List of New England Patriots head coaches

This is a complete list of New England Patriots head coaches. There have been 14 head coaches for the New England Patriots football franchise. The team began as the Boston Patriots in the American Football League, a league which merged with the National Football League prior to the 1970 season. [cite web |url=http://www.profootballhof.com/history/team.jsp?franchise_id=19 |title=Boston Patriots |accessdate=2008-05-13 |publisher=Pro Football Hall of Fame]

Lou Saban became the first coach of the New England Patriots in 1960, though he was fired part way through their second season. [cite web |url=http://www.profootballhof.com/history/team.jsp?FRANCHISE_ID=4 |title=Buffalo Bills |accessdate=2008-05-13 |publisher=Pro Football Hall of Fame] In terms of tenure, Bill Belichick, the current coach, has led the team for more games (128) and more complete seasons (eight) than any other head coach. He has also led the team to four of their Super Bowl appearances, winning three of them. Mike Holovak, Raymond Berry, and Bill Parcells all led the Patriots to league championship games, though all three lost. Five Patriots head coaches, Holovak, Chuck Fairbanks, Berry, Parcells, and Belichick, have been named coach of the year by at least one major news organization. Additionally, Raymond Berry is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, having been inducted in 1973, eleven years before he became the Patriots' head coach. [cite web | title = Raymond Berry profile | publisher = Pro Football Hall of Fame | url = http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/member.jsp?PLAYER_ID=25 | accessdate = 2008-04-24]

Twice in Patriots history there were "interim" head coaches. In 1972, John Mazur resigned with five games left in the season. cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/articles/2005/12/01/for_mazur_the_scars_remain/?page=1|title=For Mazur, the scars remain |accessdate=2008-05-14 |last=Grossfeld |first=Stan|coauthors= |date= |work=The Boston Globe |publisher=] Phil Bengston was named as the interim head coach for the rest of the season, during which he only won one game, and he was not made the permanent coach the next year. In 1978, head coach Fairbanks secretly made a deal to leave the team to coach the University of Colorado Buffaloes while he was still coaching Patriots. Team owner Billy Sullivan suspended Fairbanks for the final game of the regular season, stating "You cannot serve two masters," and Ron Erhardt and Hank Bullough took co-head coaching responsibilities for that game.cite news |url=http://www.boston.com/sports/football/patriots/superbowl/globe_stories/020502/butt_of_jokes_to_last_laugh+.shtml |title=Butt of jokes to last laugh |accessdate=2008-04-26 |last=Borges |first=Ron |coauthors= |date= |work=The Boston Globe |publisher=] Fairbanks was reinstated when the team qualified for the playoffs, and he lost the first playoff game, his last for the Patriots. The statistics are through the end of the 2007 NFL season.

Key

Coaches

Notes and references