The New England Patriots and head coach Bill Belichick are mutually parting ways after 24 seasons and six Super Bowl victories together. 

Belichick, who turns 72 in April, had one year remaining on a contract that reportedly earned him $25 million annually, more than any other coach in the NFL. The Patriots are estimated to have paid him at least $200 million during his tenure. Belichick has 333 career wins, 14 shy of Don Shula’s NFL record 347, but in four seasons without Tom Brady, he is just 29-37 with one playoff appearance.

The Patriots are letting their old coach leave on his own accord and won’t seek compensation from his next team. During a press conference on Thursday, an emotional Belichick made it clear he isn’t done coaching. “We’re going to move on,” he said. “I look forward, and [I’m] excited for the future.”

Who Will Pay up for the Hoodie?

Outside of New England, there are currently seven other head coaching openings: in Atlanta, Carolina, Las Vegas, Los Angeles (Chargers), Seattle, Tennessee, and Washington. Belichick is expected to still command a top—if not the highest—salary in the NFL. 

The Falcons, Seahawks, and Titans notably have general managers still in place, while the other four teams are searching for a coach and GM. Belichick operated as both for the Patriots during his 24 years in New England.

Is TV in His Future, Too?

While Belichick will likely continue to work elsewhere in the NFL for the time being, when the legendary coach does retire, he’ll have strong interest from TV networks looking to hire him as an analyst, multiple executives told Front Office Sports reporter Michael McCarthy last year. 

A move to TV could provide another nice payday for Belichick. Top agents estimated that he could earn $8 million to $10 million as a studio analyst—and double that as a No. 1 game analyst.

Over the course of just a few days, the football coaching market has been flooded in unprecedented fashion, leaving more top available jobs and talent than arguably at any point ever—setting up a ripple effect that will ultimately reach dozens of pro and college teams.

Beginning with the NFL’s Black Monday and continuing with the stunning departures of Nick Saban and Bill Belichick from their iconic roles, the pro and college coaching market is positively teeming. Among the top available jobs and coaches:

• Open NFL head coaching slots in Atlanta, Carolina, Las Vegas, Los Angeles (Chargers), New England, Seattle, Tennessee, and Washington—a quarter of the entire NFL.
• The newly opened head coaching job at Alabama, obviously one of college football’s foremost programs, and then perhaps a head coaching job vacated by the person taking the Crimson Tide position.
• Saban and Belichick—previously the highest-paid college and pro coaches, as well as football giants with a long history together—hitting the open market, alongside recently fired NFL head coaches Mike Vrabel, Josh McDaniels, Frank Reich, and Ron Rivera, and possibly former Seahawks coach Pete Carroll and Michigan’s championship-winning coach Jim Harbaugh (and the Wolverines job if he leaves).

“When a job like Alabama opens up and you’re looking at Michigan potentially opening as well, that will create a lot of dominoes,” says a prominent talent agent speaking to Front Office Sports on condition of anonymity.

The outcome of all these available jobs and coaches will likely serve as a major—if not generational—reset of overall coaching compensation trends. Already, Saban’s $11.4 million annual salary and Belichick’s estimated $25 million-per-year pay had been frequently used as benchmarks to help set other coaching contracts.

Heart of the Matter

The underlying causes of the now-flooded coaching market are varied. Some of the influx owes to the age and personal factors of particular coaches, such as the 72-year-old Saban electing to retire from coaching and perhaps consider a move to broadcasting. On-field performance, of course, still plays a major role. But the college turnover is also being influenced by historic levels of uncertainty and frustration surrounding player transfer rules and name, image, and likeness rights.

“It’s a terrible system,” said Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin of the transfer portal. Kiffin has been mentioned as a possibility for the Alabama job. “No other [sport has] ever set up a system where free agency starts while the season is still going. So it really makes no sense.”

Senior writer A.J. Perez contributed to this report.

New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft called the departure of head coach Bill Belichick the “end of an era” for the team and its fans. That is a massive understatement in more ways than one.

Not only are the Patriots losing their six-time Super Bowl-winning coach, but his departure also signals the fundamental reset of an organization that used the success Belichick created and led to become one of the NFL’s most prominent and valuable franchises.

During Belichick’s 24-year run, the Patriots’ franchise value rose from $464 million, 10th-best in the NFL, to $7 billion, second behind the Dallas Cowboys, in the process enjoying a globally elite status reserved for the likes of the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Lakers. Kraft, in turn, has become one of the NFL’s foremost power brokers, his influence burnished by the on-field success Belichick led. 

The year before Belichick’s arrival in 2000, the Patriots nearly relocated to Hartford, Conn. But that deal fell apart, and the Patriots ultimately built Gillette Stadium—now widely seen as one of the NFL’s leading and most unique facilities—as a means to solidify its stature in New England.

Belichick was also able to maintain his success while facing salary-cap constraints and steadily losing top coaching assistants and front-office personnel to bigger jobs elsewhere. Under Belichick, regularly parting ways with popular players in the name of better and more value-oriented roster construction became a fundamental part of the Patriots’ brand.

“The fact [this was] done in the salary-cap and free-agency era makes it even more extraordinary,” Kraft said of Belichick’s tenure.

Now, the Patriots are once again a more ordinary franchise, as the team just posted its first last-place division finish since 2000, Belichick’s first year with the team. And with both Belichick and iconic quarterback Tom Brady gone, the Patriots are truly hitting the reset button. The Patriots hold the third pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, a prospect that perhaps presents an opportunity to set a new coach-quarterback pairing along the lines of Belichick-Brady.