BILL
BELICHICK: Frank McGuire is a special, special man in my life, a special coach.
My father coached with Coach McGuire at North Carolina for a couple of years and
stayed in close contact with him even after that when he went into the NBA and
then finally when he went back to the University of South Carolina. And, we would
see Coach McGuire every year when they would come up to play Maryland or in the
ACC Tournament and, you know, things like that. And, I'd say, he was a role model
for me as I was growing up, even though it was a different sport. But, you know,
his demeanor on the sideline, his poise... It's an honor to be here today. I kind
of feel like I'm in hostile territory. I don't imagine we have any Patriot fans
down this way, do we? (laughter) You don't want to put your hand up. I don't blame
you. So, Jets country or Giants?
AUDIENCE:
Giants.
BILL
BELICHICK: Yeah, kind of split down the middle there? One thing about high school
is you can form habits, and sometimes at the professional level, you have to break
some bad habits. But, it's easy to see which ones have been well coached or have
been well schooled, not only their football and fundamental abilities, but also
other life style and their professionalism and their respect for the game.
Q:
Do you also know how important you are to the people that you coach, and the impact
that it has, and how much they respect what you say, what you do, and the direction
that you give them? And, we see that, you know, three, four, five years down the
road. Q: When you think back to your high school years, is there a moment, is
there that special moment that you kind of step back and say, "Wow, that was great!"
BILL
BELICHICK: Well, I think, all the, the whole experience is what I look back fondly
on, is all four years. And actually, I had a fifth year at Andover, so I just
couldn't get enough of high school. I took an extra year.
At
New England, we're in a game early in the season and, you know, it's hot out there,
you know. Defensive back runs sidelines and says, "Coach, coach, I'm getting gassed
out there a little bit. You know, you think you can give me a break on the kickoff
team?" He said.
"No,
that won't be a problem. Sure, we can give you a break." So, I took him off the
defense at safety and put another guy in there and said: "Look, we're going to
keep you on the kickoff team but, you know, we've got so and so going in for you
here at safety."
He
says, "Coach, I'm okay on defense. It's..."
I
said, "No, no, no. We can't afford to lose you on the kickoff team. We need you
on the kickoff team. I've got other guys that can play safety, so don't worry
about it. Okay? We'll give you a break on defense."
You
know, it hasn't been a problem since. Have not heard about it since. I've never
heard that, "I need a break." I've never heard that, because kicking, kick situations
are just as important as defensive situations to us. And, if they want to break,
no problem. We've got other guys that play offense and defense. We're going to
keep those guys on the special teams and those are team jobs. And, everybody does
team jobs.
Everybody
blocks. Everybody tackles. Kickers, quarterbacks on interceptions, all defensive
linemen, they all have to do it. There's no way around those things, because those
are jobs that everybody does and everybody counts on to do them.
When
you talk to perspective NFL players and ask them who the most influential people
in their lives were, Number One will be a family member, and then Number Two is
the high school coach. And, that's the kind of impact that high school coaches
have on their players.
And,
what leadership's about is about attitude. It's about being prepared when you
come to work, doing your best, working hard and putting the team first. And, any
player that does that shows maximum leadership, whether it's Teddy Brewsky, whether
it's Tom Brady, whether it's Troy Brown, whether it's Mike Grable. They all show
that kind of leadership by their attitude, by being prepared, by working hard
and by putting the team first. I thought I'd give you a chance to ask some questions
and, you know, let you lead the discussion a little bit. I know that the Panel
coming up at 10 o'clock has got some great people on it, and I think they've got
a lot of insight into coaching and athletics. And, I'm sure you'll look forward
to hearing them, but if any of you'd like to...I'll give the floor to anyone who'd
like to ask questions.
Q:
Coach, you may not recognize me. I'm going to stay away from those kinds of questions,
but something I'm very interested in. But, I've been a member of the Jets chain
crew for 18 years.
BILL BELICHICK: That was a bad spot last year. (laughter)
Q:
Obviously, you make a lot of decisions and my question is: You know, when you're
at that first level, (obviously, the game is won down in the trenches), when you
don't see a player performing to his fullest potential, how fast do you move that
player and go with his background?
BILL
BELICHICK: You know, that's a great question, you know, when to make the change,
you know, when to take the pitcher out. We went through that up there at the Red
Sox. We had a big controversy on that a couple of years ago. But, no, I think
that's a tough question, and I would just say that to me, it would be certainly
a case by case decision. It would depend on the player, what had happened previously,
you know, whether this is something that...I mean, look, if a player's doing something
wrong, then what I want to do is tell him what he's doing wrong and give him a
chance to correct it. Now, if that doesn't happen, then now, I'm at a different
point than if this is the first time, you know, something went wrong.
Q:
How difficult is it for you to sit down with a player and say, you know, you're
not going to be with the New England Patriots anymore?
BILL
BELICHICK: I've fired in the neighborhood of 40 players, 35, 40 players every
year. We all know that going in, and it's very difficult. Players that do everything
you ask them to do. They work as hard as they can. They give you every ounce of
energy and effort and unselfish play that they possibly can give, and you still
have to bring them in and say that you're not going to be on the team this year.
It's a very difficult thing to do. Unfortunately, that's, that's competition.
That's the National Football League and, you know, we all understand that. Believe
me, I've been on the other side of that table too where they've told me that they
don't want me anymore too. I mean, that's part of it. It's very difficult, though,
especially players who not only have played for you, but have won championships
for you. So, there's no harder day than the day when you have to release a player.
Q:
One final question: If you ever decide to stop coaching the Patriots, could you
ever go back and coach high school? Would you ever enjoy doing that?
BILL
BELICHICK: Well, you know, I've done that. My kids - not football because that's
kind of a time conflict there - but in terms of lacrosse, I've coached all my
kids at the, you know, grade school to middle school lacrosse and that was...you
know, that's a lot of fun. I mean, working with kids and seeing them improve,
watching them come out and being better the next day than they were the day before
or the week before or look back a year and say, " You know, now he's using his
left hand and now he's shooting bounce shots and, you know, doing things that
they weren't... You know, the rate of improvement at that age, it's tremendously
rewarding, so I think I'll be coaching something sometime.
Q:
How do you like dealing with the parents?
BILL
BELICHICK: I'd rather deal with agents than parents.
