Bill Belichick: The Art of Winning, girlfriend Jordon Hudson, Tom Brady, Lawrence Taylor, Patriots, Super Bowls, UNC future, his father, coaching legacy, life lessons

With all the headlines and storylines swirling around Coach Belichick, we wanted to create a space for Coach to touch on some of these as well as add anything he finds important but ultimately we bring back a locker room vibe as Ryan, Channing and Fred talk football stories, the Art of Winning, life on and off the field and lessons learned along the way. Going through the various chapter of Coach’s iconic journey and the people who have helped shape him and the moments that define not just one of the Greatest Coach of All Time but one of the most polarizing sports figures ever. From coaching greats Tom Brady and Lawrence Taylor, to his mentor Bill Parcells and his special tribute and gratitude to his first football hero, his father…A lot of inside stories, laughs and wisdom as we connect Coach’s the love of the game to his winning approach to life. Focused on football more than ever, Coach leaves his NFL legacy as his path takes him to his next chapter at UNC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:30Ryan Clark?

  Coach, what an honor. Obviously, I got to work with you this entire year on Inside the NFL. Got to know you pretty well. I mean, eight total Super Bowls, six as the head coach of the New England Patriots, the greatest dynasty of this era. I mean, and now a New York Times bestseller. The Bill Belichick legacy extends almost as long as your resume. I just want to ask, Coach, with everything that's going on, just how are you doing in dealing with all of the things that you've been having to deal with recently?

• 1:01Speaker 02

  Yeah, good, good. Just, you know, control what you can control and, you know, focusing on football.

• 1:08Ryan Clark?

  Yeah. All right, Coach, you know, so I have the book here in my hands. Coach says here, "Thank you to my idea mill and creative muse, Jordon Hudson, here in the acknowledgements." Why was it important to make sure she was acknowledged in this book?

• 1:24Speaker 02

  Because she had a lot to do with it. One of the great ideas that she came up with is when I was writing the acknowledgements and kind of tribute to Coach Barcelles, Lawrence Taylor, Tom Brady, my dad, you know, four people that really meant a lot to me in my life. You know, she came up with the idea of, why don't you give them their page? Give Taylor 56, give Brady 199.

• 1:45Speaker 02

  You know, give your dad 106. That's how old he would have been if he were alive today. And I thought that was a great idea. So we incorporated that into the book, and those tribute pages are with the numbers that correspond to, you know, to those four people. And so I thought that was a, you know, great idea and wanted to give her credit for it. You know, when my dad wrote his book, Football Scouting Methods, my mom kind of was instrumental in editing the book. And she said, "Look, if I can understand it, anybody can understand it, but some of this is just too technical." And my dad said, "All right, well, you make the adjustments." And so in this book, The Art of Winning, there were several times where, you know, Jordan read some of the chapters and was like...

• 2:28Speaker 02

  Man, this is pretty, pretty technical here. This is a little, I don't, do the average fans understand this?

• 2:35Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 2:35Speaker 02

  And I kind of reread it, it's a business book. You know, it's a, it's a business book. So I reread it and made some adjustments. And so there's some really good input there to try to make it more of a, a flowing book toward, you know, business and it's not a technical book. That wasn't the idea.

• 2:49Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, the first thing you did was the CBS interview. That question wasn't asked about Jordan in that interview, Coach?

• 2:57Speaker 02

  Oh, yeah, no, it was asked. No, it was asked, they asked about her, her, the same, similar question to what you asked about her acknowledgement of the book. And I explained that in the, in the tribute pages that she did, but that wasn't shown.

• 3:09Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, you know, a lot of what we got from that was obviously, you know, some of the things saying that she interrupted and, you know, didn't necessarily cooperate through that process. In a lot of what you do, and I'm sure, you know, in part of this book, it's maybe, maybe spoken about, it's, don't be a distraction, right? And there are former players of yours and media members who are saying because of your current relationship, you may be or may have become that. How are you staying focused on football as the main thing to make sure that that's not something that's happening?

• 3:53Speaker 02

  Yeah, that's what I do as I stay focused on football. Some of the other opportunities that, that come along, you know, Jordan looks at those and, and, you know, can, can dig into them a little bit deeper. But really what she does helps me spend my time on football and that's what's important to me.

• 4:08Ryan Clark?

  For specifics for people, because I believe that this is definitely one of those questions that are out there and people are making up their own stories, creating their own narrative. What does Jordan actually do for you that allows you to do your job? What are her actual job responsibilities?

• 4:34Speaker 02

  Well, nothing with North Carolina. That would be number one. It would be personal opportunities. Could be a speaking thing. It could be a, you know, appearance on this, or talk about that, or somebody wants whatever happens to be an autograph, or that type of thing. And so, you know, she would kind of help organize that for me. And one of the first things that came out was when North Carolina sent me emails saying like, these people want to talk to you, these people want to talk to you, these people want to talk to you, these people want to talk to you. I sent back an email, can you please copy Jordan on these requests?

• 5:12Speaker 02

  Right? So, you know, she could at least, like, filter through them, because there was nobody. We didn't have a sports information guy. That was taken, because all emails are shared and publicly, that was taken as Jordan's run in the sports information department.

• 5:29Ryan Clark?

  Yes.

• 5:30Speaker 02

  And that also led to the narrative, which is like totally, she's not doing it. I mean, there was nobody that helped me sort them out, so I was asking her to do it. And the Hard Knocks thing, you know, like, just for the record, Hard Knocks is training camp.

• 5:46Ryan Clark?

  Yep.

• 5:46Speaker 02

  And we're not training camp. We're just not. That's not what we, that's not what we are. You know, the drama of training camp, and who's going to get cut and all that. Like, we're a season, and they, and they don't want that.

• 5:59Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 6:00Speaker 02

  There's film issues too, but forget about the film issues. Like, just say you could straighten all those out. The Hard Knocks just didn't fit for us.

• 6:07Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, like, the biggest thing, the biggest thing with Hard Knocks is the drama around what happens during that time. This book is about business, the art of winning, but you're a football coach. How does Jordan help you balance the two of those now?

• 6:29Speaker 02

  Yeah, I try to focus on football and North Carolina and some of the other things that come my way are, Jordan looks at and, you know, she makes recommendations or gives guidance on some of the other opportunities that, you know, that pass through that are non-football, that are outside, that are business. And, again, that was similar to the book. There were certain things in the book as I was writing it that she looked at it from a business perspective and it didn't really fit the business narrative that the book was intended to target. And so not only did she create those pages, but she also, you know, brought a business perspective to some of the narrative that came out in

• 7:13Speaker 02

  the book. So that was very helpful. Jordan has her own businesses and she's savvy in those. And on football and I let her help me with the business.

• 7:23Ryan Clark?

  When you look back at the writing of this book, when did the idea for you spark that this was something you wanted to do?

• 7:32Speaker 02

  Oh, you know, it was several years ago. And actually, I mentioned in the book too, Ray Dalio is somebody that really encouraged me to, you know, share some ideas. His book, Principles, this is not Principles, but Lessons, some sort of same idea of the things that I've learned and just how I did my job. Look, the book isn't about, here's what you need to do, here's how you should live your life, here's the way to be successful. It's the lessons that I learned. What did I do? How did I handle it? I'm not saying it's right or wrong. It's just what I did. Here are the mistakes that I made. What did I learn from them? And in reading the book, if the reader can take something from that and apply it to their situation or, you know, or their life, great. Great. That's really what it's

• 8:15Speaker 02

  about. It's, this isn't a, this is how you do it book. That's not the idea.

• 8:20Ryan Clark?

  Chan and Fred are here. They're ready to roll.

• 8:43Speaker 02

  Hey CC, how you doing man?

• 8:45Channing Crowder?

  You good brother?

• 8:45Speaker 02

  Good to see you buddy.

• 8:46Channing Crowder?

  Good to see you man.

• 8:47Speaker 02

  Bam legend.

• 8:48Ryan Clark?

  Coach, it was great to have opportunity to talk to you, to speak with Jordan a little bit about some of the things, you know, that have been going on, some of the parts and roles that she plays as well, but you know, this book is written from an history of experiences in the game, but it's also easily equitable to business. Freddie T is here now, he's the, he's the business mogul of The Pivot. Chan owns a ton of businesses from restaurants to boating, I just in the business of Ryan Clark, but guys, welcome to The Pivot again. This is Coach Bill Belichick, as you've been hearing him. I do wonder, Coach, when, when you're writing something like this and you're taking all

• 9:31Ryan Clark?

  of your life experience, all of your football experience to put it into, into words, how difficult was it for you to like narrow down all of those things and say, okay, this is what I want to give the reader?

• 9:45Speaker 02

  Yeah, a book could have been twice as big, you know, just stories and all that, but really the idea of the book is lessons from my life in football and, and what I experienced. I'm not saying it was right, certainly there's a lot of mistakes in there and, and I learned a lot, but you know, I always say, do your job. Well, this is how I did my job and some of the things that came across my desk, some of the situations that I dealt with, here's what I did, here's why I did them, here's, you know, here's what happened and, and that's what it is and, and how that applies to somebody else's life is, is up to the reader. Not trying to, you know, not trying to give them a formula, just trying to talk about what I did and hopefully some interesting stories along the way.

• 10:25Ryan Clark?

  Freddie T, what's the saying you always say that Coach?

• 10:28Fred Taylor?

  Do business as business is being done. I love it.

• 10:32Speaker 02

  It's a business, bro.

• 10:33Fred Taylor?

  Look, I absolutely fell in love with it because it applies to not only football as the setting that we were in when he was telling the entire team in the team meeting setting, but it applies to life, right? It just, it reminds me to keep the main thing the main thing, right? And no matter what it is, you have to like stay in the straight line. And basically, he was just telling us, look, if the game calls for it, like this is what we're going to do at that particular moment. And all the guys just bought in. It was just an easy way to just dial in and do what you needed to do to go and win the game, and that's what we did.

• 11:19Channing Crowder?

  And do the main thing the main thing. Your friend Nick Saban, he's been on the show, and I know all the sayings, Coach, but the greatness of it, like you're talked about like Vince Lombardi and Don Shula and all of those guys. You tell people, don't get caught up in the noise. When did you know that you were special? I always wanted to ask you this question. When did you know that you were a special coach, that Bill Belichick is on the level of Don Shula, Vince Lombardi, those guys? And I don't think it got to you because of your success, but when did you know?

• 12:00Speaker 02

  Well, C.C., you know this, and Fred, you guys know this too. Players win games. Yep. Players win games. As a coach, you just try to put the players in a position where they can go out and execute and win. And when you don't do that as a coach, you've lost the game. Coaches lose them, players win them, but you guys got to go out and make the plays. You don't want me out there making them. I guarantee you that. And so I think that that's really all I've tried to do, is put players in a position where they can go out and do what they do and win for us. And ultimately, you got to have good players to win. Good coaches can't win. Great players win games.

• 12:44Channing Crowder?

  Coach, I got to tell you, because I was on the sideline with a cam camera, I won't say too many names. I was on the sideline, and we're looking across at players and saying. Bill got something for us like you you did you changed it you changed the math like as a coach you tell players to change the math you got one on one change the math change the math you changed the math you changed it as a coach.

• 13:10Speaker 02

  But all I tried to do was put the players in position to do what they could do and what Tom Brady did was different to what Matt Cassel did and was different than what you know Cam did and you know you just try to play to the players strengths and Rodney Harrison was the second greatest defensive player I coached behind Taylor is a great but he's different than Devin McCourty they're both great players you try to let them do what they can do and let them play the game to their strengths and and I think that's your job as a coach is to get the team prepared to play and then put them in a position where they got a fair fight and if we try to run off tackle you know strong safety blitz all

• 13:50Speaker 02

  day that's just bad coaching and we can't win and good players can't overcome bad coaching good players got to have an opportunity to go out there and play and and I just want to make sure that I would give them that opportunity as a coach whether that was a position coach or as a head coach didn't matter.

• 14:05Fred Taylor?

  You you're being very modest right now see because I think the the NFL game is it comes down to like the margin for error is so thin right because everybody's amazing all the players are great.

• 14:18Speaker 02

  Everybody's good.

• 14:19Fred Taylor?

  Are very elite but you have to be as you said in those positions I think situationally that's the one thing I learned the most from you during my time in New England that was different than when I was in Jacksonville just situational football you had us prepared those little quizzes that we would do on on Thursdays we would come in and know we would know if it's fourth quarter down by this amount of points what they were running and all this different stuff so we were extremely prepared situationally and I think that's a big part of it right not every coach had that or at least in the places that I've been so.

• 15:01Speaker 02

  Well let's face it Fred half the games in the NFL come down to one possession half the games so those situations are important and and all the big games you got to figure that's what it's going to come down to so yeah we took that very seriously but again in those critical situations.

• 15:19Speaker 02

  Somebody's got to make the kick, somebody's got to make the run, somebody's got to make the tackle, somebody's got to cover somebody. That's not me.

• 15:26Ryan Clark?

  Hey Coach, on page 199, that's Tom Brady's page, right? That's the slot that he was drafted by the New England Patriots. And so, you know, that's his page. On that page, there's a quote that says, "You cannot win the game until you keep from losing." Talk a little bit about that quote and how Tom Brady personified that.

• 15:48Speaker 02

  You know, Tom did three things, I thought, were just unbelievably great.

• 15:56Speaker 02

  As a quarterback, we all know, worst situation you can be in is long yardage. And so, as long as the ball moves forward, you stay out of long yardage. And Tom did such a great job of not allowing negative plays to happen to our offense. No pre-snap penalties, no sacks. If the run didn't look good, he would check it to the other side, or throw a quick look pass to one of the receivers. But he kept us out of negative plays and kept us out of long yardage. So, second and 10, the worst we were going to face is, you know, third and 10. But usually, second and 10 became third and 5, and then you got a chance to pick it up. And so, he didn't have the negative plays.

• 16:40Speaker 02

  No sacks, no turnovers, no interceptions, no strip sacks, no negative runs, no pre-snap penalties, and minimal long yardage situations. So that was number one, great. Number two, as I've told Tom many times, "Tom, we can't gain any yards until you get rid of the ball." Until he hands it to you, or throws it to Randy, or throws it to Julian. "We can't gain any yards. You can't gain any yards. Give the ball to somebody else who can." And he did a great job of that, and Tom really understood how Randy could be productive, how Kevin Faulk could be productive, how James White could be productive, how Rob could be productive,

• 17:23Speaker 02

  how Julian could be productive, how, what the skills were of those guys, how to use those guys, you know, almost like a point guard. And then, of course, he made, you know, great decisions under pressure and had a tremendous ability to see the field and understand situational football and make quick decisions under pressure. To me, those are the things that made Tom, he did a lot of things great. Those are the things that made him truly elite.

• 17:49Channing Crowder?

  Quick, quick, Fred, before you say something. You pointed at Fred, Coach. By the time you got Fred, he was a liability. He wasn't an asset anymore, was he?

• 17:59Speaker 02

  He could gain yards.

• 18:01Channing Crowder?

  Where did this come from? My man, Freddie, my man, because he gonna point it too, because I know he did nice.

• 18:06Fred Taylor?

  Actually, before I ask my question, during my visit, because I interrupted my, my visit to Cincinnati to go to New England, having gotten a call from the Pats. And our first conversation, it was great. Went in his office, he said, look, Florida, all my Florida Gator stuff. And we actually negotiated my deal without an agent. He was like, just keep it out the media. And I understood what he meant and what he stood for, and the rest was history. But my time in New England was, you know, I spent 11 years in Jacksonville. My, my two years in New England, unfortunately, didn't go the way any of us wanted it to because

• 18:48Fred Taylor?

  we didn't get to the Super Bowl and I got banged up a couple of times. But the experience was priceless. I was able to take that back to Jacksonville and tell these guys, look, this is what it's going to take in order to get to that championship level. So every day for me, I was a fly on the wall. And I was able to absorb everything that he was trying to give the entire team. And I share a lot of that now when I go and speak and engagement, talking to different teams and all of that. But Coach, I want to get back to Tom. As great as Tom was, right, many people would think that he would probably get preferred treatment. But you didn't. Like, you hammer at Tom as much as you hammer at the practice squad guys, anybody else,

• 19:33Fred Taylor?

  why was that important?

• 19:36Speaker 02

  You know, I think it was really important because and Tom, Tom knew it and Tom brought it to my attention, it enabled him to give more leadership to the offense. If I, if I didn't point him out, then everybody walks out there feeling like, well, they got yelled at except for him. But when I could, you know, make points to Tom, then Tom could say, hey, fellas, look, he got after me too. He got after all of us. We gotta get it going. And I learned that from Coach Knight. Coach Knight did that with Jordan in the Olympics. And he told Jordan, Jordan, I'm gonna be on you. I'm gonna be on you hard, especially on defense, because I know you can take it. Jordan says, bring it on. I just want everybody else to play better. Bring it on.

• 20:20Speaker 02

  Because if you're yelling at Michael Jordan, everybody else gotta come go, you know? And so, a lot of times, I would tell Tom, hey, Tom, it could get a little rough in there today. Just wanted to let you know. He goes, well, make sure you include me, because I, you know, I need to be part of it. Don't worry, I'll include you, Tom. Don't worry about that.

• 20:37Ryan Clark?

  You talk about, you have a chapter in your book called Star Players. It's chapter six. And in the start of it, you talk about, you said, to be clear, the challenges that sometimes come along with star players are good challenges to have. Talk a little bit about some of those challenges of, of having the star player and why those challenges can be good.

• 21:00Speaker 02

  Well, one of the funniest stories in that book really is the, is the Antonio Brown story. You know, he was only with the Patriots for 11 days. I mean, and he, you know, Tom's very nutrition oriented and, you know, Antonio wanted to, Tom, Tom had Antonio come and stay at his house, wanted to embrace him, bring him on to the team, so forth. Went down there and we actually beat Miami in Miami, which was, you know, that was good. But, but Antonio ordered milk. He ordered the special milk for Brady.

• 21:41Speaker 02

  Cost $5,000, $5,000. And to make a long story short, it it kind of got mixed up and it ended up in the mailroom for too long. And by the time it, the milk went bad.

• 21:54Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 21:55Speaker 05

  Right.

• 21:56Speaker 02

  And so here we are sitting here with milk and like, all right, well, what will cost $5,000? Oh, my God. So we go out and get $5,000 worth of milk. This special milk and and give it to Brady from Antonio, even though it all, you know, and so now we like turn into like an expense report like $5,000 worth of milk. I mean, but you know what? Sometimes you just gotta

• 22:27Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, do it for the

• 22:28Speaker 02

  do the right thing and and I don't want to ruin the relationship between Brown and Brady on this spoiled milk. So spend $5,000 to replace this milk, so.

• 22:39Ryan Clark?

  Hey, Coach, you know, hey, you don't probably spoil milk either, again, along with along with spilled milk.

• 22:44Speaker 02

  You just write out a $5,000 check and get some more.

• 22:49Channing Crowder?

  And Coach, what that what that felt like at Antonio Brown's? The Randy Moss, because I was down there when when y'all brought in Randy.

• 22:56Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 22:56Channing Crowder?

  And some people took a chance on him and then they went down and set all the records. Randy actually caught three on us in Miami that year when they they both set the record.

• 23:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, and double coverage too. I mean,

• 23:08Channing Crowder?

  Coach.

• 23:09Speaker 02

  I don't know.

• 23:10Channing Crowder?

  I me and the defensive coordinator got in a argument on the sideline because he started cussing us out. Randy could jump 15 feet in the air. Go make a play. I said, Coach, there's nobody else that could jump that high. If he sets his feet, no one can. And Tom knew exactly where to throw it. But no one of those players could could, like you said, you you just gave the player so much credit where you put players in position to make plays. But for those guys that have had, you know, different trouble and different things like that, is that where coaching, is that where great coaching comes in? Where you can go take a guy and make him look like he was at his prime?

• 23:51Speaker 02

  Well, you know, Randy, I think, look, I love Randy. I think Randy was frustrated in Minnesota because he wanted to win probably more than the organization did. He was frustrated in Oakland because he wanted to win more than the organization did. And I think when he got to New England, he felt like they want to win as bad as I do. So, you know the story when I traded for Randy Moss? It was in between the draft. It was a two-day draft, Friday, Saturday. And we had to give up a fourth-round draft choice for him, which was the first pick in the Saturday draft at noon. And so when the draft was over, I called Mr. Davis on Friday and said, like, are we going to do a steal? He goes, yeah, I want your fourth-round pick in tomorrow's draft.

• 24:36Speaker 02

  I'm like, Mr. Davis, it's midnight now and the draft starts at noon. He goes, well, that's your problem. I'm like, alright. So I call up, I get Randy's number, I call him up. I said, Randy, this is Coach Belichick. Hangs up on me. Dial him up again. Randy, this is Coach Belichick. Who is this? Who is this? A prank? Who is this? This ain't Coach Belichick. Hangs up on me again. Randy, please, hold on Randy, before you hang up. Hang up. Hold on, we just traded for you. He goes, what do you mean? Just, yeah, it's, it's. He goes, really? Alright, alright. I said, look, you got to get up here tomorrow.

• 25:19Speaker 02

  We got to redo your contract, you got to take a physical, and we got it all done by noon. He goes, I'm in Houston. I said, well, what do you want to do? He goes, I'll be there. Nine o'clock. He's there. Gets a plane, gets up there, comes in there at nine o'clock, takes the physical, you know, does the contract, and it's all done by noon. We make the trade. Randy said, alright, look, where's the playbook? I said, yeah, we'll get you one. I mean, you know, we just signed five minutes ago. I said, yeah, we'll get you one, no problem. He goes, yeah, because when I got out there with Brady in the first team, I ain't going to make a bunch of mental errors. I want to know what the plays are, I want to know the checks, I want to know the signals, I want to know everything, because I'm not going to go out there and look like some dummy,

• 26:03Speaker 02

  alright, with Brady at quarterback and like, this guy don't know what to do. He goes, so I want the playbook, and I want, I'm going to have everything down by the time we start mini camp. And that was like, three weeks later. So I said, okay, Randy, look, let's talk about this.

• 26:19Speaker 02

  So look, you know, when we get this post-safety coverage, he goes, Coach, you don't get any more post-safety coverage. You forget about post-safety coverage.

• 26:30Speaker 02

  I said, well, Randy, you know, we just see, he goes, Coach, you don't get any more post-safety coverage. Okay, I'm just telling you. I'm like, all right, all right, all right. He goes, look, here's, you know, here's some things I can do. I said, listen, Randy, I, I've never been fast. Okay, I don't know what it's like to be fast. If I'm running, they catch me. If you're running, I can't catch them. Okay, I don't know what fast is. What is, what do you do when you're the fastest guy on the field? He goes, Coach, you just give me some room and I will go. I said, just, I said, can you beat the free safety across? He goes, well, if I can, I will. But if I can, I'll break it back here. He goes, give me an option. He goes, I can attack the deep part of the field. Put me in the slot.

• 27:14Speaker 02

  I'm like, you want to go in the slot? He goes, yeah, because they can't stop me in the slot. He goes, I ain't going over the middle on a little two-yard hook route. I'm not doing that. But if you want me to go deep, I can attack the middle of the field from the slot. And so Randy taught me how a fast receiver can attack the defense. Because we never had anybody like him. And 23 touchdowns or whatever it was. And, and so I learned so much from Randy about how a fast player can attack the defense.

• 27:45Ryan Clark?

  Coach, is that why you had such an affinity for short white wide receivers?

• 27:50Speaker 02

  That's, we didn't have, I mean, I never had a guy like that. I never had a guy like that. Michael Jackson in Cleveland was, was fast, but Randy was fast and had a lot of experience. It was really, really smart. Like, he knew how to attack defenses. And what drove him crazy was they would roll up into him and he had a go route. And, and they would yell at him because, well, you're not running full speed. He goes, well, where am I going? The guy's standing right there. And there's nothing I can do. I'm just running right into the guy. Give me a chance and I'll run as fast as I can run. And. I mean, then we started putting in some deep plays for him where he would run, you know, at the post safety and then break off him or the half field safety and break off of him

• 28:34Speaker 02

  or run right through him on quarters and stuff like that. I mean, he was like, he knew how to attack the deep part of the field and Tom would just lay it out there.

• 28:41Channing Crowder?

  Coach, to that point, did you, because we got terrified when there was seven seconds left on the, on the, on the clock and Tom would look at him and he'd do that, whatever they do, that little hand signal and Moss would nod his head and we knew that they knew what we were in. Do you know, did you know, like when you have great receivers or you, I believe you could see football ahead of me. I speak for Ryan and Fred. You could see football ahead of us. You don't show any emotion on the sideline, but when you got something, a blitz or Randy Moss on a single high, do you be like, okay, yeah, we got the ass.

• 29:17Speaker 02

  Yeah, no, you, you're sitting there like, this is what we're looking for. This is what we want. You know, you just gotta hit it.

• 29:22Channing Crowder?

  Coach, why can't you, why don't you get excited? Because we get scared. You don't get excited.

• 29:26Speaker 02

  After the play. CC, after the play.

• 29:29Ryan Clark?

  You don't really look very excited after the play either though, Coach.

• 29:34Ryan Clark?

  It's like he went to, he went to Super Bowl. He's like, that was nice. Good.

• 29:37Speaker 02

  No, not after the Super Bowl.

• 29:38Channing Crowder?

  Let's get ready for the draft. Let's go on ahead.

• 29:42Ryan Clark?

  In your, uh, in your chapter on culture, Coach, you say something that's surprising to me. You said that there was no Patriot way, but we heard the phrase all the time and like you hear the phrase all the time now with any coach or player that's coaching now that played or coached for you. Where did the Patriot way, at least that saying, come from?

• 30:07Speaker 02

  I don't know. I think it's a, I think it was a marketing thing and as I said in the book, I think somebody probably made a lot of money on that.

• 30:14Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 30:16Speaker 02

  But I don't know. Basically, it's come to work every day. Get better than you were yesterday. And, you know, keep stacking those good days together. Work hard, do your job, put the team first. Pay attention to the details and ignore the noise on the way out. Manage expectations. Don't hype things up. Speak for yourself. I mean, those are kind of our pillars, but, you know, it's just, it's a commitment towards improving and getting better every single day. And that's really, to me, that's what football is about. You play once a week. You got six days to improve and work. And if you waste those days, you're just not going to achieve what you want to achieve on Sunday.

• 30:59Ryan Clark?

  Coach, you were no different, right? You, you evolved into being the coach that won six championships as a head coach of the New England Patriots. But I'm sure many of these pillars were things that were important to you throughout your coaching career. You mentioned earlier how players win games. And you just have to make sure as a coach, you don't put them in bad positions. How much different do you have to be as a coach? Once you realize you no longer have those players that can make a huge difference on the field?

• 31:33Speaker 02

  Well, you, look, you just try to keep, you know, helping everybody be the best they can be. And I look, some players are more talented than others. I mean, that's, you know, some guys on the practice squad, there's guys on the roster, there's starters, there's all pros, there's Hall of Famers. I mean, they're all different levels, but you just want to keep, you know, improving every single day. And, you know, my job as a coach and as a teacher is to help them get better and help the team get better. You know, how do you help the team get better? One thing in a book, you know, I talk about that I think you guys would love. Best key I've ever seen. Best key I've ever seen. Banks comes up to me when I'm, you know, I'm Giants. Banks comes up to me and we play, we're playing Eagles and of course playing twice a year. There's no free agency. So it's the same team every year.

• 32:18Speaker 02

  Keep playing them over and over and over again. I'm going to have one new guy. We might have one new guy. It's the same thing. Banks comes up to me, says, there's, Coach, I got a key. Now, listen, hold on, hold on. But I'm just telling you, I got a key. When Spagnola comes up, puts his arm here like this, it's a run.

• 32:40Speaker 02

  And when he wiggles his fingers, it's a pass.

• 32:44Speaker 02

  I'm like, come on.

• 32:46Channing Crowder?

  No chance.

• 32:47Speaker 02

  Are you kidding me? He goes, I know, I know. But he goes, just check it out. I'm like, alright. So, I look at all the end zone film, and I'm like, God. You know, it's unbelievable. Just wiggle his fingers on.

• 33:06Speaker 02

  Alright, I mean, what are you gonna say?

• 33:09Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 33:09Speaker 02

  That's 100%. We go play the Eagles. First series, we come off the field, you know, we got a three and out, come off field. And Banks is, he's still doing it.

• 33:23Speaker 02

  We play him the next year, or, you know, play him a second time around. Go into the game, first series. Coach, he's still doing it.

• 33:34Speaker 02

  I mean, I've never seen anything like this. It was crazy.

• 33:40Ryan Clark?

  He did it for years.

• 33:40Speaker 02

  It could be, it could be fourth and inches. It could be third and 20, and it's a run.

• 33:46Channing Crowder?

  Wiggle or no wiggle.

• 33:47Speaker 02

  It's unbelievable. It was unbelievable.

• 33:50Ryan Clark?

  Honestly, though, as a player, though, Chan, Fred, you know, when you got one of them, that level of excitement is off the charts.

• 33:57Channing Crowder?

  Yes.

• 33:57Ryan Clark?

  You know what I'm saying? Because you're like, I'm gone.

• 33:59Channing Crowder?

  One of my best games, one of my most tackles philosophy I've had, because Zach Thomas was, he has a mind like you.

• 34:06Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 34:06Channing Crowder?

  And he knew, he told me in the first quarter, if 89's on the ball and 86 steps off in 12, they're running. So just shoot your gap. And I was like, Zach, if I shoot my gap and it's tight and goes running out his fit, I'm getting cussed out. Go CC. And I had like two or three tackles flaws on Thanksgiving Day, because he saw a key and he knew the key, so that, it works.

• 34:27Ryan Clark?

  I have a question. Would you get that many tackles flaws if Matt Light was out there?

• 34:31Speaker 02

  Oh, boy.

• 34:31Channing Crowder?

  Me and Coach talked about it. The Matt Light situation.

• 34:38Channing Crowder?

  Coach, did you think I was crazy?

• 34:40Speaker 02

  Oh, man.

• 34:41Channing Crowder?

  But even over being in AFCs, did you think I was crazy? Because you didn't draft me. I was gonna ask you about that, too.

• 34:47Speaker 00

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• 35:17Speaker 02

  We wanted to draft you.

• 35:19Channing Crowder?

  I was supposed to go 32 to the Patriots because y'all won the Super Bowl and then you took Logan Mankins. It was supposed to be me and I lost millions of dollars, Coach.

• 35:27Speaker 02

  Because of Coach.

• 35:29Channing Crowder?

  He didn't draft me.

• 35:30Speaker 02

  This should door Sanders you. If Mankins wasn't there. If Mankins was there, Mankins played for Pat Hill. Mankins is a hell of a player.

• 35:37Channing Crowder?

  Yes.

• 35:38Speaker 02

  I couldn't, I couldn't pass up Mankins. I love Mankins.

• 35:42Speaker 02

  But you're our kind of player. I mean, big linebacker, athletic, play inside, play outside, blitz. Like, we, yeah, we loved you.

• 35:49Channing Crowder?

  You liked Mankins more.

• 35:50Speaker 02

  Well, look. Mankins played left tackle.

• 35:55Channing Crowder?

  It's important.

• 35:55Speaker 02

  Mankins played left tackle. We played him at guard. But he played left tackle four years at Fresno State.

• 36:00Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 36:01Speaker 02

  So, and he played for Pat Hill. Pat Hill and I coached together at Cleveland. I mean, I knew, like, I just knew Mankins was our guy. And he was, and he was. I love Mankins. But Light, you know, Light. I love Light. But Light, you know, he, he kind of got everybody. And, and sometimes you didn't mind seeing somebody get Light once in a while. You know what I mean?

• 36:26Speaker 02

  But that, but that was really one of the greatest scenes of all time. Because, like, they'd been going at it, going at it, going at it. You knew something was gonna, and finally, like, there they go. Like, they get in a fight and like, and then both of them get thrown out of the game, right? And so, Light comes over to our bench, you know, and so I'm like, you know, great job, Matt. Like, you know, thank you. Now we have no left tackle. This is really gonna help us. You know, what the hell are you doing? And so, our security guy, Briggs.

• 36:53Speaker 02

  Takes him and walks him down there and I see and I see CC going down the other sideline. You know, in Miami, there's one tunnel. There's one tunnel, right? And so I see him going down. I look down and I see light going down and they're turning a corner at the same time. And they each got like a little security guard. It's about 175 pounds. And, and now they're starting to walk right at each other to the same tunnel to go out. I'm like, Jesus.

• 37:28Ryan Clark?

  Coach sees everything. Coach, you know, you knew Channing was crazy over there. I do have a question. Outside of Patriots players, the most excited I've ever seen you talk or excited I've ever seen you be to talk about another player was Ed Reed. Why were you such a huge fan of one of your biggest opponents and competitors?

• 37:56Speaker 02

  Yeah, I was just, that guy's so good. He's so good. You know, I knew about him.

• 38:04Speaker 02

  We drafted a corner who's passed away, Leonard Myers. We drafted him the year before from the University of Miami. And so his rookie year, at the end of his rookie year, like November, December, whatever it was, I said, hey, who's the best player at, who's the best player at Miami? You know, got a few guys down here in the draft. Is there anybody that, you know, you think's any good? It was Ed Reed. Best player on the team. I go, well, how good is he? Best player on the team, best player I've ever seen. This guy's a great player. Like, okay.

• 38:39Speaker 02

  Cause I respect the Leonard Myers. I mean, he was a pretty smart guy. And I said, okay, it's that good? He goes, yeah, there's nobody in close to him, nobody in close. All right. So I start watching him. I'm like, oh my God, this guy is. And blocking punts and returning punts, intercepting passes and tackling. You know, he's kind of a tall, skinny guy, not, he's not that tall, but he's skinny, but he's powerful and he's explosive. He's a good tackler too. And man, is he fast and he's got good range. And so I'm like, oh, man. Then he goes to Baltimore, you know, we didn't get him, of course. And so now he goes to Baltimore, now we're playing against him in the AFC. And as a punt rusher, I mean, he was just, I mean, unblockable. Like, this guy was unblockable.

• 39:22Speaker 02

  And we had special protection for him, we had hurricane protection. And if number 20 was on the field, we ran hurricane protection. We double teamed him, and we let somebody else go to get two guys on him. It was ridiculous how good, like, we were scared to death of him. The guy had him on the line, and then the PP had him too. We double teamed him. Hurricane protection, oh my, oh my god. And, but they didn't use him all the time on punt rush. I don't know why, but they didn't. And so we'd look out and we'd just run a regular stuff. But if he was out there, special protection for Ed Reed. And then the play he had against Peyton Manning, where he, oh my god, where he, you know, baited him into interception and everything, Brayden and I watched that play, and it's like,

• 40:06Speaker 02

  oh my god, this guy's, I have a ton of respect for him. Because he could play corner, he was a good blitzer, he's a great blitzer. He was unblockable on punt rush, he had great range. If he intercepted the ball, he's probably getting run back for a touchdown, because he couldn't tackle him. I mean, he could play, it seemed like, any position on the field.

• 40:24Ryan Clark?

  And he was, he was always like that. We graduated 20 minutes from each other in Louisiana in 97. And I remember, Coach, I'd have nights where I had a punt return for a touchdown, two interceptions, and they had this show called Friday Night Football. And every week, they'd pick an offensive player and a defensive player as like the players of the week. And I remember, man, I'd like, the nights I had the game, Coach, I'd be like, Mom, we gotta go, like, like, we gotta get home. Like, I know, I'm gonna be the player of the week this week. Like, I went crazy. And, man, I had my whole family sitting in front of the TV, and then it was time, and it would be like, Ed Reed, three touchdowns offensively, threw for a touchdown, caught two touchdown passes, a punt return for a touchdown, forced fumble, three picks. I'd just be like, golly! Who is he playing?

• 41:09Ryan Clark?

  Like, clearly, they got double numbers. Ain't no way he does this every single week. And then he went to Miami, did the same thing, does the same thing in Baltimore, Coach. Like, you were right, he is, without a doubt, one of the greatest football players that has ever lived. But I always, always found it actually just refreshing for someone of your stature to be able to appreciate an opponent in the way that you did.

• 41:33Speaker 02

  You know, one thing I always respected. Because, you know, when I was on the, in 2019, you know, I was on the 100th anniversary and we picked, you know, guys for the Hall of Fame and, and, you know, the all-time team and all that. It's hard to compare those players to the current players because those guys went both ways. And, you know, we specialize, but I've always loved the players who are truly two-way players. You know, like Lawrence Taylor, that guy could have played wherever you want on offense too. Tight end, running back. I mean, he could have put him at guard if he wanted to. I mean, honest to God. You know, Ed Reed, he could have played offense, he could have played defense.

• 42:14Speaker 02

  He would have been great in any era, whether it be the 2000s or the 1930s. He could have played in any era and I have a lot of respect for those players that could have played the game and been great, you know, either, either time.

• 42:30Fred Taylor?

  Because speaking of respect though, you get the respect that's one of the greatest coaches of all time. Right? And a lot of times what goes unnoticed is what you do for guys away from the game, off the field. Like in my mind, I go back to those moments that, you know, you were double down on, hey, guys, when you're away from this building, this is how you're supposed to handle yourself. This is what you're supposed to do or not do. And you saved a lot of people. Like, we had a lot of idiots in the locker room and you saved a lot of guys' lives, but you were developing them not only into great players that could help us win, but into young men, into men. Right?

• 43:11Fred Taylor?

  So I guess with that, I want to get to or ask you, what excites you most about working with the young guys again down at NC? Is it, is it, you know, an opportunity to develop them, you know, into men? Is it more of that, more than anything else?

• 43:30Speaker 02

  That's definitely a great part of it. You know, those kids are very impressionable and they want to be good. They want to be in the NFL. And so, and they don't have a lot of bad habits. Now, they don't have some of the skills, you know, that the NFL players have, obviously, but they don't have bad habits and they want to be good, so they're very coachable, they work hard, and they put a lot into it. And, you know, we had, like, this year in the offseason program, we trained for three months from January, mid-January to mid-April, and we gained 469 pounds of muscle and lost 169 pounds of fat. Well, that's pretty good buy-in from the team. Like, they're really trying, they're really working hard, and so I have a ton of respect for that. And it is, it's great, you know, and as a coach, it was great to see guys, you know, like Brady, like Edelman,

• 44:14Speaker 02

  like guys like that, that you draft, Matt Light, you know, come in and, come in as rookies and, you know, rookies, and then become fathers, men, you know, kind of pillars of the community. And that was very satisfying. But it's interesting for the young guys to watch them, now I'm just getting started there, but to see their growth through, you know, four years of college and how they come from being high school kids who, you know, when they enroll early in the spring, I mean, those guys are really still in high school, and then, you know, they're gonna come out and, you know, hopefully go into the NFL.

• 44:48Fred Taylor?

  And that Julian Edelman, he is probably, or he, other than Tom, he has to be like one of your, like, top projects because he was about to walk himself off the plank during his rookie year. I mean, you dug into him, and he was just ready to crack. You know, a couple times, he hopped in the car with me and I tried to talk him off, but what you guys did with Edelman and what he turned into is, I mean, obviously, is one of the greatest football stories ever. Why did you push him so hard? What did you see?

• 45:22Speaker 02

  He was a great competitor, and, you know, that's, you did that for us. You know, in the years you were there, you did a great job of mentoring those guys, especially the running backs, you know, that was a... You know, just your maturity, your professionalism and you know, your leadership, your toughness. It's hard, you know, it's hard and you got to embrace the grind and the toughness of it. And so, but Julian did that, you know, he's a great competitor. Steve Neal's another one, you know, Steve Neal never played football, never played high school football, didn't play college football, he wrestled and, and then when we got him, I mean, he didn't, he didn't even know where the huddle was. We get to the end of the play and he's like, where do I go? Well, Steve, you go back here with these guys, we'll tell you what to do. Oh,

• 46:03Speaker 02

  okay. He started for us for seven years. I mean, you know, talk about a guy that improved and, and embraced coaching and embraced, embraced training and learned how to be a football player. I mean, for guys that never played football, you know, Sebastian Volker played in Germany, he only played two years and, you know, down there at Houston. I mean, you know, guy was a really, I mean, he became a great player. Like those guys that have that work ethic, that drive, that, that toughness, they were, they were our kind of players. They really were our kind of players.

• 46:32Channing Crowder?

  And Coach, you can't, I'm not gonna let you be modest forever. You can't, you were the head coach and GM. A lot of chefs don't buy their groceries and cook them. How much harder is that to do both things? Cause Coach, is, is there anybody that does what you did with the, they call it de facto GM, but you were picking your players, knowing what you wanted and coaching them. And now in college, cause with the NILs, you kind of have to do the same thing. Pick those guys that you know, you can mold into those players. Like, why do you want to do that? I guess I'm asking.

• 47:08Speaker 02

  Well, it, but it is more than one man job. It's, you see, it really is. You know, I had Scott Pioli, I had Nick Casario, I had, you know, Mike Lombardi. Like, you, you gotta have somebody to do the personnel. You can't coach and be the personnel. There's just not enough time. You just can't do a good enough job. And so, you know, we collaborated together. Here's the type of players we're looking for. They found them, you know, and in the end, we might again collaborate on, hey, which one, you know, what's the decision, who do we want and this type of thing would fit better for us. But those guys really handled the personnel side of it, the trades and, and you know, there's a lot of legwork that goes with that stuff. You just don't, you know, just don't, you know, show up and, and do it without doing all the homework and background work. So, I had a lot of great

• 47:52Speaker 02

  people on my staff, you know, the guys like Josh McDaniels and Brian Dable. You know, just go right down the line. Scott O'Brien, I mean, you know, and it Cleveland, I had Saban, I had Kirk Ferentz, I had Pat Hill. You know, like, those guys were, I mean, they were great coaches. I learned a lot from them.

• 48:08Channing Crowder?

  Okay, Coach.

• 48:09Speaker 02

  Dante Scarnecchia.

• 48:10Channing Crowder?

  Six foot three, 245 pound linebacker, All-American that runs a 4.5. You still didn't draft him in the first round. I'm sorry.

• 48:23Speaker 02

  Can't get over this Logan Mackenzie.

• 48:24Ryan Clark?

  Hey, killing it, Coach. I do have a question for you, and it kind of comes from listening to you talk about all of the coaches who went on to have successful careers as head coaches and continue to coach for a very long time that, you know, you said you learned from, but they also worked with and under you. A lot of us get an opportunity to have that football role model. Not a lot of us have that football role model in the house. Page 106, which is the age your father would be right now, is dedicated to your father. Talk a little bit about what influence he had on you and your love for football.

• 49:06Speaker 02

  Yeah, you know, my dad grew up in a, you know, a steel town. There was kind of no way out for him, except for football. And, and he was a good football player, so he got an opportunity to go to college, got a college education, played professionally for a year before World War II started, served in the Navy in Great Lakes, and then became a coach. And so football's been great to him, great to my family, and provided great opportunities for me and my kids. He's the ultimate team player. He was a coach that they said, Steve, we need you to go on the road and scout the next opponent that we play. So he never saw Navy play, except for the last game of the year against Army. He would go on the road and come back and, you know, this is what the team did. Well, back

• 49:51Speaker 02

  in those days, there was no...

• 49:54Speaker 02

  You only got one look at the play. There was no replay boards. There was no TV. There was no nothing. You just, you got one look at the play. What happened? What was the blocking scheme? What coverage were they in? Who blitzed? What was the pass pattern? And so, he became very good at it, wrote a book about it, and then, you know, I went with him and I learned, and you only get one look at the play. You gotta, you know, train your eyes. You gotta, you gotta see punt returns, kickoff returns. What's the blocking? Who are they trapping? Who are they double teaming? You know, what's, you know, are they setting a wall? What are they doing? And you got one look at the play, that's it. But that's the way it is as a coach, you know, at least it was, and that's the way it is in practice, right? You get one look at the play and like you correct the players, you know, because if

• 50:38Speaker 02

  you don't see it, you can't make the correction. So, I learned a lot from him in terms of how to watch the game, how to study, how to prepare for the game, and then I would go with him when he presented to the team. He would present scouting reports to the team, and then he would watch film with the team, and he would say, yeah, here's these tips. Look, see the way this guy's stance is, you know, he's going to the right. See the way his stance is, he's going to the left. See this guy, you know, here, he's gonna tighten down his split. He's gonna double team block. And I started to process some of that together, and look, if you love the game, which I do, and you're not a good player, which I wasn't, then you're a coach.

• 51:14Channing Crowder?

  Then you're a coach.

• 51:16Speaker 02

  So, that worked out.

• 51:18Channing Crowder?

  Those who can't do it, teach it. And Coach, I ain't gonna lie, I ain't read the book yet. I'm gonna read it if you give me a free copy, because I'm cheap. But, Coach, what, what's the biggest, not even as a coach, not sports, what's the biggest misconception about the man Bill Belichick?

• 51:34Speaker 02

  I, I don't know. What's the conception? I mean, when you say misconception, I don't know. What is it like? I don't know.

• 51:39Channing Crowder?

  You don't listen to what people say about you. You're unpersonable, you're asshole, you're not nice, you, you, you're put in the corner, you're a hermit, like, what, like, the part, you know how people, and your, and your press conferences, hey, coaches, this is it. Well, we're just gonna win the next game. The, the mumbles, like... I know you different than most people know you.

• 52:02Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 52:03Channing Crowder?

  What, what, I would say.

• 52:04Speaker 02

  Well, then you can answer that question better than I can.

• 52:06Channing Crowder?

  But Coach, what?

• 52:07Speaker 02

  You can answer the question. You guys answered the question. You know what's out there, you know me, so what's the answer?

• 52:12Fred Taylor?

  I try to tell everybody that, as what Channing is alluding to, they get this, like in the media, this staleness or whatever, but in the, in the team meeting room, it's like you're light. It's about business. It's about if you do your job, we can have a good time with this, and it's jokes occasionally here and there. I had a great time in the building. You know, I didn't have a problem with it. I'm like, Coach was doing his job. That's a part of him playing chess as a head coach. Like not showing any weaknesses. I'm not going to give you this information. I don't care about you fucking morons out there.

• 52:54Fred Taylor?

  That was the other piece, but you know, I care about this team. That's what matters most.

• 52:58Channing Crowder?

  And Coach, I'll tell you, when I came on my visit to New England before the draft, it was, we can't say the Patriot way. I don't know, I don't know what we're gonna say, but it was very, to the moment.

• 53:11Speaker 02

  Oh, we were getting our money's worth on those visits.

• 53:13Channing Crowder?

  Okay.

• 53:13Speaker 02

  We were getting our money's worth. We were gonna interview you with this guy, that guy, the nutritionist, the weight coach, the special teams coach, the position coach, this guy, that guy, scouts, everything. I mean, we were getting our money's worth on that one.

• 53:27Channing Crowder?

  And, and I had to be in the van at 8 o'clock or 7 a.m. At 6:55, somebody knocked on my door and the guy stood outside my door to pick me up. But I don't know if you remember, because now your son, who's a coach, and he's coaching with you, we ate lunch together. And it blew my mind because I'm thinking, I'm coming, I'm going to New England. It's Bill Belichick, and I'm trying to be this perfect soldier. And I walk in your office and your son's in there and you were like, "Hey, Jenny, you want something?" I didn't know what to say. I was like, I'll eat. And I was so nervous doing it. So that's what I'm saying. We know you different. But I think that people haven't seen you as a person. And now I think they're starting to see you as a person.

• 54:11Speaker 02

  Yeah, like on the roast.

• 54:13Channing Crowder?

  It's throwing, it's throwing people off, Coach. It's throwing people off to see Bill Belichick not as a robot. It's kind of like, uh, we just had Paul George on talking about Kawhi Leonard. People thought you were an alien. I know you're not an alien. But I'll tell people Bill Belichick's not an alien.

• 54:31Ryan Clark?

  You know, Coach, I think, you know, to Fred's point. I honestly got to know you in a different way this year because I was, I didn't play with you.

• 54:38Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 54:39Ryan Clark?

  You know, and I would always tell people, I was like, he's so, he's so much more positive than I thought. I, I, I thought you would, and you are, you're always analyzing and you're working to be aware and understand. But when something was good, you always said it was. You, you weren't walking around trying to be like this steely sort of pessimist or contrarian. You were able to say, no, like this is good. Or when we'd watch film and you'd see something, you were able to say, okay. And analyze it and be like, no, like, that's not the way that's supposed to be done. Or that's not the way I do it. Or that's what, not certain things that I've learned or coached.

• 55:20Ryan Clark?

  Um, I do, in part of like Channing's question. And maybe you don't care, so you can say that as well. But how would you like to be remembered? For the things that you've contributed to the game?

• 55:38Speaker 02

  What I try to do and what I hope I come across as is to do my part for the team. Do what I can do to help the team. Well, that was as a. I wasn't even on the totem pole when I started. I was below the totem pole. But wherever you are on the totem pole, if you're at the bottom as like a GA analyst type of thing, or whether you have a position to coach, or you're a coordinator, or you're a head coach, like we all have important jobs to do and we can't win unless everybody does them. And we all know how important it is for, you know, guys in the training room, guys in the equipment room, guys on the practice squad, you know, for everybody to contribute. I remember we had, you know, Damon Heward. And one of the things that was really hard was playing against Peyton Manning, obviously.

• 56:23Speaker 02

  And Damon Heward went out there and he was Peyton Manning. And we, we beat the Colts in the playoffs. And I gave Damon Heward a game ball. He didn't even play. But he helped the team by helping the defense, you know, get ready because he gave us a great look at the way Manning, you know, checked plays and, and did his thing and so forth. And so it's whatever role you have on the team. I, I've just always tried to embrace it and do the best I can. And I felt like that's what my dad did and I've kind of took that from him, I guess.

• 56:59Channing Crowder?

  And Coach, your role on the team with Jordan, I saw you doing yoga. Saw you with your legs up in there, Coach. Are you, you, you, are you enjoying, enjoying this, enjoying? Cause there's no way I thought that I would see Bill Belichick doing yoga on the beach.

• 57:19Speaker 02

  Trying to stay young.

• 57:20Channing Crowder?

  It's fun. Like you can have fun. It's almost like you're fighting the fun. Have fun, Coach.

• 57:24Speaker 02

  Yeah.

• 57:25Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 57:26Fred Taylor?

  That's one of his many pivots because we always ask our guests, what's their biggest pivot, right? That's that, you know, one moment you can go look back on and say, without this happening to me or happening for me, I wouldn't be, you know, who I am today. And it might even be in your book.

• 57:47Speaker 02

  I'd say a couple of big moments for me was when Coach Perkins hired me as a special teams coach for the Giants in 79. You know, to be a coordinator, your fourth year in the league, I know it's special teams, but I mean, even at that point in time, special teams was a much, had a much bigger impact in the game than it does now wherever you kick off the touchback and you know, and so that was a lot of responsibility and that was a big step and I certainly appreciate the confidence he showed in me. And then when Coach Barcelles became the head coach and the Giants, he made me the coordinator, that was another big step, you know, and, and that was one that, I was young, I think there were some questions, you know, was I ready, could I do it and so forth, but he showed a lot of confidence in me and, and so that was a big one too. And then, you

• 58:31Speaker 02

  know, I would say just really the moment was probably Super Bowl 36, you know, where the Rams were, I mean, they were a great team. If we had played them 10 times, they probably would have won most of them. But that day, we were a little better than they were. That day, week before, we were a little better than Pittsburgh was. The week before, we were a little better than Oakland was on the snow game and you know, 49-yard field goal in four inches of snow. I mean, what a play that was. And so, you know, I was fortunate to be there at some moments when Vinatieri made the kick and Tyler made the interception and Troy Brown returned to punt and, you know, Brandon Mitchell blocked the field goal and returned for a touchdown against Pittsburgh and you know, things really

• 59:14Speaker 02

  went right and that kind of, you know, once you win that first Super Bowl, there's just kind of a whole different level of, you know, confidence and, I don't know, moxie and everything that just comes together on your team. And so, you know, I was pretty, pretty fortunate. But look, to be able to coach Lawrence Taylor and Tom Brady, the linebackers I had at the Giants, I had Taylor, Banks, Pepper Johnson, Harry Carson. I mean, a lot of people coach those four guys now. I mean, don't make anybody a good coach.

• 59:47Channing Crowder?

  A daily us, I can go through them now.

• 59:49Speaker 02

  Yeah, I know you can.

• 59:55Speaker 02

  Now, some of those I picked. Yeah. And so I was glad, I mean, like, I'm glad, you know. Yeah. I'm glad I had the opportunity to coach Brady, but I picked Brady. So at least, you know, so, you know, I'm glad that I had the opportunity to coach those guys. Matt Slater's another one. I mean, probably the best special teams player of all time. You know, to coach those three guys, I mean, whether you want to call them the best or whatever, but they're right up there. I mean, they're right up there. I mean, that's, that's a great thrill as a coach to be able to coach guys that are that good.

• 1:00:28Ryan Clark?

  Well, you know, Coach, I normally do this very early. I'm gonna cut the room off before it ends. I knew it was coming. Always, always cut the room off by people that's won championships, Coach. Being that our two friends have never gone to any, they don't really understand what it's like to complete that journey. Is this nice of a teammate, Coach?

• 1:00:50Fred Taylor?

  This is when you learn that timing is everything. Because before I got to New England, you guys had gone to a Super Bowl. And like a year after I left, I think you went to three in five years? I'm like, what the [__] is going on?

• 1:01:05Ryan Clark?

  Freddie's team was the problem. He was dragging the team, Freddie.

• 1:01:09Fred Taylor?

  I can guarantee you I wasn't.

• 1:01:10Ryan Clark?

  But Coach, I thank you, I thank you for your time. You know, everybody go out, get this book, you know what I mean? It's The Art of Winning by Bill Belichick, already a New York Times bestseller. It's not just for football people, it's for people who want to win at life, people who want to win in business. So many of the principles in this book will help you and can allow you to excel in whatever endeavor or whatever goal it is you wish to accomplish. And honestly, Coach, man, just thank you for your time. I know you're busy, I know you're moving around, but this is something we've wanted to do for an extremely long time, Coach.

• 1:01:45Speaker 02

  Thanks for the opportunity, Ryan, I appreciate it. It was so much fun working with you last year inside the NFL.

• 1:01:50Ryan Clark?

  Yes, sir.

• 1:01:51Speaker 02

  Coaching you and competing against UCC. Man, I'm sorry it didn't work out at New England. I mean, it was really close.

• 1:01:57Ryan Clark?

  Coach, it wasn't that close.

• 1:01:58Speaker 02

  But I'm telling you, it was that close.

• 1:02:01Channing Crowder?

  Well, we gotta come. I appreciate our friendship and our relationship. Yes, sir. We gotta come to UNC.

• 1:02:05Ryan Clark?

  Yes.

• 1:02:06Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, let us know when the pivot is invited to UNC. We gotta come up there and see. You're invited. You can open the invitation and come down and see us.

• 1:02:14Ryan Clark?

  And everybody remember, before the season ended, I got coached to wear a two-tone coat. This is the pivot. Pivot man, thank y'all pivoting with us. That was good, man. That was long, Coach.

• 1:02:50Speaker 05

  Every game day, you show up for your team. Now, it's your time.

• 1:02:54Speaker 06

  We go V.

• 1:02:58Speaker 05

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