Most professional coaches fall into one of two main categories.
There are the victory-minded strategists, and then there are the high-strung guys, the
ones who yell and scream and take their jobs way too seriously.
And then there's Bill Belichick.
The longtime New England Patriots head coach must be doing something right — he's guided
his team to eight Super Bowls since taking the reins in 2000 — but he's also a hard
nut to crack.
"...you stupid thing."
The guy rarely smiles and keeps a low profile, for good reason.
Let's shed some light on some of the darker aspects of Belichick's life.
Jet for a day
New York Jets fans probably harbor a special kind of animosity for Belichick.
Not only have the Patriots beat the Jets to win the AFC East 15 times in the Belichick
era, but there was a time when Belichick could have been leading the Jets to those victories.
In early 2000, Bill Parcells resigned as head coach of the Jets, but he had plans in place
for assistant coach Belichick to take over.
According to CBS Sports, Belichick was announced as the Jets' new coach, then suddenly resigned
a day later.
He reportedly wrote his letter of resignation on a napkin, and said at the press conference:
"I've been in situations … where I was the head coach of a team in transition.
Frankly, it wasn't a really good experience for me or for them."
Code breaker
Belichick's rivalry with the New York Jets flared up again during a Jets-Patriots game
in September 2007, when NFL security caught a man recording the Jets' sidelines with a
video camera.
The NFL determined that he was taping the Jets' defensive coaches to decode their signals.
It would have been a good strategy...if it wasn't flagrant cheating.
"The New England Patriots caught videotaping a rival team's coaches as they sent signals
to their players."
The NFL fined Belichick the league-maximum penalty of $500,000 and took away one of the
team's future first-round draft picks.
Mind games
Belichick will do a lot for a win, especially if it's in a game against those pesky New
York Jets.
According to a source for ESPN, Belichick had thermometers placed in the tunnel from
which the Jets would emerge in December 2017.
Why?
Psychological warfare.
The Patriots historically play well in frigid temperatures, and Belichick reportedly wanted
to psych out Jets players by reminding them exactly how cold it was.
Deflategate
The results of the AFC Championship Game in 2015 weren't necessarily shocking.
The New England Patriots easily defeated the Indianapolis Colts 45 to 7, but something
was amiss.
The NFL launched an investigation to determine if the Patriots had intentionally underinflated
the footballs used during the championship game to make them easier to throw.
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady denied doing anything wrong, although when league officials
examined the 12 game balls controlled by the Patriots, 11 of them were significantly softer
than they should have been.
The NFL suspended Brady for four games, along with two equipment managers believed to have
done the actual deflating, and docked the team $1 million.
Belichick denied any connection with "Deflategate" and was never punished for any wrongdoing.
"I had no knowledge whatsoever of this situation until Monday morning."
Still, many have questioned how something so significant could happen without the coach
not knowing about it, particularly one who'd been caught cheating before.
Trauma interference
Sure, watching grown men chase a ball and slam into each other can be fun, but the revelations
about CTE make the sport increasingly controversial for everyone involved.
CTE is a medical condition caused by repetitive brain trauma, including the kind of trauma
a player might endure playing football.
When a reporter asked Belichick what the Patriots do to protect players against CTE, the coach
dodged the question completely.
"First of all, I'm not really familiar with whatever it is you're referring to, whatever
this thing is.
But it doesn't make any difference."
Even after Tom Brady's wife reported that Brady had suffered multiple concussions, Belichick
simply told reporters that his team files injury reports "in compliance with league
guidelines" and that head trauma is "what we have medical staff for."
Instant replay
Despite his steely demeanor, Belichick has opened his heart on more than one occasion.
In 1977, he married Debby Clarke.
Their partnership lasted over two decades until they separated in 2004 and divorced
in 2006.
But Belichick didn't stay single for long.
In 2007, Belichick was seen spending time with Linda Holliday, a boutique owner and
television "lifestyle correspondent" he reportedly met at a Florida nightclub.
She's also a solid decade younger than Belichick.
Though Belichick is usually quiet about his personal life, Holliday is quite active on
Twitter and Instagram, and she frequently posts pictures of herself and her dude having
a good time.
How good?
Holliday can actually get Belichick to smile.
Sugar daddy
Somewhere in the midst of his crumbling marriage to Clarke and budding relationship with Holliday,
Belichick reportedly had another flame.
According to the New York Post, court documents in a divorce case between Vincent and Sharon
Shenocca revealed that Belichick had been sending Sharon envelopes of cash on a regular
basis.
He also supposedly bought her a fancy Brooklyn townhouse, paid for her summer rental on the
Jersey Shore, sent her to Disney World on a private jet, and provided her with about
$3,000 a month.
Among the things Sharon supposedly purchased with Belichick's money were New York Giants
tickets — as in the football team that defeated the Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl.
Who's the shady one now?
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