FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – Bill Belichick was 22 years old in 1975, fresh out of Wesleyan with an economics degree and lots of experience playing lacrosse and squash. There was no earthly reason for him to believe he should join an NFL coaching staff, which is why 250 or so letters he sent out went mostly unreturned.
A friend of his father’s called in a favor and swore on his work ethic, and so there was Belichick, hired by the Baltimore Colts’ Ted Marchibroda as a gopher/odd job/chauffer and anything else they could invent.
The pay was $25 a week. Everyone called him “Billy.”
On Saturday, Marchibroda died at age 84. A few hours later Belichick coached the New England Patriots to a 27-20 victory over Kansas City to reach the AFC championship game for the 10th time in 15 years, including each of the last five. They’ll either visit Denver or host Pittsburgh on Jan. 24.
The gopher is now one of the greatest coaches the game has ever known.
“I wouldn’t be here if not for Ted Marchibroda,” Belichick said after the game.
Everyone starts somewhere, everyone has a first job, but this was more than that. Belichick stood postgame expressing about as much emotion as you’ll see postgame.
“It is with a real heavy heart that I stand here,” Belichick said. “It’s a sad day, just a sad day.”
Belichick was obsessed with football as a young man, almost singularly focused on learning every facet of the game. His father was a longtime assistant at the Naval Academy but the NFL offered full immersion – no academics or NCAA rules.
Marchibroda said in later interviews he had no idea what he was getting when he took Belichick in, only that he gave him a windowless, concrete block office and slowly piled more and more responsibilities on him, waiting to see what was too much. He never found out.
The competency and ferocity in which Belichick attacked the assignments, everything from bed check for players to breaking down film to grabbing takeout lunch, left Marchibroda impressed.
“A worker, a sponge,” he described Belichick to the New York Post in 2003.
When he noticed players more than 10 years Belichick’s senior going to him to discuss intricate coaching notes that came via film study, he knew there might be something special here.
“Think about that,” Marchibroda told the Post. “Twenty-two-year-old kid.”
Marchibroda rewarded him by soon doubling his pay and, via a ticket trade with the manager of the Holiday Inn out at the airport, a room to crash in. Marchibroda was a first-year coach and was staying there too, along with a couple other assistants.
Suddenly Belichick was fully embedded, getting to sit in on predawn breakfasts when philosophies, personnel, scouting and everything else were discussed with candor. He’d then drive everyone over the stadium in an old Mercury, radio off, ears open.
“We had staff meetings in the car,” Belichick said.
Eventually, after 16 or 18 hours of work, it was everyone back to the hotel to do it again.
It was a masters class in football, one that more than four decades later stands as the base for the Patriots.
“I learned so much from him,” Belichick said. “A lot of X’s and O’s, but it really wasn’t the X’s and O’s. It was a lot more about just being a football coach, being a professional coach, preparation, work ethic, dependability, what goes into having a good football team.”
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Marchibroda would spend 12 years as a head coach in the league for the Baltimore Colts, the Indianapolis Colts and the Baltimore Ravens. His impact on the game is far-reaching, having mentored not just Belichick but NFL current and former head coaches Marvin Lewis, Ken Whisenhunt, Eric Mangini, Jim Schwartz and college coaches such as Kirk Ferentz and Pat Hill.
Belichick’s regular-season record is 223-112 overall in 21 seasons with New England and Cleveland. He’s 187-69 with the Pats, and now 22-8 in the playoffs. His team is seeking its fifth Super Bowl title and eighth appearance in 15 seasons.
The roster and coaching has turned over repeatedly, from stars to role players. The two constants are Tom Brady (no small item) and a core mentality that starts from the head coach and seeps down to every last support staff member about taking care of the task at hand with a focus on the short term.
“You’ve got to grind it throughout the year,” said Tom Brady, who’s been with the team since 2000.
“Do Your Job” has become Belichick’s mantra but it isn’t far removed from what Marchibroda demanded. Marchibroda inherited a 2-12 team only to start the season that 1975 season 1-4. A rookie head coach could’ve been overwhelmed with self-doubt and panic. Instead he implored everyone to stay the course, work to improve and suddenly Baltimore rattled off nine consecutive victories to reach the playoffs.
“Ted gave that team great leadership,” Belichick said. “Ted’s one of the most positive people I’ve ever been around. He was always confident. Even if it was fourth-and-17 he was always sure we were going to make the play or do what we needed to do.”
So dealing with the tumult that the season naturally brings, in this case a slew of injuries, including ones suffered by key playmakers such as Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski, is nothing to panic about. Everything is about another day of work with the understanding that these annual runs deep into the playoffs can arrive no other way.
“We hear it everyday,” said Devin McCourty, who’s been with the team since 2010. “One of his favorite phrases is ‘there’s no magical pill.’ [None] that you can take and that says it all for us about coming in each day and putting in the work.”
Belichick is 63 years old now but the work ethic, the willingness to put in the endless hours hasn’t waned. Players still talk about being unable to beat him to the office or marveling at his preparation for every angle that may come at them.
The NFL is relentless. It just hasn’t wore out Belichick. He is still talking about the things he learned all those days ago.
This is the time of year when it all comes to fruition, months of labor, hundreds of practices, thousands of meetings.
Belichick’s Patriots don’t celebrate regular-season victories much and don’t go wild over division crowns (they’ve won the AFC East 13 of the past 15 seasons). Even a hard-fought playoff victory here Saturday was met with minimal excitement, the locker room relatively subdued and businesslike.
New England is about winning in the end, winning it all, winning with confetti falling on the Lombardi Trophy. It’s also about winning the quiet moments and run-of-the-mill days that get you there, breaking down film in between fetching lunch orders in a cement office.
All beating Kansas City did was assure another week of work around here.
Ted Marchibroda’s old gopher was rather happy about that.
- Sports & Recreation
- American Football
- Bill Belichick
- Ted Marchibroda
- Baltimore Colts
