Tom Brady Sr. says Bill Belichick is “the best coach in football,” but one characteristic ultimately led to his son’s breakup with the longtime Patriots coach.
After 20 seasons and six Super Bowls together, Brady left the Patriots for the Buccaneers and won another Super Bowl in his first year with Tampa Bay, while Belichick went 29-38 with the Patriots after Brady’s departure, missing the playoffs in three of four years.
“Bill is tough,” Brady Sr. told the Boston Globe. “He runs a military system. It’s a different generation. Bill is a great, great, great coach. But his interpersonal skills are horrible. That’s the bottom line.
“How many times has he said — back in ‘15 or ‘16 — that he wanted to win without Tommy? When he went without Tommy, he didn’t know what he was losing. You’re losing more than just a quarterback.
“Ego sometimes gets in the way of things. I think it did with Bill. Now, he’s in a situation where he’s gotten crucified for the last few years by everybody and a lot of luster has come off his rose.”
Belichick parted ways with Kraft and the Patriots last month after 24 seasons and now finds himself without a job, having only interviewed with the Falcons, who hired Raheem Morris as their new coach.
Follow along with The Post's coverage of Bill Belichick's career after the Patriots
- Bill Belichick parted ways with the New England Patriots last month, bidding farewell to the football team’s fans with a full-page ad on page A3 in the Boston Globe.
- Both Mike Vrabel and Belichick will likely not return to head coaching positions in the fall after every team filled its helm, though Jerry Jones said he believes Belichick could help the Cowboys.
- WFAN host and former NFL quarterback Boomer Esiason claims Belichick wasn’t interested in the Falcons, with whom he interviewed twice and whose owner Arthur Blank made him an offer.
- Patriots owner Robert Kraft spoke out about Belichick not getting a job while at MusiCares to present Jon Bon Jovi with a Person of the Year Award.
- “The NFL Today” analyst Bill Cowher claims that Belichick’s age is one of the reasons team were not interested.
- His son, Steve Belichick, has been recently hired to a coaching position of his own.
- Tom Brady’s father blamed Belichick’s “interpersonal skills” for his Patriots downfall.
Kraft put his trust in Belichick when the coach felt Brady was at the finish line of his career, only to regret seeing Brady win a ring with the Bucs.
The owner admitted to Brady’s family on Sept. 10, when Brady returned to Foxborough to be honored after his retirement, that he erred in allowing Brady to leave.
“He just said, ‘I made a mistake.’ He told us that back in September,” Brady Sr. said of Kraft. “We don’t all make the right decisions, but he’s made a hell of a lot of good ones over the years. But I know that it galls him that Tommy went elsewhere and won. Not that he won, but that he won after Bill said he was done.”
