Belichick remembers his roots

INDIANAPOLIS

The phone call came out of the blue, the voice on the other end entirely unexpected.

It was Bill Belichick, calling to congratulate a fellow football coach on his new gig and offer his support. Bonded by their Wesleyan ties and a love for the game, Belichick couldn't help but reach out.

And truth be told, the New England Patriots coach couldn't resist the urge to deliver a well-timed punch line.

"He said something like, 'It's good to see you finally saw the light,' " Mike Whalen, the former coach at longtime rival Williams College, recalled of their conversation in March 2010.

The Belichick whom Whalen knows is loyal, funny and engaging, a man who values hard work, integrity and his roots. That's the Belichick whom Giants president/CEO John Mara has known for more than three decades, and the same Belichick whom Wesleyan president Michael S. Roth has come to know, too.

In the eyes of most Giants and Jets fans, Belichick always will be the villain. But to those who know him well, his loyalty, love of football and, believe it or not, sense of humor are what define him.

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"He's surprisingly funny," Patriots special-teams captain Matthew Slater said. "That's just another element to the man that you love about him, the thing that makes you enjoy playing for him. He keeps that sense of humor. He keeps you on your toes."

Belichick has won five Super Bowl rings (two as an assistant coach with the Giants) and is a three-time Associated Press NFL Coach of the Year. And the man behind the Patriots' three Super Bowl titles in four years will lead them onto the field against the Giants Sunday in Super Bowl XLVI.

Blunt and rigid, Belichick demands greatness of himself and those around him. And that's how the Patriots like it.

"Any time you don't have those demands, it's kind of like, 'What's wrong with Coach?' " linebacker Jerod Mayo said.

Belichick is a student of the game, an amalgamation of his father's teachings and Bill Parcells' tutelage. Steve Belichick, a Detroit Lion for one season, was an assistant coach at several colleges, including Navy for 33 years. By age 10, his son was analyzing game film and devising strategies alongside him.

"He had a huge impact on my childhood, my love for the game and my involvement in the game as a coach, even though I played poorly," Belichick said of his dad. "It was still a good experience to play, but coaching, really, has always been the love."

Belichick joined the Giants in 1979 and held myriad coaching positions with them in the next 12 years. He spent three of those seasons with Tom Coughlin -- then the receivers coach -- and went on to win championships with the Giants in Super Bowls XXI and XXV.

Asked what he admires most about Belichick, Mara said: "Just how smart he is, how dedicated he is, how prepared he is. He's one of a kind."

The basics of Belichick's discipline can be traced to Middletown, Conn., where he played center and tight end for Wesleyan's football team and also lacrosse and squash. It was on this 360-acre campus, situated between the New York-New England divide, that Belichick honed his skills -- not as a football coach but as an economics major who thrived because of his precision and attention to detail.

Belichick, a 1975 graduate, was part of the 2008 inaugural induction class into Wesleyan's Hall of Fame, an honor in which he takes great pride.

"With all the success that coach Belichick has had, he really remembers his roots," said Whalen, an '85 graduate. "He's very loyal to Wesleyan."

However, support for Belichick isn't entirely unconditional on campus. Several members of Whalen's football staff are rooting for the Giants, while Roth said his cabinet is split between Patriots and Giants fans.

"We don't promote Jets fans for some reason," Roth wrote in an email.

Roth said he visited Belichick at Gillette Stadium a few years ago and was impressed with the coach's "loyalty to his players and his dedication to making them play as well as they possibly could."

There are no favorites in the Patriots' locker room. Not even Tom Brady. All 53 players are held to the same standards of effort and excellence, the quarterback said.

"He understands that it's a demanding place to play and that it's really not meant for everybody," Brady said.

Though a meticulous taskmaster, Belichick always is supportive of his inner circle of family and friends -- and especially his alma mater.

Whalen went undefeated against Wesleyan and won four consecutive Little Three championships during his six-year tenure as Williams coach. During that time, Patriots president Jonathan Kraft -- a Williams alum -- often teased Belichick about Whalen's success against his old school.

"So when I made the move back here to coach Wesleyan, Bill was definitely excited," Whalen said. "That phone call meant a lot. When you're in this profession and one of the best coaches in the history of the game is calling you to congratulate you and tell you that, hey, he's willing to help you in any way he can, it's a great way to take over a position."