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Jerod Mayo discussed how he feels about following Bill Belichick as Patriots head coach
"Just be yourself."
As Jerod Mayo begins the work of following the greatest head coaching run in NFL history, the new leader of the Patriots isn’t trying to get ahead of himself.
Mayo spoke to ESPN’s Mike Reiss on Wednesday afternoon after his introductory press conference, and was asked how he views the tall task of replacing Bill Belichick (who won six Super Bowls during his New England tenure).
“Just be yourself. I would just say be yourself,” Mayo replied about how he will approach the challenge. “There are some good things here, and there are some things that I would change.”
“Being myself has gotten me to this point,” he added.
Mayo, 37, is the youngest coach in the league. It’s notable because Belichick was — at least at the time of his departure from New England — the NFL’s oldest coach.
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Having played for and worked under Belichick during his NFL career, Mayo noted that he will simultaneously carry on the lessons he learned working with the future Hall of Famer while also making sure to put his own distinct personality into the job of leading the Patriots.
He was asked about it during the press conference earlier on Wednesday.
“For me, I’m not trying to be Bill,” said Mayo. “I think that Bill is his own man. If you can’t tell by now, I’m a little bit different even up here. But what I will say is the more I think about lessons I’ve taken from Bill, hard work works. Hard work works, and that’s what we’re all about.
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Regarding his own vision for the Patriots, Mayo said it will ultimately be one of several perspectives he not only expects but wants to help provide a diversity of ideas.
“I believe in shared vision,” he told Reiss. “Shared vision between the players and the coaches, and really all the stakeholders. So that’s what my vision looks like, but until you can get the guys to buy into that vision or feel some type of accountability of what we want next year’s team to look like, it’s kind of hard to get to today. But we will put out a smart, tough, and dependable football team that really enjoys playing football, and playing for one another.”
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