Printable Biography of Bill Belichick

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Bill Belichick, who has guided the Patriots since 2000, is the only head coach in NFL history to win three Super Bowl championships in a four-year span. This achievement is the latest triumph in a career during which he has helped produce five Super Bowl titles, six conference championships, and 11 division titles since entering the NFL in 1975.

Born into the sport, Bill Belichick is the son of Steve Belichick (1919-2005), who played fullback for the Detroit Lions in 1941, was an assistant coach at the U.S. Naval Academy for 33 years. Belichick senior instilled in his son an overarching love of the game and respect for the men who play it. Thanks in large measure to his father’s influence, Bill Belichick, who holds a degree in economics from Wesleyan University, brought not only passion to the gridiron, but insight and experience as well. Known as a man of remarkably modest ego, he believes that a team is truly “all about the players.” His philosophy of leadership, his willingness to give back to his community, and his record of success make Bill Belichick a man worth listening to.

Bill Belichick is in his 32nd season as an NFL coach and is the only head coach in NFL history to win three Super Bowl championships in a four-year span. He was hired by CEO and Chairman Robert Kraft on Jan. 27, 2000 and is in his seventh season as Patriots head coach in 2006. In his first six seasons in New England, Bill Belichick has delivered three Super Bowl championships, three conference titles, four division crowns and 10 playoff victories while posting an overall record of 73-34.

Bill Belichick has led the Patriots to nine or more victories in each of the last five seasons, the only NFL head coach to accomplish that feat. Additionally, his teams have won the AFC East title and advanced in the playoffs in three straight seasons and have accomplished the feat in four of the last five seasons. The Patriots’ three straight years of playoff advancement mark the longest such streak in the NFL and their string of three straight division crowns is a team record and is tied for the longest current streak in the league.

Bill Belichick’s accomplishments have placed him among the NFL’s elite coaches. Including regular season and playoff games. Bill Belichick is the winningest head coach in the NFL over the last five seasons and is also the Patriots’ all-time leader in victories (73) and winning percentage (.682). Since 2001, Bill Belichick has directed the Patriots to a 68-23 (.747) record, the most successful run in franchise history, including a 10-1 postseason mark. Belichick owns a career playoff record of 11-2, a mark that ranks second in NFL history behind only the legendary Vince Lombardi (9-1).

Over the last three seasons, Belichick’s Patriots have won 80 percent of their games, compiling a 45-11 overall record. In 2005, New England won 11 games despite being forced to use 45 different starters, an NFL record for a division champion. After starting the season 4-4 and being faced with a rash of injuries, the Patriots won six of their next seven games to claim their third straight division title. The team improved on both sides of the ball as the season wound down. The defense set a franchise record in allowing a total of just 10 points over a three-game span in the month of December, while the offense averaged 30 points per game during the final quarter of the regular season. The Patriots advanced in the playoffs for a franchise-record third straight year, with a 28-3 home victory over Jacksonville serving as their NFL record-setting 10th consecutive play-off win.

From 2003-2004, Bill Belichick directed the Patriots through the most prosperous two-year period for any team in NFL history, netting back-to-back Super Bowl victories and consecutive 17-2 campaigns. The team’s 34 victories in 2003-04 marked the highest two-year win total in the NFL’s 85-year history. A winning streak of 21 consecutive games, also unprecedented in the NFL, spanned the two seasons

The 2004 season saw the Patriots tie the best regular-season record by a defending Super Bowl champion (14-2). New England capped off the 2004 season with another memorable playoff run, culminating in a 24-21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX that made Belichick just the fourth head coach in NFL history to win at least three Super Bowl titles. Only one coach (Pittsburgh’s Chuck Noll, 4) has won more Super Bowls. Belichick’s three Super Bowl titles tie Washington’s Joe Gibbs and San Francisco’s Bill Walsh for second place on the NFL’s all-time list. Noll, Gibbs and Walsh are all enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Bill Belichick’s recent accomplishments are the latest triumphs in a career during which he has helped produce five Super Bowl titles, six conference championships and 11 division titles since entering the NFL in 1975. Now in his 32nd season in the NFL, he has more years of NFL experience than any of the other 31 head coaches. He won his first two Super Bowls as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants in 1986 and again in 1990 before claiming three Super Bowl championships with the Patriots. George Seifert is the only other man to have won multiple Super Bowls as a head coach and as an assistant coach.