In the New England Patriots, Brian Belichick was promoted to Safeties coach. With his sons Brian and Steve, coach legend Bill Belichick kills several birds with one stone.

The name obliges, he is also not dyed-in-the-wool NFL fans a term. He stands for success, for dominance, a very special era in the New England Patriots. He belongs in every NFL dictionary.

Cult-coach, headstrong and gnarly, a brand all his own. One who even makes sure that the name continues after his successful career with the Patriots.

Promotion for Brian
Because his two sons have been working for years in the Pats training team.

Steve has been with the team since 2012. He was most recently responsible for the safeties and the secondary and shared responsibilities as Defensive Coordionator with his father and Jerod Mayo.

Brian is the youngest in the squad, the 26-year-old joined the team in 2016 and took on assistant duties. Now he has been promoted, taking over the safeties as coach, while his brother goes to the linebackers.

The fact that he was called “Steve” by a reporter at his first press conference was taken with humour. “You called me Steve,” he said. “I mean, that can happen, but come on.”

A sign that the new coach is still flying under the radar. But is he already feeling the pressure to start with that name as coach in the Patriots?

“I’m not really thinking about it,” Brian said. “I’m blessed with the great opportunity to be in this organisation. We moved here in 2000 and I’ve been incredibly lucky that my father has been here for 20 years and I’ve been able to spend time with the team and learn from these great players and coaches who have been here for a long time. I’m very happy to have this experience.”

He doesn’t want to look too far into the future. First of all the new job is waiting.

Steve will help
The “real” Steve will help him to get used to the new role, in the offseason he has already exchanged a lot of information with his younger brother. Experienced players such as Devin McCourty will make the transition even easier.

“We’re very close,” said Steve. “As an older brother and a more experienced coach, I’ll do my best to help him.” The 33-year-old is looking forward to his new role, “although I’m going to miss the boys I coached last year.”

Bill Belichick kills several birds with the fact that his two sons have been climbing the coaching ladder for years.

“As a father you miss so much because of the schedule and the games, you just can’t be there for everything,” Belichick said. “It feels like you can make up for it a little by getting more involved in their lives now.”

Since they both grew up with football, they often remind their father of things he used to do in his career, but not anymore. “It makes me think sometimes. And then I do it again like I used to,” Belichick says.

Connection to the young generation
And of course, having two sons aged 26 and 33 keeps your finger on the pulse, which can be very helpful in your daily work with a team that is of a similar age, if you have different priorities and interests as a 68-year-old.

“It’s good to have some younger coaches and other staff to keep you up to date with things that are going on. They do a great job with that as well,” Belichick says.

So that he too can do a good job. Because the name obliges. This also applies to Bill Belichick himself.