FOXBORO — For the last seven seasons, the Patriots had three members of the Belichick family on their coaching staff.
Now, they have just one.
Bill Belichick, of course, left the franchise after going 4-13 in his 24th and final season as head coach. Defensive play-caller Steve Belichick followed his father out the door, landing a new job on the opposite coast as defensive coordinator at Washington.
The youngest Belichick, however, chose to stay. New head coach Jerod Mayo extended safeties coach Brian Belichick an offer to remain on staff, and Belichick accepted.
On Wednesday, he explained why.
“I enjoy very much coaching here, living here, working with our players every day,” Brian Belichick said in his first public comments since his dad and brother’s departures. “I had an opportunity to coach a position in the National Football League. I mean, how much more can you ask for than that? So it’s been awesome.”
Belichick and his wife, Callie, welcomed their first child and were keen to stay around the Foxboro area. He’s one of just a handful of holdovers on New England’s overhauled coaching staff — a list that also includes Mayo, first-year defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington, cornerbacks coach Mike Pellegrino and skill development/returners coach Troy Brown.
“I was thankful and happy to get the opportunity to coach here (under Mayo), and was thankful and happy to take advantage of it and take him up on that,” Belichick said. “I have a lot of gratitude in my life right now with my daughter, my job, being here, living in this area. I love it, and I just hope I can contribute to help us be the best team we can this year.”
Belichick, who’s been a Patriots assistant since 2017, wouldn’t reveal much about the conversations he had with his father while he was mulling whether to stick around for the upcoming season. But he did say the fact that Bill Belichick no longer is his boss has helped them talk more about things unrelated to football.
“I think in a way — and this is getting a little personal about our family dynamics — but in a way I think it was good for us to have some separation from being in a football building every day seeing each other,” the younger Belichick said. “Whereas now, we’re not just connected by football.
“Not that it was that way before, but we talk about other things because we’re in different places, not in the same place every day. There’s a lot to talk about football-wise, so it was hard to not get caught up in that when you saw each other at work every day.”
Any thoughts on Bill Belichick’s new career turn as a media personality?
“Again, I’ll let you guys comment on that,” Brian said. “But I have found it entertaining.”
Steve Belichick also was on hand for Wednesday’s practice, but only as an observer, watching alongside former Patriots safety Patrick Chung and retired running backs coach Ivan Fears.