Belichick, Bill (1952-…), is one of the greatest coaches in National Football League (NFL) history. Belichick coached the New England Patriots from 2000 to 2024. His teams won Super Bowls in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2015, 2017, and 2019. The Super Bowl is the NFL’s championship game. Belichick is known for his careful preparation for a game. The Associated Press named him the NFL Coach of the Year in 2003, 2007, and 2010. In 2023, Belichick joined George Halas and Don Shula as the only NFL coaches to win 300 career regular season games.
William Stephen Belichick was born on April 16, 1952, in Nashville, Tennessee. He was raised in Annapolis, Maryland, where his father was an assistant football coach at the United States Naval Academy. Belichick played football and lacrosse while attending Wesleyan University, graduating in 1975. He joined the Baltimore Colts (now the Indianapolis Colts) of the NFL as a special assistant for the 1975 season. He then coached for the Detroit Lions (1976-1977) and the Denver Broncos (1978) before moving to the New York Giants. Belichick was an assistant coach with the Giants from 1979 to 1990.
Belichick held his first head coaching job, with the Cleveland Browns, from 1991 through 1995. He then served as an assistant coach with the Patriots in 1996. He held the same position with the New York Jets from 1997 through 1999 before becoming the New England head coach. In 2007, the NFL fined Belichick $500,000—the largest fine imposed on a coach in NFL history—after the team’s video assistant was caught taping the defensive signals of the New York Jets from an off-field location. In addition, the Patriots were fined $250,000 and had to forfeit their first-round pick in the 2008 draft.
See also Football; New England Patriots; Super Bowl.
