure we're squared away. And honestly, right now is about communication from a from a leadership standpoint. I just want everyone to, you know, know exactly what they have to do. And that's some of the things I've been working on.

Bertrand: So we heard you in the press conference get asked about defensive coordinator and special teams and then off of that, offensive coordinator. But with any coaching position and assembling the staff and getting it settled, what's your timeline on wanting to try and get these things accomplished?

Jerod Mayo: Man, ASAP, ASAP. You know, once again, they say, well, you haven't been a coordinator. Like titles aren't that important. But you know, some of the coaches think titles are important, but I want to I want to knock that out of the park early and get running. You got to think about the combine, to draft, the all star games, things like that. I think it's important to, to kind of knock it out some.

Zolak: You know Jerod, there's been some criticism, you know, from keeping everything rolling with the guys that do the scouting. We know how hard those guys work, the amount of film and how much of it you have to crunch. But don't you kind of have to keep this thing rolling? As to the people that did the studying for free agency and the combine that you mentioned, you know, as this thing's going to get going here.

Jerod Mayo: You know, I think you make a great point. Like some of these guys have been working on what we talked about for free agency and in the draft for a long time. You want to continue to lean on those guys, and honestly as the head coach here, obviously there will be some changes. But at the same time some things won't change. Right? We'll have the people that we need to get the job done, whether it's from internal or external.

Bill Belichick ruled over everything with the New England Patriots. His way or the highway, like no one else in Boston sports history.

Jerod Mayo hopes to turn that entire thing on its head.

As he gave his official introductory press conference as the Patriots' new head coach, both Mayo and owner Robert Kraft stressed the idea of collaboration. They danced around the idea of a GM or one person having final say on football matters. Mayo, meanwhile, presented himself as a forward-thinking coach who is not just open to change, but embracing it.

And in the case of his predecessor, Mayo ostensibly wants to be the anti-Belichick in that he doesn't want to dictate, to lord over, to mold everyone else into his image, to let things erode from within.

Belichick is certainly a brilliant football mind and earned the right to impart his knowledge on those under him, but it became clear that his philosophies had stagnated and his power had become too concentrated into his hands. He'd become too powerful for his own good.

Mayo is hitting the reset button on that - and doing the opposite.

"One thing you'll notice about me in our interaction, as we continue to go, is I don't like echo chambers," Mayo said. "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's a lot different than 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. So they know, I don't want to teach them what to think. I want to teach them how to think.

"Once we get to that point, I think we can get back to where we need to be at the top. And I'm an open book. I'm honored, ready to go. And I'm excited to be the next head coach of the Patriots."

It's certainly one thing to say this, and another to actually put it into practice. Mayo is clearly going to be a major decision-maker inside the walls of Gillette Stadium, if not THE decision-maker. But instead of relying on the people around him to just do what he says, he'll rely on them for their own individual knowledge and input.

That'll be a different kind of leadership than the Patriots were used to having for a long time. Now, let's see it in action.

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Matt Dolloff is a writer and podcaster for 985TheSportsHub.com. Any opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of 98.5 The Sports Hub, Beasley Media Group, or any subsidiaries. Check out all of Matt's content.