 Belichick inYackety Yack 1954, University of North Carolina yearbook | |
| Biographical details | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1919-01-07)January 7, 1919 Monessen, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Died | November 19, 2005(2005-11-19) (aged 86) Annapolis, Maryland, U.S. |
| Playing career | |
| Football | |
| 1938–1940 | Western Reserve |
| 1941 | Detroit Lions |
| 1942 | Great Lakes Navy |
| Position(s) | Fullback |
| Coaching career (HC unless noted) | |
| Football | |
| 1946–1948 | Hiram |
| 1949–1952 | Vanderbilt (backfield) |
| 1953–1955 | North Carolina (backfield) |
| 1956–1989 | Navy (backfield/scout) |
| Basketball | |
| 1946–1949 | Hiram |
| Head coaching record | |
| Overall | 8–12–2 (football) 24–29 (basketball) |
| Accomplishments and honors | |
| Awards | |
| Case Western Reserve Hall of Fame (1976)[1] | |
Stephen Nickolas Belichick (January 7, 1919 – November 19, 2005) was anAmerican football player, coach, andscout. He playedcollege football at Western Reserve University, now part ofCase Western Reserve University, from 1938 to 1940 and then in theNational Football League (NFL) with theDetroit Lions in 1941. After serving inWorld War II, Belichick began his coaching career. From 1946 to 1949, he was the head football coach and the headbasketball coach atHiram College. He continued on as an assistant coach in college football with stints atVanderbilt University (1949–1952), theUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1953–1955), and then for 34 years at theUnited States Naval Academy (1956–1989).
Belichick's son,Bill, was the head coach of the NFL'sNew England Patriots, and currently is the head coach for theNorth Carolina Tar Heels. He has two grandsons through Bill:Stephen, former defensive coordinator for theWashington Huskies, who now occupies the same position at North Carolina, andBrian, the safeties coach for the New England Patriots.
After graduation fromStruthers High School inStruthers, Ohio,[2] Belichick played college football at Western Reserve University inCleveland, now known asCase Western Reserve University, where he played atfullback on theSpartans squad. Most notably, he was a member of the1938 team, which went a perfect 9–0, and the bowl-qualifying1940 team, where he scored several touchdowns in his senior season.[3] During the school's first and onlybowl game, the1941 Sun Bowl victory overArizona State, he scored the first touchdown of the game.
After graduation, he worked as an equipment manager for theDetroit Lions of theNational Football League (NFL). The team was struggling, and Belichick reportedly told the coach,Bill Edwards, "I can do better than most of the guys you've got."[4] Edwards, who had coached Belichick at Western Reserve, agreed, and signed him as a player. Although the team's fortunes did not improve, Belichick had some success, scoring a 65-yard punt return touchdown in a loss against theNew York Giants.[4]
During a portion of his military time duringWorld War II, Belichick played for the successful1942 Great Lakes Navy Bluejackets football team.[5]
In 1942, Belichick joined theUnited States Navy, serving in both Europe and the Pacific.[6] After he completed his service in 1946, he became the head coach atHiram College, southeast ofCleveland.[2] In 1949, he left Hiram to become the backfield coach atVanderbilt University,[7] where he spent two seasons before joining theUniversity of North Carolina as an assistant toGeorge Barclay in 1953.[8] Both the Vanderbilt and North Carolina coaching jobs were alongside Belichick's former collegiate and professional head football coach,Bill Edwards.
In 1956, Belichick joined theUnited States Naval Academy staff underEddie Erdelatz, where he served primarily as a scout for over 30 years. Belichick's bookFootball Scouting Methods (Ronald Press, 1962) became a standard, described byCharley Casserly as the best book on the subject he had read,[6] and byBleacher Report as the "Bible" of football scouting.[9]
In 1982,Nick Saban, former head football coach at theUniversity of Alabama, was on the Navy football staff with Belichick.
Steve Belichick was the youngest of five children born to Marija Barković and Ivan Biličić, who immigrated to the United States in 1897 fromDraganić, Karlovac, Croatia and settled inMonessen, Pennsylvania.[10][11][12] After their marriage, the couple changed their names legally to Mary and John Belichick, reportedly at the suggestion of Immigration Center.[11] In 1924, the family moved toStruthers, Ohio, where Steve Belichick maintained strong ties with the localCroatian community.[12] In 1951, he married Jeannette Ruth Munn, with whom he had one child,Bill.[6][13] Their son is the former head coach of theNew England Patriots and has cited his father, with whom he began analyzing game film at the age of 10, as his chief early influence.[14]
Belichick was inducted into theCase Western Reserve University Athletics Hall of Fame for both football and basketball in 1976.[1]
The Belichick Library on the campus of theUnited States Naval Academy was principally donated by Steve Belichick, and consists of books on football strategy and history, as well as Navy Football memorabilia. His son has contributed to it in recent years, and it is considered one of the largest collections of football-related works outside of thePro Football Hall of Fame.[15]
TheSteve Belichick Varsity Weight Room of theCase Western Reserve Spartans football team is located inside the Wyant Field House atDiSanto Field inCleveland. The 4,500-square-foot facility was constructed in 2013, funded in part by a donation from son Bill.[16]
In 2019,Struthers High School named its outdoor athletic facilities the Steve Belichick Complex.[17]
| Year | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Bowl/playoffs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hiram Terriers(Independent)(1946–1948) | |||||||||
| 1946 | Hiram | 5–3 | |||||||
| 1947 | Hiram | 2–4–1 | |||||||
| 1948 | Hiram | 1–5–1 | |||||||
| Hiram: | 8–12–2 | ||||||||
| Total: | 8–12–2 | ||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
