We are watching history this evening as Bill Belichick is stepping down as the Head Coach of the New England Patriots.

He has been the most successful coach in the NFL’s storied history and without doubt one of the best sporting minds across any sport.

He has been at the helm for 24 years, has taken the team to the SuperBowl on nine occasions winning six.

Ina sport that is structured to avoid overt dominance of one team he has bucked the trend and led to a measure of sustained success that is hard to imagine being repeated again.

His live press conference which is ongoing has seen Belichick say more words perhaps to the media than he has done in many years and there was clear emotion on the part of the departing coach and team owner Robert Kraft.

This is a level of sport that is far removed from most of our lives and both coach and team have certainly been well rewarded down the years but it is a moment in time that draws a curtain on an outstanding career of a single coach and a single team.

It is comparable to Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, or Brian Cody at a more local level.

Whether this is the end of his career will be a story of the spring though his words that he will always be a Patriot may mean that this is the end.

To those who know the NFL is a personal love affair and the Patriots have been my team since spending a year in Boston as a younger man.

 

Fancy your forecasting talents for the year ahead?  Why not join in our fun and free-to-enter forecast competition for the biggest events of the sporting calendar?  Simply click on the image below to enter.

 

Join us for our first major event of the New Year when we will gather with a host of sporting and business leaders to look ahead to what 2024 holds in store.

 

Be part of the biggest community of sporting and business organisations in Ireland by becoming a member of Sport for Business and enjoying a host of benefits.

 

Enjoy more of what we have to offer with events. podcasts and a twice-daily news bulletin.  Simply click on the images below to sign up for the free bulletin or find out more…