With Bill Belichick leaving the New England Patriots, so too is at least one of his sons, as Steve Belichick is set to become the defensive coordinator for the College Football National Championship runner-up Washington Huskies.
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Steve, 36, had been calling the Patriots defense the past five seasons. He'd also been with the team for 12 years—his official title with the team was outside linebackers coach.
Of course, his father, Bill, left the Patriots this offseason after 24 years with the team. After 12 seasons into his tenure with the team, his son Steve joined the fold in 2012 as an assistant.
After his initial four seasons, he was promoted to safeties coach before 2016. From there, Steve started calling plays in 2019 and was elevated to the outside linebackers coach in 2020. His brother Brian is remaining with the Patriots. This past season he was the safeties coach. Despite Bill leaving, new Patriots head coach Jerod Mayo allowed both of them to stay with the team if they wanted.
Over the years, Steve and Mayo were close as Steve was a coach while Mayo was a player.
"I spent a lot of time with Steve in the dungeon, and we would go in there and break down film and talk ball," Mayo said, via ESPN. "Hearing it from him, from a coach's perspective — one of the greatest head coaches' sons; and then I brought the on-the-field perspective.
"Even back then, 2013, 2014, we just had a connection. We kind of spoke the same language. With that being said, when we game-planned [as coaches] and talked to the players and things like that, it was very natural. I love coaching with Steve."
In his time calling defensive plays for the Patriots, here's how many points they allowed per game:
- 2019: 14.4 points (least in the league)
- 2020: 22.1 (eighth-least)
- 2021: 19.4 (third-least)
- 2022: 20.4 (11th-least)
- 2023: 21.5 (14th-least)
While the Patriots had massive turnover this offseason, so did the Huskies. Their former head coach, Kalen DeBoer, left Washington for the Alabama Crimson Tide. With his departure, Jedd Fisch was hired as head coach.
Now, the Patriots move on with DeMarcus Covington as their defensive coordinator.
