Super Bowl LII: Bill Belichick sports black fedora that belonged to his late father

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — Bill Belichick is known for his casual sideline attire, but the Patriots’ coach showed up in Minneapolis for Super Bowl LII dressed to the nines with a suit and tie and a black fedora. Belichick showed the fancy look as he walked down the steps from the Patriots’ charter flight Monday afternoon.

It turns out the hat belonged to his father, the late Steve Belichick, who probably was the biggest single influence on the five-time Super Bowl-winning coach.

“That was my dad’s hat, so I thought I’d just toss that one on today,” Belichick said during his interview session Monday night. “I felt good about wearing it. Minnesota is a good place to have a hat, so it did the trick.”

Belichick drew raves from the Patriots’ real fashion icon, quarterback Tom Brady.

“He looked good. I loved it,” Brady said. “I’ll tell you he stepped up his game a lot. I thought it was a good look.”

Steve Belichick was a former assistant coach and scout at the U.S. Naval Academy, and he taught his sons countless lessons about football that Bill Belichick still carries with him. Steve Belichick died in November 2005.

“It’s where I learned,” Belichick said of his father. “Working hard, doing your job, paying attention to details, treating the players as fairly and as honestly as you can treat them. If it’s good, it’s good. If it’s bad, it’s bad. Be honest with them. All those things I got from a lot of coaches, but certainly a lot from him.”

What prompted Belichick to wear the hat Monday?

“It’s Minnesota, it’s cold. I saw the hat this morning,” he said. “Look, I don’t spend 72 hours thinking about what I’m going to wear. I just don’t do that.”

By Bob Glauber

Special to NewsdayBobGlauber

Bob Glauber retired in 2022 after covering the NFL for nearly 40 years. He was selected in 2021 for the Bill Nunn Career Achievement Award by the Pro Football Writers of America, and is a three-time winner of the New York State Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. President of the PFWA for the 2018-20 seasons, he is the author of “The Forgotten First” and “Guts and Genius.”