Hoodie for gown: Pats' Belichick speaks at son's high school

Bill Belichick traded in his hooded sweatshirt for a graduation gown on Friday when he gave the commencement address to 127 outgoing students at Suffield Academy in Connecticut.

Belichick, father of graduating senior Brian C. Belichick, spoke to students, friends and family at the private high school, weaving in life advice with references to his celebrated career in the NFL.

“There’s no ‘I’ in team, but there is an ‘I’ in win,” the New England Patriots coach said, according to The Republican. “That stands for individual achievement. You need to do your job, because without it, there’s no leadership.”

Belichick preached the importance of leadership.

“The greatest leaders I’ve coached just go out there and do their job with a good attitude,” he said.

Belichick is not known for showing emotion on the football field. He was open with the students, however, urging them to treasure family and friendships.

“Your mission in life is to love life,” he said. “Chase the dreams you have, not somebody else’s.”

Belichick, who grew up in Maryland and graduated from Wesleyan University in Connecticut, is entering his 12th season as head coach of the Patriots. He has won eight AFC East crowns, four conference championships, and three Super Bowl titles.

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Patriots' Belichick is AP's NFL Coach of the Year for third time

Bill Belichick is closing in on Don Shula.

Belichick, the New England Patriots' coach, won The Associated Press 2010 NFL Coach of the Year award Wednesday, the third time he has earned the honor. Belichick, who also won in 2003 and 2007, now trails only Shula, a Hall of Famer and four-time winner of the award.

Voting for 2010 NFL Coach of the Year

For leading the Patriots to a 14-2 record, the best in the league, and the AFC East title, Belichick received 30 votes from a nationwide panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the NFL. That easily beat Raheem Morris, who led a turnaround in Tampa Bay and received 11½ votes.

Belichick, whose honor was announced exclusively on NFL Network's "NFL Total Access," has overseen a transition in New England to a younger team, particularly on defense. Of course, he still has NFL Offensive Player of the Year Tom Brady at quarterback.

"I will say the foundation of the Patriots organization, which starts with Mr. Kraft and Coach Belichick, has not changed since the day I arrived," Brady told The AP. "They have and will always do what is in the best interest of the team, and they will continue to find selfless players that love to work hard, compete and strive to be the best they can possibly be."

Then Belichick makes them even better.

"He really stays on top of us," wide receiver Wes Welker said. "He makes sure that we're not getting overconfident or believing in the noise outside the locker room and understand that every game's tough in the NFL."

Belichick's record with the Patriots is 126-50, plus a 14-5 mark in the playoffs, with losses in the last three tries with teams that went a collective 40-8. His career winning percentage of .716 ranks eighth, tied with Hall of Famer Paul Brown, and no other coach has four 14-victory regular seasons.

This might have been Belichick's most impressive work as the Patriots retooled much of the roster, yet had a dominant regular season in which they won their final eight games.

"When you have so many things that go into a team, so many things that go into what's happened over the last decade, which ones do you point to?" he said. "You can make an argument for a lot of different things. In the end, it's each individual team and that collection of players that particular year and that particular time during the season or whatever it is, that was able to go out there and be successful."

Belichick, whose team started the season as the 13th youngest in the league and by season's end had 27 players on the active roster -- including 12 rookies -- in their first three professional seasons, basically rebuilt the defense, particularly the secondary, from which rookie Devin McCourty made the Pro Bowl.

Belichick showed confidence in BenJarvus Green-Ellis as the Patriots' main running back, and he rushed for 1,008 yards. Belichick claimed Danny Woodhead when the New York Jets cut him, and he was a dynamic piece of the offense and special teams.

On NFL Network
Watch "NFL Total Access" (7 p.m. ET) during Super Bowl week for the exclusive reveal of The Associated Press' NFL player and coach awards.

Monday: Defensive Player of the Year
(Troy Polamalu)
Tuesday: Offensive Player of the Year
(Tom Brady)
Wednesday: Coach of the Year
(Bill Belichick)
Friday: Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year (TBA)
Saturday: Comeback Player of the Year (TBA)
Sunday: Most Valuable Player (TBA)

Then there was the Randy Moss case.

Eager to remove the recalcitrant receiver, Belichick stole a third-round draft pick from Minnesota in early October for Moss, who lasted a month with the Vikings, then was cut.

Meanwhile, Belichick traded with the Seattle Seahawks for Deion Branch, the 2005 Super Bowl MVP with the Patriots. Branch had a rebirth in New England, making the Moss deal look even better.

The Patriots scored a league-high 32.4 points per game and were eighth in total offense (363.8 yards per game) under Belichick, who doesn't have an offensive or defensive coordinator.

Making the Patriots a better team is typical of what Belichick has done since receiving his second chance to be a head coach. He had been a flop with the Browns, going 37-45 in four seasons and alienating nearly everyone in Cleveland.

"When I chose him, people at the league office, people in this town, sent me tapes of him in Cleveland and said, 'You don't want to hire this guy,'" Patriots owner Robert Kraft said. "And, remember, he went 5-11 (in his first year with Patriots) and we gave up a No. 1 draft choice (to the Jets to get him). People thought we were nuts.

"So I think that probably was one of the best decisions I've made in football."

Belichick, a disciple of Bill Parcells, the only other New England coach to win the award, credited his players for the award and said their ability to handle challenges was pivotal to the Patriots' success.

"They're the ones who stepped up and made the plays this year," Belichick told "NFL Total Access." "We had a lot of new people on this team, young players that contributed, and it's certainly an honor to receive this award on behalf of our performance in the regular season. Unfortunately, we were not able to carry that over to the playoffs."

The Patriots, seeded No. 1 for the AFC playoffs, were beaten by the New York Jets in the Divisional Round.

Belichick said his team "had to face a lot of different challenges this year. ... It was really a different challenge every week, and I've got to give a lot of credit to the players. They adapted, they adjusted. You know, we had some tough weather conditions -- like the snow out in Chicago, for example -- but the players did a good job of staying focused and played though those conditions. And we were able to get a lot of turnovers defensively at the end of the year, and offensively we had a lot of points and special-team scores early in the year, so it all kind of balanced itself out one way or another during the course of the season."

Morris lifted the Buccaneers from 3-13 in his first season to 10-6 in 2010 and in playoff contention until the final week. He did it with the league's youngest roster.

"We put a lot on his plate," Bucs general manager Mark Dominik said, "and he has absolutely handled it all. We all see where this ship is headed."

Also receiving votes were Kansas City's Todd Haley (4½), whose team went 11-5 and won the AFC West; and four coaches with one selection apiece: Atlanta's Mike Smith, Philadelphia's Andy Reid, Chicago's Lovie Smith, and St. Louis' Steve Spagnuolo.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Pats move on without Moss; Belichick denies any issues

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Wes Welker might become more of a leader. Vince Wilfork doesn't know if the team will be better or worse. Bill Belichick says he has confidence in all his players.

The New England Patriots moved on without Randy Moss on Thursday when they practiced for the first time since one of the NFL's best receivers was traded to the Minnesota Vikings.

Some players were concerned that a friend was gone, but they noted that football is a business. Others chatted and joked as if it were a typical day. And Belichick spoke positively about the player who said he didn't expect to be with the Patriots once his contract expired after this season.

Tom Brady says he has come to terms with Randy Moss' trade to the Vikings, telling the Pats' official website, "Randy really knows how I feel about him, I love him as a guy, as a person, as a player." More ...

"Randy was really a pleasure to coach. I enjoyed having him on our team," Belichick said. "It was a difficult decision but one that I feel was in the best interests of the football team. ... I wish Randy the absolute best."

Several factors contributed to Wednesday's trade, Belichick said, but the coach didn't specify them.

"I would say there was never any incident or discipline problem with Randy," he said. "There never has been one with me in four years, and it certainly wasn't about contract and money."

Belichick did send Moss and three other players home last year when they showed up late for team meetings during a snowstorm that had traffic backed up on Dec. 9.

Now that Moss is "back home" in Minnesota, as the receiver said at a news conference Thursday, how will the Patriots' offense respond?

"I have a lot of confidence in our total team, all of our players," Belichick said.

Welker is New England's only proven receiver. Brandon Tate, a third-round draft pick last year, steps into a starting spot. Rookie tight end Aaron Hernandez has the speed and shiftiness of a wide receiver but lacks experience.

So how can the Patriots, who received two draft picks for Moss, be better this season without him?

"I'm not going to sit here and say 'no' or 'yeah.' Time will tell," said Wilfork, a nose tackle. "I'm happy with this team, with everybody that's around here, young and old. ... We're getting ready for Baltimore. We'll see what happens without Randy.

"We never had problems with Randy."

The Patriots are 3-1 and tied for the AFC East lead. They have a bye week and play their next game Oct. 17 at home against the Baltimore Ravens (2-2).

That's when Welker should see how defenses guard him without a deep threat like Moss drawing plenty of attention. They joined the Patriots together in 2007 and, in the first three years, Welker led the NFL with 346 receptions.

"Things may change a little bit, but we have some fast guys that can definitely go deep and stretch the field," Welker said. "Obviously, Randy was one of the best in the game to do it."

Without Moss, 33, the Patriots' most experienced receiver is Welker, who acknowledged that he could play "maybe more of a leadership role as far as the receivers (go)."

"I'm the older guy in there now and just trying to bring these guys along," he said.

After the first game of the season, Moss had his agent, Joel Segal, ask Belichick for a trade, the Boston Herald reported Tuesday.

"That was kind of the difficult thing just because he was the guy always giving pep talks before the game, halftime, after the game," Welker said, "but, at the same time, he's doing what's best for him. It's a business and you've just got to just kind of roll with it. We have a sign that says, 'If you don't want to be here, you don't have to be here.' And I guess, I'm not really sure the scenario or anything like that, but it's kind of the way things worked out."

On NFL GameDay Morning
Watch Michael Lombardi's exclusive interview with Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who discusses why he chose to trade Randy Moss to the Vikings, on NFL Network starting
at 9 a.m. ET Sunday.

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Belichick said that when he spoke with Moss on Wednesday, the conversation was "honest, open, very forthright," just as their discussions had been since the receiver joined the team.

"There was no one thing (that led to the trade)," Belichick said. "Part of it was just the personal relationship with Randy. And in talking to him, some of the feelings and things that he expressed that he and I talked openly about, when all was said and done and it all was put together, I felt like that was the best thing."

At his news conference in Eden Prairie, Minn., Moss was asked if he had wanted to be traded.

"I don't know what the answer is," he said. "All I can say is there's no other place I'd rather get traded to besides Minnesota."

Moss praised Belichick for bringing him to New England and said the experience "is just something that I'll never forget. We did some magical things up there, but the show must go on, and it is a business."

Moss' former teammates might miss him, but they're confident they can keep winning.

"We all in this locker room love Randy," tight end Alge Crumpler said. "There's nothing we can do to bring him back. All we've got to do is focus on playing and staying together."

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press

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