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.