NFL’s Patriots name head coach replacement for Bill Belichick

The New England Patriots team has agreed to hire Jerod Mayo. The team had announced Thursday that they would be parting ways with head coach Bill Belichick. The departing leader had coached the team for 24 years, leading them to six Super Bowl titles. Including playoff games, Belichick ended his time with the Patriots with a 333-178 record. Mayo, age 37, will be the NFL's youngest head coach. He played for the Patriots for several years, and has been the team’s linebackers coach since 2019.

Why did Belichick leave? At a press conference, Patriots owner Robert Kraft referred to the relationship between Belichick and the team as a marriage that required work and had come to an end. Though neither Kraft nor Belichick took questions, Kraft said later in the day that the Patriots’ lackluster performance over the past four seasons had contributed to the decision. The team missed the playoffs in three of those seasons. This season, the team finished with a 4-13 record—Belichick’s worst record in 29 seasons as a head coach. 

Dig deeper: Read Ray Hacke’s report in WORLD Magazine on Christian quarterbacks on this year’s NFL playoff teams.