Jerod Mayo introduced as 15th Patriots head coach; Kraft speaks on front office
In front of a large crowd of media and staffers, the New England Patriots introduced new head coach Jerod Mayo. Owner Robert Kraft announced Mayo as the 15th head coach in franchise history.
“Each year his role grew on the defense. Kraft said on Mayo in his opener. “He was destined to coach. He’s often described as a leader of men, something I’ve been proud to witness. I've learned to trust my instincts throughout my career, and I trust Jerod is the right person to lead the Patriots back to championship-level contention and long-term success.”
Kraft’s conviction of his new hire was clear. He mentioned that he went with his instincts unlike when he didn’t decide to bring Bill Belichick in 1996, which he regretted. Kraft said he has the same feeling now as he did when he ultimately hired Belichick after passing on him the first time.
Mayo spoke about his vision and how he views his new role in his opening statement.
“My calling is to be a teacher and develop people and help people see what they might not want to see, but need to see. The culture here starts at the top with the Kraft family but it permeates through the organization.
“I want people who are around me that are going to question my ideas or question how we’ve done things in the past… That’s why I’ve tried to spend so much time help developing young men and women, I don’t want to teach them what to think, but how to think. I’m an open book. I am honored, excited, and ready to go.”
Developing people was mentioned multiple times by Mayo. Another theme was accountability, specifically by the players when asked about turning the offense around.
“I look at energy, passion and leaders, think you have to get that stuff in place. I view the weight room as one of the the most important rooms in the building. We don’t want complainers or finger pointing…We want our players to have a sense of accountability, you want your players to have a sense of commitment.”
Having accountability in the locker room is critical. Mayo described players holding each other accountable can hit a player different then a coach.
Mayo did say the above applies to both sides of the ball. While, this describes the culture he is looking for, there was no clear answer on how the offense will get back on track in terms of the roster or game plan.
The comparisons between Belichick and Mayo will never go away, but Mayo made it clear that he is not the same.
“I’m not trying to be Bill (Belichick),” Mayo said about his predecessor. “Bill is his own man. If you can’t tell by now, I’m a little bit different.”
One of the first changes of philosophy that will look to be different is giving the members of the coaching staff actual coordinator titles.
“I think titles are important,” Mayo said. “No knock to coach Belichick, who has been a huge influence on me, but I believe titles are important.”
Mayo and Kraft both declined to talk about who will have final say in personnel. Both spoke about collaboration and evaluating what the Patriots currently have.
However, Kraft didn’t say whether or not the front office is set.
“We're counting on our internal people, whom we’re still learning and evaluating. So we’re going to let that evolve and develop, and before the key decisions have to be made, we will appoint someone. And at the same time, we’ll probably start doing interviews and looking at people from the outside. But my bias has always been, in all our family companies, to try to develop a culture from within where we understand one another.”
“We want to see what we have in house, we will what’s out on the market and then make the best decisions possible.” Kraft added towards the end of the press conference.
Betwen free agency and the draft, this is an important two months for the Patriots. A clearer front office structure will be an area to watch.
In terms of the coaching staff, it sounded like there will be more of a search that’ll take place. Mayo spoke about where his coaching staff stands.
“Everything is under consideration. The staff that I’ve been working with isn’t the staff that I chose. The number one thing is developing people. I want to bring in developers. With this generation of players, you have to show them that you care about them before you get into competency where X’s and O’s are concerned.”
It is tough to judge a head coach by one press conference, but it was hard not to be impressed by Mayo. He came off as his own person and confident that he can make an impact with his new title as the Patriots embark on a new era.
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