How would Bill Belichick feel if the New England Patriots fired Jerod Mayo just one season after showing Belichick the door to name Mayo his coaching successor?
We may never know the answer to that question, as Patriots ownership still might give Mayo a second season despite his disastrous first year in New England. But Belichick spoke Monday on The Pat McAfee Show about the growing trend of first-year head coaches being let go, and his response -- while not specifically mentioning Mayo or the Patriots -- certainly should interest New England fans.
"I'd say these days it's not very long," Belichick replied when asked how long of a "window" head coaches have to find their footing before their jobs are in jeopardy. "You see the coaching changes being made pretty quickly, regardless of the amount of time that's left on a coach's contract.
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"You don't see the Tom Landry situations too much anymore where there's actually some patience in building. That's becoming less and less frequent.
"And even the owners -- with the franchises worth as much as they are, it doesn't seem to affect them too much to have these big payouts on multi-year contracts. The value of the franchise just overrides it by so much, they don't really care."
"There's no patience in the NFL anymore and you see coaching changes being made pretty quickly..
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) December 30, 2024
In the end you want a consistent vision between the ownership and the people that are running the team..
If you have that you're gonna have a big edge"
Coach Belichick #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/hVehqtrBmu
Belichick speaks from personal experience; the Patriots reportedly gave him a "multi-year" contract extension prior to the 2023 season (believed to be through 2024) but parted ways with him anyway in January 2024 despite his deal still being active.
It sounds like Belichick isn't a fan of any team parting with their head coach after just one season, so it doesn't appear he's advocating for Mayo to lose his job in New England. But the 73-year-old coaching veteran -- who since has pivoted to the college ranks to run North Carolina's program -- believes any good NFL team needs to have ownership, the front office and the coaching staff rowing in the same direction.
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"Look, in the end, you want a consistent vision between the ownership and the people who are running the team," Belichick added. "Whether that's the general manager, the head coach, or some combination -- the cap person, whoever those people are, you want a consistent vision to run the team. And if you have that, then I'd say that's a big edge over a lot of other teams in the league.
"I think there's a lot of teams that don't have that, and that's probably the start of the really fundamental problem in the organization. I think really what fans need to hope for is a consistent vision from the team -- ownership, head coach, general manager, cap guy, whoever that is -- there's a consistent vision there that they make sense and that they have the discipline to follow.
"If they have that, then they'll probably be all right. And if they don't, then they're gonna keep bumping into each other."
If the Patriots were to take Belichick's words to heart, that could mean two courses of action: running it back with the same top decision-makers -- namely Mayo and de factor general manager Eliot Wolf -- or cleaning house to hire a completely new coaching staff and front office that's aligned philosophically.
We'll find out soon enough after the Patriots' season finale against the Buffalo Bills this Sunday.