Troy Smith
It didn’t take very long for the New England Patriots to find another head coach. Just one day after parting ways with former head coach Bill Belichick, the Patriots have announced that former star linebacker Jerod Mayo will be their next head coach.
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Mayo has only been a coach in the NFL since 2019, serving as the the linebacker’s coach for New England since then. Mayo has officially made the jump to head coach. Mayo is also the first black head coach in the history of the New England Patriots franchise, which has only had five coaches during the entirety of its existence.
ESPN reports on this change…
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Moving swiftly one day after parting ways with legendary coach Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots have chosen Jerod Mayo as his successor and the 15th head coach in franchise history, sources told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Mayo, 37, will be formally introduced at a news conference next week. He will be the youngest coach in the NFL, taking over a title that Sean McVay held since being named Los Angeles Rams coach in 2017; Mayo is a month younger than McVay.
A linebacker for the Patriots from 2008 to 2015 after being selected in the first round of the draft out of Tennessee, Mayo joined Belichick’s coaching staff in 2019, serving as linebackers coach.
The Patriots were able to forgo the standard NFL hiring process and immediately hire Mayo because they established a succession plan in the contract extension he signed last offseason, similar to what the Baltimore Ravens did with their general manager position when Eric DeCosta succeeded Ozzie Newsome in 2019.
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39293221/patriots-hire-jerod-mayo-replace-bill-belichick-sources-say
