Bill Belichick is beginning his 49th season as an NFL coach and his 24th season with the New England Patriots.
The 71-year-old has an experience advantage over his colleagues. His son, Patriots outside linebackers coach Steve Belichick, put it more crudely.
“He’s obviously old,” Steve Belichick said of his dad, per NESN’s Dakota Randall. “He’s definitely old.”
Steve Belichick on his dad:
“He’s obviously old. He’s definitely old. I haven’t seen a ton of changes in terms of his approach and stuff like that. I think he does a good job of adapting. He’s not stuck in his ways. He listens.” pic.twitter.com/E7byvCqvKV
— Dakota Randall (@DakRandall) September 5, 2023
However, Steve praised Bill for continuing to evolve on the job.
“I haven’t seen a ton of changes in terms of his approach and stuff like that,” he continued. “I think he does a good job of adapting. He’s not stuck in his ways. He listens.”
Steve is one of the younger coaches on New England’s staff. He said the NFL’s longest-tenured head coach still aims to improve and considers suggestions from others.
“I appreciate him listening to us and taking the feedback we have,” Steve said. “And as the head coach, it’s up to him whether he wants to implement the changes or do things differently than how maybe (they were) done before. That’s up to him.”
Pete Carroll, who turns 72 next Friday despite still reasonably passing for 42, is the only NFL head coach older than Bill Belichick. Including the playoffs, the six-time Super Bowl champion is 19 wins shy of breaking Don Shula’s all-time record.
The iconic head coach hasn’t expressed a desire to retire anytime soon. He’ll look to prove age is just a number when leading the Patriots into Sunday’s Week 1 encounter with the Philadelphia Eagles.