Belichick Fires Back At Kraft For Saying Patriots Took 'Big Risk' In Hiring Him
"As I told Robert multiple times through the years, I took a big risk by taking the New England Patriots head coaching job," Belichick told ESPN. "I already had an opportunity to be the Head Coach of the New York Jets, but the ownership situation was unstable."
The Patriots went through an unconventional process to hire Belichick in 2000. When they requested that the Jets allow them to interview Belichick that offseason, Bill Parcells stepped down from his post as New York's head coach and named the then-assistant head coach and defensive coordinator as his successor. However, Belichick resigned as the Jets' head coach a day later and eventually agreed to a deal to become the Patriots' head coach, but New England had to surrender a first-round pick to New York.
Due to the compensation, along with Belichick's 36-44 record in his five seasons as the Cleveland Browns' head coach, Kraft recently told the "Dudes on Dudes" podcast (hosted by former Patriots stars Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski) that hiring Belichick was his most "questioned" decision since he became the team's owner in 1994. But he also mentioned Belichick's hiring when asked what his best decision has been as the Patriots' owner.
"I gave up a No. 1 draft pick for a coach that had only won a little over 40% of his games to get him out," Kraft said on the podcast, which was filmed at "Fanatics Fest" in New York last month. "I don't know if there are any Jets fans here. I think getting Bill Belichick to come to the Patriots in 1999 was a big risk, and I got hammered in the Boston area, but he was with us for 24 years.
"And we did OK," Kraft joked.
While the Patriots won their first of six Super Bowls in Belichick's second season with the team, New England's former head coach indicated that New York was in a stronger on-field position at the time of his hiring in 2000.
"The Jets were a solid team after three years of rebuilding under Bill Parcells, which included an AFC Championship Game appearance in [January] 1999," Belichick told ESPN. "Meanwhile, the Patriots Organization had dismantled their 1996 AFC Championship team and became one of the worst in the AFC. It didn't help that they were $10 million over the cap heading into my first season as Head Coach in 2000."
Even though Belichick and Kraft enjoyed unprecedented success in their 24 years together, there has been some tension between the two since the head coach was let go in January 2024. In the Apple TV+ docuseries "The Dynasty," which covered the Patriots' dynasty run, Kraft called Belichick a "pain in the tush." Many also believed that the docuseries painted Kraft in a positive light, with former players criticizing it for being too negative on Belichick.
In that same offseason, ESPN reported that Kraft warned Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank "not to trust" Belichick when the team was interviewing the former Patriots head coach for the same role. Adding to the tension, Kraft told "The Breakfast Club" in October 2024 that he had fired Belichick. Before that admission, the team had said that Kraft and Belichick mutually agreed to part ways.
Belichick, who has since been hired by North Carolina to become its head coach, has largely avoided directly addressing Kraft's remarks since he was let go as head coach of the Patriots. He hasn't publicly commented on the report that Kraft influenced the Falcons not to hire him. But he made a joke about how he was portrayed in "The Dynasty" during the Roast of Tom Brady in May 2024 and has questioned Kraft's claim that the Patriots fired him.
"It was a mutual decision for us to part ways," Belichick told CBS News in April.
Belichick also snubbed Kraft in his recent book, "The Art of Winning: Lessons from My Life in Football," failing to mention his former boss once in the book's 289 pages and acknowledgements.
"It's about my life lessons in football and it's really more about the ones that I experienced directly," Belichick said on why Kraft wasn't mentioned in the book in his interview with CBS News.
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