New England Patriots: Bill Belichick prefers a smaller coaching staff
By Nick Ziegler
Bill Belichick is one of the greatest coaches in NFL history and one of the reasons why is that he operates a little differently.
After winning his fifth Super Bowl as a head coach, New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick is considered to be one of the greatest coaches of all-time.
In addition to coaching, Belichick also plays a big role in the front office for the Patriots as their general manager. Being in charge of player personnel as well is certainly a time-consuming task for Belichick. However, he handles it very well.
With a lot of responsibility in the organization, it would make sense that Belichick would have a larger coaching staff than some other teams. However, it is the complete opposite. Belichick generally has one of the smallest coaching staffs in the league.
In a recent interview on the “Suiting Up” podcast with Paul Rabil, Belichick discussed having a smaller coaching staff.
https://twitter.com/PaulRabil/status/864435972578127872
"“My philosophy, really, is that less is more, so I’d rather have fewer people doing more work than more people doing a little more work,” Belichick tells Rabil on the podcast. “As long as everybody is busy, as long as everybody feels productive, they feel good about what they’re doing and they feel like they’re contributing; I think when people have lag time and kind of not enough to do, that leads to getting distracted and complaining or being less productive. So even though you have more people, sometimes less work gets done.”"
While it might seem different, it has certainly worked for Belichick. He frequently has one of the best coaching staffs in the NFL, and that could be because they are asked to do more.
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Coming into 2017, the Patriots have two of the best offensive and defensive coordinators in the NFL. If the Patriots have another good season like we expect, both Josh McDaniels and Matt Patricia could be head coaches in the 2018 season. When and if they both leave, they will certainly be prepared for what’s to come as head coaches due to their responsibilities in New England.