Bill Belichick

Now I know what Colts fans and other team's fans say about Bill Belichick.  But...I'd like to know what the Patriots fans think about him. 

Do you like him?

Is he a good coach?

What do you think?

I don't know if I like him. I've never met the guy, and I'm not going to judge someone that I don't know on a personal level. I know many people make comments about him being "arrogant" or "classless" and I think they're just following with what they see from him on TV. He doesn't speak much to the media, and when he does you're lucky if you get more than a simple sentence that hardly answers the question you asked. People didn't like Belichick long before "Spygate" happened, that just allowed for more people to pile on.

Your second question is easily answered. Yes, I think he is a good coach. I think his reputation has certainly been tarnished, and enough so that he may now be questionable to be inducted to the Football Hall of Fame, but this is a man who has made football his number one priority in life and has been around the game for a very long time. Despite his unpopularity in the media his players stand behind him and respect him, just look at how they rallied behind him after the initial "Spygate" incident in NY. He made his bones as a defensive genius helping Bill Parcells win Super Bowls and his time with the Patriots has elevated him to the highest levels of coaching. Even after everything that has gone on I still believe he is one of the top coaches in the sport today, and we are fortunate to have him leading our team.

Do I like him? That's impossible to answer. All that I or anyone "knows" about him is the persona he adopts for the media, and the way the media interprets that persona. He certainly comes across unlikable. But I have also heard him do interviews on local radio stations in which he displays a dry sense of humor and a little bit of warmth. I think he resents anything that distracts him from his job--winning games. That is what makes him a great, not a good, coach.

Your first question brings up a bigger topic. How well does any fan "know" any player or coach? All we see, in most cases, is the persona they adopt for the media. We don't know what goes on behind closed doors. For instance, Kirby Puckett was one of the acknowledged good guys in baseball, yet after his retirement, he was charged (not convicted) of groping women, which led to an SI article that claimed "He started to become full of himself and very abusive. His weight ballooned to over 300 pounds and he was alleged to have begun to perform lewd acts in public, such as urinating in the parking lot of a shopping center in plain view of other people."

Another example: LT. A supposed classy act. From my (admittedly biased) perspective he is a whiner and crybaby whose image is beginning to crumble around him.

A question for you BobSanders. What about Marvin Harrison? Another good guy, right? Recent accusations have tied him closely to a shooting in Philly and claims have been made that he owns arsenal of guns. Does that match what people in Indy "know" about him. I'm not flaming him; if you read my posts on this subject you will see that I have restrained from myself from convicting him. If there's anything that peple should learn about the Matt Walsh chapter of Spygate, it is to not come to conclusions before the evidence is in. The point is, we don't "know" anything as fans, except what is filtered to us by the media.

Most people have jobs where we work for others.  We wonder whether we'll ever get to work for a boss that will utilize our skills to best perform our jobs.  Belichick seems to be able to align people's skills with his organizational plan.  That is something I like about him.  I would enjoy having a boss that thinks about the big picture (trading this years late first rounder for a better first rounder in the future), picks up still talented people off the scrap heap (Seau for one), and trains people to do their job better than they could probably do it somewhere else (Tebucky Jones, Damian Woody, to name two).

I'm not a fan of going against the competitive spirit of sport which it appears that Belichick did. Corporate espionage would make him a hero in the real world but in entertainment his actions will likely taint his career for the near future.  The only thing that will quite the naysayers is just to continue to win a greater percentage of games than he loses; which is likely while Tom Brady is at quarterback.

  In response to your first question, he doesn't get paid to make me like him, so it's of little consequence.  I don't see how it's relevant to anything quite honestly.  There were a lot of people who thought of Vince Lombardi as a d#@khead because he was a hard@$$ with his players and the manner in which he spoke sometimes rubbed people the wrong way.  It didn't stop his name from being put on the trophy now did it?

  As for him being a good coach, I'd say he's great actually.  He was incredibly stupid for blatantly breaking the videotaping rule; but there are several coaches who have either been caught breaking the rules or openly admitted to doing so, and I don't think anything less of them.  Why should there be a double standard when it comes to Belichick?

I agree with zip123....

That said, and as we all know, Coach Bellichick's negative side has been well documented.  He does come across as arrogant.  He doesn't befriend the media, in fact quite the opposite.  He doesn't endear himself to other teams/cities across the country because of the way he carries himself.  He did make a big mistake in judgement with "Spygate".  For that both he and the team have paid the steapest penalties in league history.  The court of public opinion continues to lynch him (and the Patriot's) ad naseum.  Enough!!!!!!!!!!!

When it's all said and done, Coach Bellichick will go down as one of the greatest coaches in NFL history.  As good as Bill Parcells was, he never went to a Super Bowl without Bellichick by his side.  In this decade, it's incredible that the NE Patriot's have already won 3 SB's.  Beyond that, they are just several plays away from having won the last 5 in a row.  This past year it's obvious that with just one more play in their favor - they win.  The year before that was Indy, and they just needed one more stop, or just one favorable call to get to the SB.  Had they done so, they beat the Bears handliy (in my opinion).  As for 2005-2006, the Pat's were a lot closer to beating Denver in the playoffs than people realize.  5 Turnovers was a complete abberation for that Pat's team.  The host of bad calls against the Pat's in that game was infuriating.  Remove the TO's and/or the bad calls and the Pat's go on to beat Denver, Pittsburgh (at home) and Seattle to win the SB that year too.  Bottom line, they've been right in the thick most every year this decade.  It's Bill Bellichick that is the primary reason and architect of this success.

As a New England fan I know that I will never see a better Head Coach of the Patriot's in my lifetime.  And, as zip123 so aptly said - I wouldn't trade him for anybody.