List of New England Patriots head coaches

Last updated

Jerod Mayo, the current head coach of the Patriots, also played for the team as a linebacker from 2008 to 2015. Jerod-Mayo 8-28-09 Patriots-vs.-Redskins.jpg
Jerod Mayo, the current head coach of the Patriots, also played for the team as a linebacker from 2008 to 2015.

The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in Foxborough, Massachusetts. They are a member of the East Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The team began as the Boston Patriots in the American Football League, a league which merged with the National Football League before the 1970 season. [1]

Contents

There have been 15 head coaches for the Patriots franchise. Lou Saban became the first coach of the Patriots in 1960, although he was fired part way through their second season. [2] The 15th and current head coach is Jerod Mayo, who was hired in 2024. [3] Mayo replaced longtime head coach Bill Belichick, who led the team for more regular season games (387), post-season games (41) and complete seasons (24) than any other head coach. His 266 wins with the Patriots are far and away the most in franchise history, more than five times those of runner-up Mike Holovak. Belichick also led the team to nine of their eleven Super Bowl appearances, winning six of them. Holovak, Raymond Berry and Bill Parcells all led the Patriots to league championship games, with only one (Holovak) failing to reach the Super Bowl. Five Patriots head coaches, Holovak, Chuck Fairbanks, Berry, Parcells, and Belichick, have been named coach of the year by at least one major news organization. Additionally, Raymond Berry and Bill Parcells are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, with Berry being inducted in 1973, and Parcells in 2013. [4] [5]

Bill Belichick was the most successful head coach in franchise history, leading the team to six Super Bowl championships in his 24-year tenure. Bill Belichick 2019 (cropped).jpg
Bill Belichick was the most successful head coach in franchise history, leading the team to six Super Bowl championships in his 24-year tenure.

Twice in Patriots history there were "interim" head coaches. In 1972, John Mazur resigned with five games left in the season. [6] Phil Bengtson was named as the interim head coach for the rest of the season, during which he only won one game, and he was not made the permanent coach the next year. In 1978, head coach Fairbanks secretly made a deal to leave the team to coach the University of Colorado Buffaloes while he was still coaching the Patriots. Team owner Billy Sullivan suspended Fairbanks for the final game of the regular season, stating "You cannot serve two masters," and Ron Erhardt and Hank Bullough took co-head coaching responsibilities for that game. [7] Fairbanks was reinstated when the team qualified for the playoffs, and he lost the first playoff game, his last for the Patriots. Since Dick MacPherson, the Patriots have had only 4 coaches in 32 seasons.

Key

#Number of coaches
GCGames coached
WWins
LLosses
TTies
Win% Winning percentage
Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach
Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player
*Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Patriots

Coaches

Note: Statistics are accurate through the end of the 2023 NFL season.
#ImageNameTermRegular seasonPlayoffsAwardsReference
GCWLTWin%GCWL
Boston Patriots
1 Lou Saban 19601961 197120.368 [8]
2 Mike Holovak 19611968 10752469.528211 UPI AFL Coach of the Year (1966) [9] [10]
3 Clive Rush, circa 1958.png Clive Rush* 19691970 215160.238 [11]
4 John Mazur (cropped).jpg John Mazur* 1970 7160.143 [6]
New England Patriots
John Mazur (cropped).jpg John Mazur* 19711972 238150.348 [6]
5 Phil Bengtson 1972 [12] 5140.200 [13]
6 Chuck Fairbanks* 19731978 [14] 8546390.541202 UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1976) [15]

Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (1976)

[16]
7 Ron Erhardt 19791981 [17] 4921280.428 [18]
8 Ron Meyer 19821984 3318150.545101 [19]
9 Berry 1961 Topps.jpg Raymond Berry *‡ 19841989*8748390.551532 UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1985)
AFC Championship (1985)
[20] [21]
10 Rod Rust* 1990 161150.062 [22]
11 Dick MacPherson* 19911992 328240.250 [23]
12 Bill Parcells (cropped).jpg Bill Parcells 19931996 6432320.500422 AP NFL Coach of the Year (1994)

Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year (1994)
Maxwell Football Club NFL Coach of the Year (1994)
UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1994)
AFC Championship (1996)

[24] [25]
13 PeteCarroll.JPG Pete Carroll 19971999 4827210.562312 [26]
14 Photo of the Day- 4-20 (34163554775) (cropped).jpg Bill Belichick 20002023 3872661210.687413012 AP NFL Coach of the Year (2003, 2007, 2010)

Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (2003)
Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year (2003)
Maxwell Football Club NFL Coach of the Year (2007)
PFWA Executive of the Year (2021)
6 Super Bowl Championships (2001, 2003, 2004, 2014, 2016, 2018)
9 AFC Championships (2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018)

[27] [28]
15 Jerod-Mayo 8-28-09 Patriots-vs.-Redskins.jpg Jerod Mayo 2024–present5140.200 [29]

Notes and references

  1. "Boston Patriots". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
  2. "Buffalo Bills". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on June 4, 2008. Retrieved May 13, 2008.
  3. "Patriots hire ex-LB Mayo as Belichick successor". ESPN.com. January 12, 2024. Archived from the original on January 12, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  4. "Raymond Berry profile". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on May 6, 2008. Retrieved April 24, 2008.
  5. "Bill Parcells | Pro Football Hall of Fame". pfhof. Archived from the original on January 11, 2024. Retrieved January 12, 2024.
  6. 1 2 3 Grossfeld, Stan (December 1, 2005). "For Mazur, the scars remain". The Boston Globe . Archived from the original on October 24, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2008.
  7. Borges, Ron. "Butt of jokes to last laugh". The Boston Globe . Archived from the original on July 24, 2004. Retrieved April 26, 2008.
  8. "Lou Saban". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  9. Gruver, Ed (1997). The American Football League: A Year-by-year History, 1960–1969. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. p. 276. ISBN   0-7864-0399-3.
  10. "Mike Holovak". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on November 22, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  11. "Clive Rush". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2007. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  12. Phil Bengtson was the interim head coach for five games during the 1972 season.
  13. Phil Bengtson. "New England Patriots (1960–present)". sports e-cyclopedia. Archived from the original on April 17, 2007. Retrieved May 14, 2008.
  14. Chuck Fairbanks was suspended for the last game of the 1978 regular season. He was reinstated for the playoffs, and lost in the first round.
  15. "Chuck Fairbanks Head Coach". New England Patriots. Archived from the original on May 19, 2011. Retrieved April 24, 2008.
  16. "Chuck Fairbanks". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on May 30, 2006. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  17. Ron Erhardt's record includes one game where he shared head coaching duties with Hank Bullough during Chuck Fairbanks 1978 suspension. His first official year as head coach of the Patriots was 1979.
  18. "Ron Erhardt". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on May 26, 2006. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  19. "Ron Meyer". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on February 8, 2007. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  20. "Raymond Berry". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  21. "Raymond Berry". Pro-Football-Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on December 30, 2008. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
  22. "Rod Rust". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on November 21, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  23. "Dick MacPherson". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on November 21, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  24. "Bill Parcells". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2007. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  25. "Bill Parcells". Pro-Football-Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on June 4, 2011. Retrieved December 31, 2008.
  26. "Pete Carroll". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on February 9, 2007. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  27. "Bill Belichick". databaseSports.com. Archived from the original on December 25, 2007. Retrieved April 23, 2008.
  28. "Bill Belichick Record, Statistics, and Category Ranks". Pro Football Reference. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 10, 2010. Retrieved January 8, 2024.
  29. "Patriots hire ex-LB Mayo as Belichick successor". ESPN.com. January 12, 2024. Archived from the original on January 13, 2024. Retrieved January 13, 2024.

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