By STEVE KING
What caused Bill Belichick’s meteoric rise from a pedestrian — at best — stint with the Browns 30 years ago in his first job to his standing as arguably the greatest pro football head coach ever after two decades with the New Patriots?
OK, yes, of course, there’s all that winning and all those Super Bowls, and the fact that he drafted Tom Brady in New England and that made all the difference in the world. Duh!
But there’s more — much, much more — to it than that. And as such, with the Browns visiting the Patriots on Sunday, here are the three biggest factors in Belichick’s ascension, in no particular order:
*TALENT WINS OUT — NFL teams are supposed to get their core players at the top of the draft. That’s what those spots are for, especially at quarterback, the most important position in team sports. When Belichick got to New England in 2000, the Pats had in Drew Bledsoe the man everybody thought was the team’s franchise quarterback. But when Bledsoe was sidelined by a jarring hit in a game against the New York Jets, the more Belichick watched his replacement, a young Brady, play, the more he realized that this throwaway sixth-round pick was better than his franchise guy. Belichick had the foresight to see what he had happened upon and also the courage to make the change and stick with Brady after Bledsoe returned. He never would have made that kind of unorthodox move in Cleveland because it didn’t follow the rules.
*DELEGATING COACHING DUTIES — In Cleveland, because it was his first job and he wanted to make sure that everything was done his way, he didn’t trust his staffers and so he tried to do it all. He didn’t delegate. He wore himself out doing nickel-and-dime stuff and didn’t have enough energy left to perform well with his primary job of overseeing the team. He hired good people in New England and let them do their jobs. He has overruled his staffers only when he felt it absolutely necessary. In doing do, he found the best offensive coordinator in the game in Stark County native Josh McDaniels. With the Browns, it was offensive coordinator by committee, which was offensive. It was an unmitigated disaster.
*A KINDER, GENTLER BILL — Let’s face it, Belichick is never going to be a model of public relations. We all know that. But I have to laugh when people in New England complain about how crusty he is now. Are you kidding me? He is a pussycat up there compared to the roaring lion he was in Cleveland. His unfriendly reputation hurt him here. Media members rooted for him to fail. Head coaching is hard enough without that. Belichick knew he had to improve in this area, so when he went to the Patriots, they gave him a personal PR assistant named Stacey James and that has helped considerably.
