Plain Dealer Browns beat writer Mary Kay Cabot recalls her time covering the Patriots coach during his time in Cleveland from 1991 to '95 ... a period of learning for both of them.
View full sizeBill Belichick was never embraced by Browns fans during his five seasons in Cleveland, and he was fired with a 36-44 record after the team moved to Baltimore. In New England, Belichick has a 139-53 record and has the team in its fifth Super Bowl since he took over in 2000.INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Covering Bill Belichick in the Super Bowl here this week transports me back to the five years I covered him in Cleveland (1991-95).
They were some of the most difficult years of my life -- and some of the most rewarding.
Belichick was a first-time head coach, and I was a first-time Browns beat writer. We both made plenty of mistakes, but we both learned a lot during those years.
If you can survive covering Belichick your first time up, you can handle almost anything on a beat. In fact, the writers during those years bonded through our adversity and still laugh about it.
There was the time Ed Meyer from the Akron Beacon Journal tried to get to the bottom of why Belichick replaced the outdoor fields in Berea at a cost of about $500,000.
Supposedly, the fields had been flooding and couldn't be used for days.
Meyer asked Belichick, "What happens to the fields when it rains?"
Belichick paused for a moment and replied, "They get wet."
Dead silence.
None of us could look up from our notebooks or we would've burst out laughing. Happened all the time. Ask a stupid question (we immediately discovered there is such a thing) and you'd get nailed.
When Belichick first arrived in Cleveland, he cared about his relationship with the media and his image. But he quickly realized the honeymoon was over, and the five-year battle was on.
Still, Belichick tried hard to get along with me, and vice versa.
He often invited me into his office on Mondays after games to watch film with him and late Browns play-by-play man Casey Coleman. Under siege by most of the media, Belichick found a friend in Coleman, who made him laugh at himself and lighten up.
View full sizeBill Belichick, right, has had far more success in New England than he did in Cleveland. But then, he didn't have a quarterback like Tom Brady when he was with the Browns.I admit, it was intimidating watching films with Belichick. I wanted to ask questions and make observations, but I kept my mouth shut for fear of getting shot down. So I mostly watched while he pointed out errant plays, missed blocks and botched routes.
Little did I know at the time that I was learning from a coach who would go on to become one of the greatest of all time, just one Super Bowl victory shy of tying former Steelers coach Chuck Noll for the most in NFL history -- four.
Once, Belichick invited me on a draft visit for a private workout with a prospect. We flew on a small private jet, just me, Belichick, General Manager Mike Lombardi and Coleman. Belichick gave me first dibs on the lunch entrees -- there was one of everything -- and he dropped an F-bomb when I picked the salmon. Guess that's the one he wanted.
On the trip, I saw a different Belichick than the stone-face that greeted us at news conferences. He blared some headbanging rock in the car and stopped at his favorite barber for a haircut. He seemed just like a normal guy.
Another time, Belichick highlighted every negative line I wrote about him and read me every one. It showed me that he really cared about his image and was hoping for a break.
Back in those days, the writers often stayed in the team hotel, and every time I'd go to ride the exercise bike, it had been ripped out of the fitness room, a gaping hole in its place. Where was it? In Belichick's room, where he could watch game film while riding it. Ever the multitasker, he often ate, rode the bike and watched film at the same time.
I talked to him on the phone more than any coach I've ever covered (including Chris Palmer, Butch Davis, Terry Robiskie, Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini and Pat Shurmur) because we often argued about things. One Saturday morning, he called me at home at 7 a.m. to yell at me for writing that receiver Michael Jackson wasn't going to play against the Jets because of an injury. He didn't have much of a case when I told him it was then-Browns owner Art Modell who had told me at practice Friday that Jackson was out.
Once, when he was chewing me out, I shot back, "If you don't have the [guts] to yell at the guys like this, then don't do it to me!"
Then there was that fateful day in November 1993, when Belichick released quarterback Bernie Kosar with the team at 5-3. Belichick told me a few days later that he knew he was doomed when I slammed down my notebook as he announced the move. I swear I don't remember doing that, but he insists I did.
A few days later, he spent at least an hour screaming at me over the phone for putting a line in my story that police were stationed outside his house in Brecksville because of death threats he had received. When I informed him that an editor inserted that into my story, he spent an hour yelling at the sports editor.
Still, all this showed to me how passionate he was about his job and how every detail mattered to him. Belichick also allowed me to interview his now ex-wife, Debby, about their private life, their family, how they met, etc. I went to their house and spent hours with her. She felt Belichick was misunderstood and that fans should see his personal side.
While Belichick was busy clashing with the media, he was also assembling an amazing staff that would go on to become a who's who of pro and college sports. He hired young guys who shared his passion for football and let them do their jobs. They included guys such as Scott Pioli, who went from van driver in Cleveland to general manager of the Patriots and Chiefs. It included Phil Savage, Mike Tannenbaum and Ozzie Newsome, who all went on to become NFL general managers. It included Jim Schwartz, Nick Saban and Mangini, who would go on to become head coaches in the NFL, and Kirk Ferentz and Pat Hill, who would become college head coaches.
I ran into many of them here in Indy this week, and we reminisced about those old Cleveland days. Pioli reminded me how Belichick once stuffed a $100 bill into the ashtray of Pioli's car after he drove Belichick to the airport, and how Belichick gave most of his TV and radio appearance money to his assistant coaches.
All of them reminded me how Belichick had the Browns on track for greatness with his 11-5 season in 1994 -- which included a victory against the Patriots in the wild-card playoff game and a loss to the Steelers in the divisional round. Who knows what he could have achieved in Cleveland had Modell not uprooted the team in 1995 and moved it to Baltimore?
"All the signs were there in Cleveland that Bill was capable of what he's accomplishing now," said former Browns linebacker Carl Banks.
In 2005, Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Halberstam interviewed me for his book on Belichick, "The Education of a Coach." After the interview, he asked me off the record about my relationship with Belichick now. I told him, "Nonexistent. I see him at the NFL combine, and he acts like he's never met me. He's declined my interview requests."
Halberstam said: "You should really try to make that right with him. Life's too short." Less than two years later, Halberstam was killed in a car accident, and his words sprang to mind.
But here at the Super Bowl, I'm just another face among the thousands of reporters trying to ask Belichick a question. I can't get near him, and I haven't tried. But there's a part of me that knows I had at least a bit part in the career of one of the greatest coaches of all time.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: mcabot@plaind.com, 216-999-4670
On Twitter: @marykaycabot
Source: http://www.cleveland.com/browns/index.ssf/2012/02/new_england_patriots_coach_bil.html
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