Bill Belichick, the longtime head coach of the New England Patriots, will turn 70 on Saturday. And despite once saying that he won’t be coaching into his seventies, the six-time Super Bowl championship coach will remain on the sideline when the Patriots start the 2022 season.
New Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels, who spent 18 seasons on Belichick’s staff in New England, doesn’t see the future Hall of Fame coach stepping away anytime soon. McDaniels, during an interview with NBC Sports’ Peter King, said he wouldn’t be surprised to see Belichick coaching into his eighties.
“If he’s there 10 years from now, it wouldn’t surprise me to see that,” McDaniels said. “He still attacks the job the same now that I saw him attack it when I first started in 2001. Doesn’t matter what part of the year it is. The big thing that Bill has going for him and has always done is he loves all the facets of the football season, whether it’s scouting, preparation for a game, roster evaluation, team-building, developmental parts of the year for the young players. All of those things get weighted the same for him.”
The fact that Belichick is still on the sideline is somewhat surprising given his comments back in January 2010. The Patriots’ 2009 season had just ended following a loss to the Ravens in the wild-card round of the playoffs. Belichick, who allowed NFL Films to document him during the ’09 season, said during an early drive into work that he did not envision himself coaching into his 70s.
“You definitely miss a lot during football season. Family stuff, holidays and kids stuff when they’re young, their games,” a then 57-year-old Belichick said. “The world passes you by. I have a hard time picturing not coaching football at this point. I won’t be like Marv Levy and coaching in my 70s; you won’t have to worry about that. Fortunately, that’s a few years off.
“I enjoy doing what I’m doing. I don’t think that’s going to last forever. Beats working.”
Belichick has clearly had a change of heart in the years following that interview. Since the ’09 season, the Patriots have won three more Super Bowls under Belichick’s watch. And while his place in the Hall of Fame is already secure, Belichick is apparently still motivated to add more championships to his legacy before he heads off into retirement. Patriots owner Robert Kraft may have added to Belichick’s motivation after he publicly expressed his disappointment in the Patriots’ lack of postseason success in recent years. The Patriots have not won a playoff game since defeating the Rams in Super Bowl LIII.
Already the all-time leader in Super Bowls and postseason games won, Belichick is 10 wins away from becoming only the third coach in league history to win 300 games. He is 28 wins away from matching George Halas’ tally of 318 wins and 38 wins from tying Don Shula for the all-time lead.
