(Reuters) – Factbox on Bill Belichick, who parted ways with the New England Patriots on Thursday after 24 seasons and six Super Bowl titles.
Born: April 16, 1952 in Nashville.
Coaching career:
* Began as an assistant to Baltimore Colts head coach Ted Marchibroda in 1975, for $25 per week.
* Beginning in 1979, was an assistant coach with the Detroit Lions, Denver Broncos, New York Giants and New England Patriots, winning two Super Bowls with the Giants in 1986 and ’90.
* Head coach for the Cleveland Browns from 1991 to ’95. He was fired in 1996 shortly before the team relocated to Baltimore.
* Was an assistant coach with New England in 1996 and the New York Jets from 1979-99.
* Belichick did two stints as Jets head coach in 1997 and 2000, without coaching a game. His second stint lasted a day. He famously wrote “I resign as HC of the NYJ” on a napkin shortly before taking the podium at a press conference, a day after his hiring was announced.
* Hired as the Patriots’ head coach in 2000 where owner Robert Kraft gave him almost complete control of football operations.
* Belichick turned to little-used second-year quarterback Tom Brady in 2001, who led the Patriots on an improbable run to the team’s first Super Bowl that year.
* The 2001 season kicked off the Patriots’ dynasty that saw them win the 2003 and ’04 Super Bowls.
* Led New England to Super Bowl appearances in 2007 and 2011, both defeats.
* On Sept. 13, 2007, Belichick was fined $500,000 — the largest fine ever imposed on an NFL coach — and the Patriots were fined $250,000 for an incident known as “Spygate”. Four days earlier, NFL security caught a Patriots video assistant taping the New York Jets’ defensive signals from the sidelines, which is not an approved location. The Patriots also forfeited their first-round draft pick in the 2008 NFL Draft.
* Won three more Super Bowls in 2014, ’16 and ’18, for six titles in nine appearances.
* The Patriots finished the 2023 season with a dismal 4-13 record, the worst in Belichick’s 29-year coaching career, and their third losing season in four years since Brady left to play for Tampa Bay in 2021.
* Led the Patriots to a 266-121 regular-season record and 17 AFC titles, including a league-record streak of 11 in a row.
* Belichick has more Super Bowl appearances as head coach than any team has made in NFL history, except the Patriots (with 11).
(Reporting by Lori Ewing; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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