New England Patriots Coach Belichick ’75 Leads Team to Super Bowl

Bill Belichick ’75, head coach of the New England Patriots, will lead his team to the Super Bowl on Feb. 5 against the Atlanta Falcons. The Super Bowl is the National Football League’s annual championship game. Belichick’s team has never lost to the Falcons, in fact, in his four games against Atlanta since 2000, he’s 4-0.

Beginning his NFL career as an assistant coach with the Baltimore Colts in 1975, Belichick moved to the Detroit Lions in 1976, remaining there for two seasons before spending a year in the Denver Broncos organization before moving on the the New York Giants in 1979. In 1991 he was named the head coach of the Cleveland Browns, and also coached for the New York Jets before becoming head coach of the Patriots in 2000. He earned his 200th regular season victory as a head coach after the Patriots’ 30-7 win at Minnesota on Sept. 14, 2014. He became the sixth NFL head coach to reach that mark.

At Wesleyan, Belichick was a football, squash and lacrosse letterwinner, serving as a team captain for the 1975 lacrosse squad, He majored in economics.

Returning to Middletown for Commencement in May, 2002,Belichick received Wesleyan’s Raymond E. Baldwin Medal, the highest honor awarded by the alumni body for extraordinary service to the University and to the public interest. He also spoke to a group of prospective students and their parents during WesFest in April, 2004 and stayed to watch his daughter Amanda ’07 play in a women’s lacrosse game. During Wesleyan’s 2005 Commencement, Belichick received an honorary doctorate from his alma mater and in May, 2008, he became one of the inaugural members of Wesleyan’s newly established Athletics Hall of Fame.

Kickoff for the 51st annual Super Bowl will be at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 5 at NGR Stadium in Houston, Texas and will be aired on FOX. Join fellow Wesleyan alumni for a Super Bowl meetup in Houston. Email Karen Whalen to register.