Bill Belichick was born April 16, 1952 in Nashville, Tenn. and raised in Annapolis, Md. His father, Steve, played fullback for the Detroit Lions in 1941 and coached for 33 years at the Naval Academy. Bill was a standout prep athlete at Annapolis High, where he has since been inducted into the school's Hall of Fame. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Mass., before enrolling at Wesleyan, where he earned his bachelor's degree in economics in 1975. He has three children: Amanda, Stephen and Brian.

Bill Belichick is in his 31st season as an NFL coach and is the only head coach in NFL history to win three Super Bowl championships in a four-year span. He was hired by Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft on Jan. 27, 2000 and is in his sixth season as Patriots head coach in 2005.

In 2001, just his second season as Patriots head coach, Belichick guided the Patriots to their first league title with a dramatic victory in Super Bowl XXXVI. In the seasons since then, he has directed New England to sustained on-field success through an instilled philosophy of maintaining short-term focus to deliver long-term goals.

Over the last two seasons, Belichick has directed the Patriots through the most prosperous two-year period for any team in NFL history, netting back-to-back Super Bowl victories and consecutive 17-2 campaigns. The team's 34 victories in 2003-04 marked the highest two-year win total in the NFL's 85-year history. A winning streak of 21 consecutive games - also unprecedented in NFL annals - spanned the two seasons.

The 2004 season saw the Patriots tie the best regular-season record by a defending Super Bowl champion (14-2). New England capped off the 2004 season with another memorable playoff run, culminating in a 24 - 21 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX that made Belichick just the fourth head coach in NFL history to win at least three Super Bowl titles. Only one coach (Pittsburgh's Chuck Noll, 4) has won more Super Bowls. Belichick's three Super Bowl titles tie Washington's Joe Gibbs and San Francisco's Bill Walsh for second place on the NFL's all-time list. Noll, Gibbs and Walsh are all enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Belichick’s accomplishments have placed him among the NFL's elite coaches. By virtue of the Patriots' most recent Super Bowl win, he moved ahead of the legendary Vince Lombardi to claim the best postseason record in NFL history (10-1). Including regular season and playoff games, Belichick is the winningest head coach in the NFL over the last four seasons and is also the Patriots' all-time leader in victories (62) and winning percentage (.697). Since 2001, Belichick has directed the Patriots to a 57-16 (.781) record – the most successful run in franchise history - including a perfect 9-0 postseason mark.

Belichick's recent accomplishments are the latest triumphs in a career during which he has helped produce fi ve Super Bowl titles, six conference championships and 10 division titles since entering the NFL in 1975. Now in his 31st season in the NFL, he has more years of NFL experience than any of the other 31 head coaches. He won his fi rst two Super Bowls as the defensive coordinator for the New York Giants in 1986 and again in 1990 before claiming three Super Bowl championships with the Patriots over the past four years. George Seifert is the only other man to have won multiple Super Bowls as a head coach and as an assistant coach.

In Belichick's last four seasons, the Patriots have prospered in a manner that few teams in NFL history have done, winning 57 games while claiming three division titles, three conference titles and three Super Bowl titles. All three championship teams relied on the depth and resiliency of the roster to overcome injuries and setbacks. In 2001, the Patriots opened the season 0-2 before rebounding to win 14 of their next 17 games. In 2003, a 31-0 season-opening setback in Buffalo was answered triumphantly, as the team rebounded to win 17 of the next 18 games despite using 42 different starters (an NFL record for a division champion). In 2004, injuries were overcome yet again, as the Patriots used 40 different starters, including nine different starters in the defensive secondary.

Once he became Patriots head coach, Belichick needed just one season to successfully implement his plan for success. In 2001, his second season in charge, he rebounded from a 5-11 record in 2000 to improve to 11-5, tying the franchise regular season record for wins. With a 20-17 victory over the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, the Patriots tied the franchise's then-record of 14 overall wins. In 2003 and 2004, the Patriots eclipsed those marks in each season, posting identical 14-2 records in the regular season and notching 17 total wins and a Super Bowl title in each year. The team's 17 wins in 2003 and 2004 are tied for the third-best in NFL history, trailing only the 1985 Chicago Bears and the 1984 San Francisco 49ers (both 18 wins). New England was undefeated at home in both 2003 and 2004, and enter the 2005 season with a 20-game winning streak at Gillette Stadium.

One of the hallmarks of Belichick's teams have been their ability to consistently succeed against top competition, especially in the last two seasons. In their 38 regular season and playoff games in 2003 and 2004, the Patriots played 23 contests against teams that fi nished the season with a record of .500 or better. New England recorded a remarkable 22-1 (.957) mark in those games, while the rest of the league was a cumulative 74-182 (.289) against the same squads. Additionally, the Patriots have recorded a record of 16-1 (.941) against playoff teams since the beginning of the 2003 season.

Belichick has been credited by his players as effectively preparing them for most situations that could arise in a given game. As a result, Belichick's Patriots have rarely been rattled and have been able to consistently maintain leads. Between 2001 and 2004, the Patriots won 38 consecutive games when leading after three quarters and 31 consecutive games when leading at halftime, with both marks setting post-merger NFL records. In addition, the Patriots have maintained their focus throughout the year, playing their best football late in the season. Since 2001, the Patriots hold a 39-5 (.886) overall record in games played after November 1.

When the Patriots announced Belichick's hiring, many regarded him as one of the premier defensive strategists in the game. That reputation was earned over a 25-year NFL coaching career that included Super Bowl titles as the defensive architect of the New York Giants in 1986 and 1990 and a conference championship as the assistant head coach and defensive assistant for the Patriots in 1996. When he returned to the Patriots in 2000, he followed a sound architectural plan, fortifying the foundation of the roster with team-oriented free agents who would support his overall team philosophy.

Belichick's team-first philosophy most recently saw success in the 2004 season, when the Patriots came together to meet the lofty expectations of a defending Super Bowl champion that had won the final 15 games of the 2003 season. New England began the 2004 campaign with six consecutive victories, each one carrying historical significance as the team surged forward on an NFL record winning streak. On Oct. 10, 2004 the Patriots defeated the Miami Dolphins, 24-10, to set the NFL record with their 19th consecutive overall victory, including regular season and playoff games, topping the previous mark of 18 (shared by six teams, most recently the 1997- 98 Denver Broncos). Two weeks later, against the New York Jets, the Patriots won their 18th consecutive regular season game, setting the NFL mark in that category and toppling the previous record of 17 straight regular season wins set by George Halas' 1933-34 Chicago Bears. Even after their winning streak was snapped at 21 consecutive games by the Pittsburgh Steelers, the Patriots maintained their focus and finished the season with a 14-2 record and their third AFC East title in four years.

In the 2004 playoffs, Belichick's Patriots compiled another impressive trio of postseason victories. In the divisional round against Indianapolis at Gillette Stadium, the Patriots' defensive dominance held the Indianapolis Colts' highly-regarded offense to just three points in a 20-3 victory, as NFL MVP Peyton Manning (who had set the league mark with 49 touchdown passes in the regular season) was held without a touchdown. In the AFC Championship Game, the Patriots solved the league's top defense, as New England set a team playoff record by scoring 41 points against the 16-1 Pittsburgh Steelers, who had ended the Patriots' 21-game winning streak three months earlier. Then, for the third time in four seasons, the playoff run was capped by a three-point Super Bowl win, as the Patriots claimed a tense 24-21 victory over the NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Fla.

The 2004 performance came on the heels of a 2003 season in which Belichick led the Patriots to a 17-2 mark that culminated in a victory over the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston. In that season, the Patriots became the first team in 31 years and just the second club ever to win 15 consecutive games en route to the championship. Only the 1972 Miami Dolphins won more consecutive games in a single season. The year was filled with dramatic wins, as the Patriots produced seven game-winning drives and set an NFL record by winning 11 consecutive games by 14 points or fewer. NFL SENIORITY

Over the last four years, the only season in which Patriots did not win the AFC East was 2002, a season in which they missed out on the division crown and a playoff berth by virtue of a strength-of-victory tiebreaker. That season, the Patriots valiantly defended their inaugural title and remained in playoff contention through the final game of the regular season. A dramatic come from - behind victory over the Miami Dolphins in the season fi nale gave the Patriots their ninth win of the season and a chance to qualify for the playoffs. Unfortunately, just three hours later, New England was eliminated from the postseason in a tiebreaker scenario when the New York Jets, who also finished the year with a 9-7 record, claimed the remaining playoff position.

After an unspectacular 1-3 start in 2001, the Patriots rebounded to win 10 of their last 12 games and claimed the division title for the fi rst time in four years. A sixgame win streak propelled the Patriots into the playoffs, where their team-first philosophy earned national acclaim. In each playoff game, the offense, defense and special teams units played critical roles, enabling the Patriots to defeat three favored opponents with wins over the Oakland Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers and St. Louis Rams. The victories extended their streak to a thenfranchise record nine games and earned the team New England’s fi rst Lombardi Trophy.

Upon arriving in New England as head coach for the 2000 season, Belichick started the rebuilding process with the acquisition of 30 new players. That year, the Patriots set a team record by having 13 of their 16 games decided by eight points or less.

Belichick returned to the Patriots as head coach after three seasons with the New York Jets, where his defenses were credited for New York's intra-division success against the high-octane offenses of the Patriots, Dolphins, Bills and Colts. He was also credited for successfully defusing the Indianapolis Colts’ offensive arsenal, limiting the conference's most prolific offense to an average of just 14.5 points in their two matchups in 1999. That year, the Colts averaged over 28 points per game in their 14 other games.

In 1998, the Jets surrendered just 266 points, one point shy of Miami's league-leading 265. The 16.6 points allowed per game was the third lowest season average in Jets history and propelled the team to their fi rst division title since 1969 with a franchise-best 12-4 overall record. The Jets advanced to the AFC Championship game, but were defeated by the defending Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos, who went on to repeat as champions. Following the season, Belichick filled in for Bill Parcells as the head coach of the AFC's squad in the 1999 Pro Bowl.

Belichick was named head coach of the New York Jets on Feb. 3, 1997, an interim position he held until Parcells was formally announced as head coach a week later. During that week, Belichick hired Scott Pioli as his director of pro personnel. After Parcells was named head coach, Belichick became the assistant head coach/secondary coach responsible for calling the team's defensive signals. In his first season with the Jets, his defense surrendered just 287 points, an average of 17.9 points per game, marking a signifi cant 10.5-point improvement per game from 1996. The 287 points allowed ranked second in the AFC, sixth overall, and was critical to the Jets' rise from 1-15 in 1996 to 9-7 in 1997.

Patriots fans witnessed Belichick's impact on a team firsthand in 1996 when he joined the Patriots after fi ve seasons as the head coach of the Cleveland Browns. That year, the Patriots claimed their first division title in 10 years with an 11-5 record and won their first two playoff games at Foxboro Stadium to advance to Super Bowl XXXI. Characteristically, Belichick's defensive influence was credited for the team's overall defensive success down the stretch and through the playoffs. The 1996 Patriots defense allowed just 19.6 points per game and forced 34 turnovers, second in the AFC. In two playoff games, the defense allowed just nine points combined, propelling the Patriots to victories over Pittsburgh (28- 3) and Jacksonville (20-6). The victory over the Jaguars gave the Patriots their second AFC Championship and a berth in Super Bowl XXXI against Green Bay.

Prior to joining the Patriots, Belichick spent five seasons (1991-95) rebuilding the Cleveland Browns, whose 3-13 fi nish in 1990 was the worst in the history of the franchise. By 1994, the Browns were again one of the elite teams in the NFL, boasting the second-best record in the AFC. Belichick's first head coaching opportunity came following the 1990 season, when Belichick's defensive efforts with the New York Giants helped claim a second Super Bowl title in five years. Cleveland wasted no time in hiring the talented young defensive coordinator, naming him the franchise's 10th head coach on Feb. 5, 1991. At the age of 38, he became the NFL's youngest head coach. In his first season, Belichick began the rebuilding process by restoring the foundation of the aging squad he inherited. In 1991, the Browns improved to 6-10 and played in 11 games that were decided by a touchdown or less.

Following back-to-back 7-9 campaigns in 1992 and 1993, the Browns improved to 11-5 in 1994. Only Pittsburgh, who won the division with a 12-4 record, had a better record in the AFC that season. In their return to the playoffs, the Browns eliminated Parcells’ Patriots, 20-13, in a first-round wild-card game on New Year's Day 1995. The Browns advanced to the divisional playoff round before being bumped by the Steelers. The 1994 squad was defi ned by its defense, which allowed a league-low 204 points (12.8 ppg) and just 301.6 yards per game, second in the AFC.

The 1995 season was disrupted by the mid-season announcement that the Cleveland Browns franchise would be moved to Baltimore at the conclusion of the campaign. The announcement caused an inextricable mid-season distraction resulting in a 5-11 finish. Belichick did not accompany the franchise's move to Baltimore after the 1995 season.

Belichick originally began his coaching career after graduating from Wesleyan University and accepting a staff assistant position with the Baltimore Colts in 1975. At the age of 23, he was named special assistant to Head Coach Ted Marchibroda.

In 1976, Belichick joined Rick Forzano's staff with the Detroit Lions as an assistant special teams coach. The following year, he was given his fi rst positional coaching assignment as the Lions' tight ends and receivers coach. In 1978, Denver Broncos Head Coach Red Miller hired Belichick as the assistant special teams coach and assistant to defensive coordinator Joe Collier.

In 1979, Belichick joined Ray Perkins' staff with the New York Giants as a defensive assistant and special teams coach, launching a 12-year tenure with the Giants. After the 1980 campaign, he drew the added responsibility of coaching the Giants linebackers. In 1983, he began coordinating the defense on Bill Parcells' staff and continued coaching the linebackers, a unit that would become known as one of the most dominant groups of all-time. He was offi cially appointed defensive coordinator in 1985, a position he held for the next six seasons. During his time as the Giants' defensive signal caller, his units were never ranked lower than 11th in the NFL and fi nished as high as second in the league three times, including the Super Bowl seasons of 1986 and 1990. His contributions with the Giants throughout the 1980s brought him national recognition as one of the best young assistant coaches in the NFL. His reward came just nine days after Super Bowl XXV when the Cleveland Browns hired him as their head coach.

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