Bill Belichick served as the head coach of the New England Patriots for 24 seasons. In this long tenure, he led the team to six Super Bowl championships. And his 333 career wins rank second all‑time, behind only Don Shula’s 347.
But at the same time, he also earned a reputation as the hardest coach in the NFL to cover. A former Patriots reporter recently explained on a podcast how bleak the environment really was when he was with the franchise.
In 2020, Nick Underhill left The Athletic after less than a year covering the Patriots. He had previously covered the New Orleans Saints for The Advocate, and he decided to move back there again to launch his own site.
On a recent podcast with Tyrann Mathieu, Underhill was blunt about why he left. He called covering Bill Belichick “miserable,” describing a locker room where players were coached to stay silent. Underhill realized he was happier covering a team that actually spoke, so he quit to work for himself.
