Steve Belichick

FOXBOROUGH -- Steve Belichick, an influential college football scout for decades and the father of New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, died Saturday night of heart failure. He was 86. "I coached this game with a heavy heart," Bill Belichick said after yesterday's 24-17 win over the New Orleans Saints. "I found out about it the middle of last night. " The Patriots' coach learned his meticulous game preparation by watching his father, an assistant coach at Navy for 33 years.

FOXBOROUGH - When Justin Francis , one of the Patriots' seven undrafted rookies, signed with the team, he immediately had a built-in support system. The 6-foot-4-inch, 275-pound defensive lineman played with Devin McCourty and Alex Silvestro at Rutgers, and is also good friends with New England's newest coaching assistant, Steve Belichick . "Steve's been a great friend for me for quite some time," Francis said, noting that the two met in math class several years ago and struck up a quick friendship.

FOXBOROUGH - When Justin Francis, one of the Patriots’ seven undrafted rookies, signed with the team, he immediately had a built-in support system. The 6-foot-4-inch, 275-pound defensive lineman played with Devin McCourty and Alex Silvestro at Rutgers, and is also good friends with New England’s newest coaching assistant, Steve Belichick. “Steve’s been a great friend for me for quite some time,’’ Francis said, noting that the two met in math class several years ago and struck up a quick friendship.

By Shalise Manza Young, Globe Staff Justin Francis, one of the Patriots' seven undrafted rookies, isn't walking into his new situation with the team blind. He's got several people here he can lean on for support. The 6-4, 275 pound defensive lineman from Rutgers played with Devin McCourty and Alex Silvestro, and is also good friends with New England's newest coaching assistant - Steve Belichick. "Steve's been a great friend for me for quite some time," Francis said, noting that the two met in math class several years ago and struck up a quick friendship.

By Shalise Manza Young, Globe Staff Justin Francis, one of the Patriots' seven undrafted rookies, isn't walking into his new situation with the team blind. He's got several people here he can lean on for support. The 6-4, 275 pound defensive lineman from Rutgers played with Devin McCourty and Alex Silvestro, and is also good friends with New England's newest coaching assistant - Steve Belichick. "Steve's been a great friend for me for quite some time," Francis said, noting that the two met in math class several years ago and struck up a quick friendship.

FOXBOROUGH -- Steve Belichick was a football man -- specifically, a college football man -- and on Saturday he did what college football men do. He went to see his beloved Navy Midshipmen defeat Temple in the afternoon and then he settled in front of his television set to watch another football game Saturday night. It was, his son explained, "what he normally does Saturday night. " But this Saturday night was different. "His heart just stopped beating," said the son, Bill, who is the head football coach of the New England Patriots.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- He wasn't a three-time Super Bowl winner yesterday. He wasn't a genius prowling the sideline in his gray hoodie, throwing the red flag and barking orders through his headset. He wasn't the terse, calculating man at the podium, guarding every word for fear he might let a secret slip or incite the opposition. On this day, Bill Belichick was a son saying goodbye to his father. "Dad, may you rest in peace," Belichick said from the pulpit as he looked upon his father's casket, draped in an American flag in the middle aisle of the majestic Naval Academy Chapel.

The dad of the coach was a coach. More than most, he can appreciate what he's been watching almost every Sunday of the NFL season for the last few years. "This is what you strive for," said 86-year-old Steve Belichick, who retired in 1989 after 33 years of scouting and assistant coaching at the Naval Academy. "That's what you've got when you have everybody on the same page, with the same objective, and they don't care who gets the credit. "Tom Brady doesn't give a goddamn whether he gets any credit, or Troy Brown or Corey Dillon.

The New England Patriots have hired Bill Belichick's son as a coaching assistant, making him the third generation of the family to try his hand as a football coach. The team said Thursday that Steve Belichick will join his father's staff. Bill Belichick's father, also named Steve, was a fullback who played for the Detroit Lions and coached in college, spending 33 years on the staff at Navy. The hire was among several New England coaching moves Thursday that included Matt Patricia being moved into the defensive coordinator slot.

FOXBOROUGH -- Bill Belichick may be the best at what he does in the 21st-century NFL, but there is a certain twinkle in his eye reserved for the leather-helmet days of the old National Football League. Leather helmets like the circa 1940s one the Patriots coach whipped out yesterday to show the small media contingent gathered for his final press conference before Monday night's game against the Jets. Besides the old helmet, Belichick had with him a pair of roughed-up, high-top Spot-Bilt shoes that his father Steve wore in his playing days.

The Patriots announced several changes to their coaching staff Thursday, most notably naming Matt Patricia defensive coordinator. Patricia, 37, has been the primary defensive playcaller for at least two seasons, and is the first to hold the title since Dean Pees left after the 2009 season. This is his ninth year in New England. He began in 2004 as an offensive coaching assistant, switching to defense in '06 when Pees was promoted to coordinator and Patricia took over as linebackers coach.

The New England Patriots have hired Bill Belichick's son as a coaching assistant, making him the third generation of the family to try his hand as a football coach. The team said Thursday that Steve Belichick will join his father's staff. Bill Belichick's father, also named Steve, was a fullback who played for the Detroit Lions and coached in college, spending 33 years on the staff at Navy. The hire was among several New England coaching moves Thursday that included Matt Patricia being moved into the defensive coordinator slot.

By Shalise Manza Young, Globe Staff The Patriots have announced several changes to the coaching staff: Matt Patricia, who has served as linebackers coach, and was safeties coach in 2011, and has been the primary defensive play caller for several seasons, was officially named defensive coordinator. This is his ninth season in the NFL, all with the Patriots. Longtime assistant coach Pepper Johnson returns to coaching linebackers, after coaching the defensive line since 2004.

It’s part of the holiday, right there with the Macy’s parade, the smell of cinnamon-sprinkled apple pie, and Uncle Joe succumbing to tryptophan and taking a nap on the couch. The Lions play today. On Thanksgiving. There is comfort in this. U-hauls in the Back Bay tell me it’s Labor Day, Charlie Brown on TV means it’s Christmas, and if I awoke from a coma and saw silver and blue helmets on the plasma, I’d be pretty sure there was turkey in the oven. You can’t hide those Lion guys.

FOXBOROUGH -- The coach has been tested in ways even he could not have envisioned. Bill Belichick is a thoughtful man who prefers not to be surprised; his fastidious preparation routinely sets him apart from his peers. Yet how do you plan for a stroke, a sudden retirement, a series of devastating injuries, the death of the man who taught you everything? Sometime, perhaps when New England's football season finally ends, whether it is tonight in Denver against the Broncos, or next weekend against the Colts or Steelers, or Feb. 5 at Super Bowl XL in Detroit, Belichick may...

FOXBOROUGH -- Bill Belichick may be the best at what he does in the 21st-century NFL, but there is a certain twinkle in his eye reserved for the leather-helmet days of the old National Football League. Leather helmets like the circa 1940s one the Patriots coach whipped out yesterday to show the small media contingent gathered for his final press conference before Monday night's game against the Jets. Besides the old helmet, Belichick had with him a pair of roughed-up, high-top Spot-Bilt shoes that his father Steve wore in his playing days.

By Shalise Manza Young, Globe Staff The Patriots have announced several changes to the coaching staff: Matt Patricia, who has served as linebackers coach, and was safeties coach in 2011, and has been the primary defensive play caller for several seasons, was officially named defensive coordinator. This is his ninth season in the NFL, all with the Patriots. Longtime assistant coach Pepper Johnson returns to coaching linebackers, after coaching the defensive line since 2004.

FOXBOROUGH -- The coach has been tested in ways even he could not have envisioned. Bill Belichick is a thoughtful man who prefers not to be surprised; his fastidious preparation routinely sets him apart from his peers. Yet how do you plan for a stroke, a sudden retirement, a series of devastating injuries, the death of the man who taught you everything? Sometime, perhaps when New England's football season finally ends, whether it is tonight in Denver against the Broncos, or next weekend against the Colts or Steelers, or Feb. 5 at Super Bowl XL in Detroit, Belichick...

ANNAPOLIS, Md. -- He wasn't a three-time Super Bowl winner yesterday. He wasn't a genius prowling the sideline in his gray hoodie, throwing the red flag and barking orders through his headset. He wasn't the terse, calculating man at the podium, guarding every word for fear he might let a secret slip or incite the opposition. On this day, Bill Belichick was a son saying goodbye to his father. "Dad, may you rest in peace," Belichick said from the pulpit as he looked upon his father's casket, draped in an American flag in the middle aisle of the majestic Naval Academy Chapel.