Jerod Mayo understands the significance of being hired as the New England Patriots head coach.
Not only is Mayo succeeding future Hall of Famer Bill Belichick, who was fired after 23 years with the team and one of the greatest head coaching runs in NFL history.
But Mayo is also the first black head coach in the history of the Patriots – something Mayo sees as an important milestone for the team.
During his introductory press conference today, Mayo addressed the significance of his role:
“I do see color. Because I believe if you don’t see color you can’t see racism…
But what I would say is, like, no, I want you to be able to go up to those people and really understand those people. So it goes back to – whatever it is, black, white, yellow – it really doesn’t matter, but it does matter so we can try to fix the problem that we all know we have.”
Mayo is taking over a team that’s used to being Super Bowl contenders year in and year out, winning an incredible six titles with the tandem of Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady.
But since Brady’s departure, the team has struggled to find the kind of success they had during that historic run.
The Patriots have had only one winning season since Brady left, finishing 10-7 in 2021 and losing an embarrassing matchup with the Buffalo Bills in the wild card round of the playoffs.
But the team has finished with losing records for three of the past four seasons, including a disappointing 4-13 campaign in 2023 that left the Patriots at the bottom of the AFC East and ready to move on from their once-untouchable coach.
With Mac Jones proving to be a questionable (to put it nicely) option at quarterback, it seems like Mayo is going to have his work cut out for him to get the team turned around.
