Eric Mangini hopes he and Bill Belichick can be friends again
"It was never supposed to go the way that it went."
Nearly 10 years after the scandal that began it all, Eric Mangini and Bill Belichick reportedly still haven’t had a conversation.
“Am I surprised? I hope it’s something that can come back,” Mangini told ESPN on Saturday, referring to his once-close friendship with the New England Patriots coach. Speaking at a football camp in Connecticut, the 46-year-old former coach called the situation “disappointing.”
“Hopefully, it can change at some point,” he said, adding that he still has much respect and appreciation for his former boss and is still friends with other members of the Patriots staff.
Mangini and Belichick go way back.
In fact, it was Belichick, then coach of the Cleveland Browns, who gave Mangini, a ballboy and intern for the team, his first assistant coaching job. The two fellow Wesleyan University grads would go on to coach together for the New York Jets and then the Patriots. Belichick even reportedly read at Mangini’s wedding.
However, their relationship deteriorated after Mangini left the Patriots to become the head coach of the Jets in 2006 (according to some reports, Belichick even changed Patriots office locks and had Mangini’s belongings shipped to him). Then in 2007, Mangini’s Jets reported the Patriots for illegally taping their offensive signals, precipitating what would become known as “Spygate” and forever changing the league’s perception of New England.
Mangini has expressed regret in the past for how Spyagte ultimately played out, and still hopes that he and Belichick can reach good terms.
“It was never supposed to go the way that it went,” he told ESPN. “It was more about, ‘Hey, don’t do this here.’ It wasn’t about reporting it. Sometimes things get out of hand and get rolling in one direction. It was never, ever supposed to go that way.”
