There is little debate about Bill Belichick's place on the Mount Rushmore of NFL coaches.
He is third in all-time wins (298) across his spells with the Cleveland Browns and New England Patriots and won two Super Bowls as an assistant coach with the New York Giants before coaching the Patriots to six more as head coach. He has also been a four-time Super Bowl loser. He holds the NFL records for most Super Bowl wins, wins as a head coach, appearances, and appearances as a head coach as well as most playoff wins, most playoff appearances and most divisional championships as head coach.
Given his long and successful NFL career, it is perhaps little surprise that so many of his former assistants and players have gone into coaching themselves. What is perhaps more surprising, is how few of the 14 individuals on this list have been unqualified successes themselves.
Al Groh
Al Groh worked under Belichick at both the Giants and Browns. A defensive specialist, Groh got his first, and only, NFL head coaching role in the same year that Belichick joined the Patriots. Groh took over the Jets in 2000 after the Bill Parcells/Belichick succession debacle.
He got the better of his former mentor in his second game in charge, beating the Patriots 20-19, before repeating the trick in week seven but saw his team's form collapse towards the end of the season. The Jets missed the playoffs and Groh resigned to take over the University of Virginia.
Nick Saban
Before he was the unstoppable college icon that he has become, Nick Saban was Belichick's defensive coordinator in Cleveland for four seasons. He moved into the college game with Michigan State in 1995, leaving the Spartans to join LSU in 2000. In 2005, he stepped back to the pros for what is so far his only NFL head coaching role with the Miami Dolphins.
Taking over a promising Dolphins team and going 9-7 in his first year, Saban made the fateful decision not to pursue free agent quarterback Drew Brees, citing medical concerns. Instead, Saban opted to trade for Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper. The move didn't pan out, the Dolphins finished bottom of the AFC East with a 6-10 record, and Saban walked out to join Alabama. One bright spot for Saban was a 21-0 shutout of Belichick's Patriots, his final NFL win.
Romeo Crennel
Another that followed Belichick from the Giants to Cleveland and then New England, Romeo Crennel got his first chance as a head coach with the Browns in 2005. His first two seasons were poor as the Browns went 6-10 and 4-12. Things turned around in year three as Cleveland finished second in the AFC North and narrowly missed the playoffs. Seemingly on the up, Crennel was given a contract extension but left after a 4-12 season in 2008. Crennel was replaced by fellow Belichick alum Eric Mangini, more on that later.
Crennel moved to Kansas City after a few years out of the league, moving up from defensive coordinator to interim head coach and earning the official job for the 2012 season. He presided over a historically bad 2-14 season that saw Chiefs break an 83-year-old record by going seven straight games without holding a lead.
Crennel also witnessed the horrific suicide of player Jovan Belcher in the parking lot of the Chiefs facility. Crennel served as interim head coach of the Houston Texans after another former Belichick assistant Bill O'Brien was fired in 2020. His career record is 32-63 and he never qualified for a postseason berth.
Eric Mangini
Eric Mangini began as a Cleveland Browns ballboy and he was a reliable member of Belichick's team before becoming the youngest NFL head coach in history when he took over the New York Jets in 2006. He coached the Jets to a 10-6 record a wildcard playoff appearance which they lost to the Patriots.
Mangini earned Belichick's ire after reporting the Patriots to the NFL over perceived illegal filming of his team's signals, touching off the Spygate controversy.
Mangini's team fell to 4-12 in year two and he was fired a day after the 2009 season when the Jets missed the playoffs despite starting 8-3. Mangini then headed to Cleveland to replace Crennel. He coached consecutive 5-11 seasons in Cleveland before once again being fired.
Josh McDaniels
Josh McDaniels has spent almost his entire career in various roles at Belichick's Patriots. In 2009, he left for his first attempt at an NFL head coaching role with Denver. He coached the Broncos to an 8-8 record but his team fell apart in his second season to finish 4-12 and earn McDaniels his walking papers.
Returning to the Patriots by way of the St Louis Rams, McDaniels got a second chance as a head coach in 2022 with the Las Vegas Raiders. Admittedly dealt a difficult hand with the team's off-field problems, McDaniels coached a defense that couldn't stop anyone and finished 6-11. McDaniels was fired on October 31 after a 3-5 start.
Jim Schwartz
A personnel scout for the Cleveland Browns during Belichick's spell in charge, Jim Schwartz was a regular on the head coach interview circuit in the mid 2000s. This was largely due to his performances as the Tennessee Titans defensive coordinator. He got his shot as a head coach in Detroit in 2009. Taking over after the infamous 0-16 season, Schwartz slowly built up the Lions. They had their first season above .500 in 10 years in 2011 and reached the playoffs but back-to-back back-slide seasons in 2012 and 2013 saw him sent packing.
Bill O'Brien
Bill O'Brien was the Patriots' offensive coordinator when they reached the 2011 Super Bowl and joined the Houston Texans as head coach in 2014 following a spell with Penn State where despite the inherited the child sex abuse scandal, he coached the Nittany Lions to two solid seasons.
O'Brien coached the Texans to three consecutive 9-7 seasons in his first three years. In a desperately weak AFC South, that was twice good enough for a division title and playoff appearance. His Texans lost to Kansas City in 2015 in the wildcard game and then to Belichick's Patriots in the 2016 Divisional round. An ACL injury to rookie quarterback Deshaun Watson torpedoed their season in 2017 and the Texans went 4-12 but O'Brien escaped the blame. He coached Watson and the Texans to two more playoff berths in 2018 and 2019 before an 0-4 start in 2020 saw him fired.
He currently holds a .520 record as an NFL head coach.
Matt Patricia
Current Philadelphia Eagles defensive assistant Matt Patricia was a longtime Patriots coach under Belichick and took over as Detroit Lions head coach in 2018. Detroit went 6-10 to finish bottom of the NFC North, disappointing after a wildcard playoff loss the previous season. Patricia's team continued to regress in year two, going 3-12, before he was relieved of his duties midway through 2020 with the team at 4-7.
Brian Flores
Former special teams coach, defensive assistant, and linebackers coach Brian Flores took over the Miami Dolphins after the explosive end to the Adam Gase era. Flores immediately took Miami from second in the AFC East to fourth, regressing to 5-11 on the season. His team improved in year two, narrowly missing the playoffs with a 10-6 record. That included the 22-12 win over the Patriots in Miami that become known as the Miracle in Miami. A 9-8 record in 2021 was not enough to keep Flores in a job and he was fired in January 2022 amid spectacular controversy. Belichick himself featured in the leaking of a text message that sparked the outcry.
Joe Judge
Joe Judge was a key man on special teams in New England for seven seasons before being appointed New York Giants head coach in 2020. In a woeful NFC East, Judge's Giants missed the playoffs with a 6-10 record. In his second season, the Giants got worse. They finished bottom of their weak division with a 4-13 record. Judge was fired after a spell of bizarre decisions during his final season.
Kliff Kingsbury
The first of Belichick's former players to become an NFL head coach, Kingsbury took over the Arizona Cardinals after five years as Texas Tech head coach, where he coached young stars like Baker Mayfield and Patrick Mahomes.
Also a target of the New York Jets, Kingsbury was hired by the Caridnals and picked Kyler Murray with the first overall selection in the draft. Charged with overhauling the team, Kingsbury's 5-10-1 record in year one was not too much of a concern. The Cardinals improved to 8-8 in his second season but were disappointed after sitting at 6-3 in week 10.
An 11-6 record in his third season seemed to indicate that Kingsbury was finding a way forward but the team lost nine of their last 10 to collapse to a 4-13 record in what would be his final season in charge. One day after the season ended, the team announced Kingsbury would not be returning.
Mike Vrabel
Three-time Super Bowl champion linebacker Mike Vrabel played seven seasons under Belichick in New England and was hired by Bill O'Brien for his first coaching job in the pros at Houston. In 2018 he was appointed Tennessee Titans head coach and reached the playoffs in three of his first four seasons in charge.
The Titans disappointed in 2022, finishing 7-10, but Vrabel still holds a .573 record in the NFL, the second best of any of Belichick's former charges.
Kevin O'Connell
Kevin O'Connell was drafted by Bill Belichick in 2008 a quarterback but was waved in 2009. He bounced around the league before moving into coaching with the Browns in 2015 as a qbs coach. After stints in Washington and Los Angeles, O'Connell was hired by the Minnesota Vikings as their new head coach. He guided the Vikings to an excellent 13-4 record, the second most ever by a rookie head coach, but injuries have seen his team struggle in 2023.
He has a .680 winning percentage after 25 games as a head coach.
Brian Daboll
Former Patriots defensive assistant, wide receivers coach, and tight ends coach, Brian Daboll also worked under Nick Saban at Alabama before becoming the Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator in 2018. His success with quarterback Josh Allen prompted the New York Giants to hire him as head coach in 2022. He won the AP NFL Coach of the Year award in 2022 as a rookie after his Giants secured a playoff berth with a 9-7 record in the suddenly competitive NFC East. They shocked O'Connell's Vikings to advance to the Divisional round but were eliminated by the Super Bowl bound Eagles.
His team have struggled in a big way in 2023, losing six of their opening eight games.