Patriot Reign
Encyclopedia
Patriot Reign is a best-selling book by Boston Globe/New York Times sports writer Michael Holley
resulting from two years he was given unprecedented access (as if he were a fly on the wall) to the inner sanctums of the world champion New England Patriots
football operations as they worked to turn a good luck year into a legitimate contender of a team. Holley spent his days tracking the behind the scenes operations in the New England Patriots
organization between their first and second Super Bowl
(Super Bowl XXXVI
and Super Bowl XXXVIII
) wins, sitting in on meetings of all kinds, and never being asked to exclude anything. Prohibited from nothing, Holley roamed the managerial meetings and team areas normally closed to the press and conducted in depth interviews with scouts, coaches, and other Patriots insiders up to and including owner Robert Kraft
and his son and President of the Patriots, Jonathan Kraft
.
Published in 2004 by the William Morrow subsidiary of Harper-Collins books, Holley followed the team from within the organization day to day, hour to hour for nearly two full seasons as coach and de facto general manager Bill Belichick
resumed the building of a model NFL franchise interrupted surprisingly to all, by the Patriots unexpected appearance and victory in Super Bowl XXXVI against the St Louis Rams, the self-styled "Greatest Show on Turf". Shortly afterwards, Holley pitched his book concept to Belichick, it was rubber stamped by the Krafts, and Holley took a leave of absence from his newspaper work to immerse himself in the NFL football society known as the New England Patriots.
football program whom he began to help "breaking down film" and recording (analyzing upcoming opponent) plays as early as age eleven. Belichick was so skilled at this, that when he took a position as a graduate intern where this was his job with the Baltimore franchise, his salary was doubled after only a few weeks.
Subsequently Holley shifts to focus in to the early coaching career of Belichick (from age 23) as he went from Graduate intern to jobs as various positions coach under four different coaches in three different football organizations including Ted Marchibroda
in Baltimore and Rick Forzano
of the Detroit Lions
.
Holley all but ignores Belichicks ten years or so with the New York Giants
as defensive co-ordinator and (eventually) as assistant coach —where he established himself as a defensive genius— touching on those years only in passing as if assuming the reader is familiar with that record. One is instead given tidbit mentions of certain key achievements of Belichicks defenses and the dominating Giants' teams he helped construct sprinkled throughout the book.
Eschewing such a linear history, the narrative touches on the near hiring of Belichick as head coach by the Arizona Cardinals
in 1987 when that team moved from St Louis and immediately shifts to the era four years later to focus in closely on Belichicks' four years (1991-1995) with the (Old) Cleveland Browns
where Belchick was the youngest NFL head coach theretofore, but one which the media deemed for a time to be just an average head coach, and one they disliked for his policies keeping them away from the team after they'd had years of free access at will. Holley relates the behind the scenes viewpoint of the press about Belichick based on the Cleveland days, where he had taken a 2-14 team to the 11-5 and the AFC playoffs in just three years, so he "may be worthy of respect". By the time of his surprising resignation as "HC of the NYJ", the press jury was definitely hung on his skills as a head coach. Holley necessarily covers the Browns flight from Cleveland to Baltimore, that left owner Art Modell
as the most hated man in Cleveland, so much so Modell wouldn't attend the funeral of a long time friend and associate for fear of his life only a few years ago.
In an introspective section contrasting then-to-now Holley covers mistakes (according to) Belichick that he made with the press, general management and the eccentric owner Art Modell in his first position as head coach from the secure seat of his second wearing the ring from Super Bowl XXXVI, and the reader is first presented with some insight-gems as to why Belichick does what he does with the press and players and the glimpses of his thought processes, policies and attitudes that have turned him into one of the most successful head coaches in all of sports. This treatment also serves to let Belichicks personality come through and humanizes the icon and the reader is given the first inkling that Belichick really resents the press perception that he'd been trained by and was some kind of Parcells disciple—which Belichick communicates is very disrespectful of the great coaches he worked under in his twenties and thirties.
Quotes and anecdotes are sprinkled within the narrative flow and well chosen to illustrate the theme of the narrative about the time period being exposed. The technique is quite effective in showing Belichick the complex man behind the dour face, and part of what we learn is the cerebral "defensive genius" is one hell of a teacher, parent, and thinker that possesses a great penchant for joking around and telling stories while being profane as needed in his direct communications at need. If a point can be improved by resorting to the punctuational emphasis of a colorful swear word, Belichick the chess playing intellectual will happily use the tool to accomplish the mission: The job is always to win the next game, to be better going forward, to be more flexible, to have backup options, to be ready for anything, and yesterday as well as what you accomplished back then is irrelevant—always. This part of his history concludes with how Belichick parted ways with owner Art Modell
and did not follow the team in the 1996-97 off season to Baltimore
where it was reincarnated as today's Baltimore Ravens
and enters near-contemporary history and certainly that most of interest to Patriots fans when Belichick first joined the New England Patriots
.
In February of 2009, the book reentered the national consciousness suddenly after syndicated radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh
discussed the passages in the book dealing with Belichick's philosophy that he found to be instructive on his program.
who'd employed him in his decade with the New York Giants, to one exposing the complex relationships and interpersonal dynamics governing the management interactions of the 1996 Patriots
, the relationships between the Krafts and Parcells, and exposes key points in their characters, philosophies, and history.
As the new assistant head coach for the New England Patriots
Belichick soon found he'd become the ombudsman to the novice owners Robert Kraft
and his son Jonathan
who were in a shaky relationship with veteran coach and football icon Parcells, and that there was "A history" between the owners and Parcells that was leading to a deteriorating situation. Using that situation to segue, the book then pauses to give a football background history of Robert Kraft and then moving lightly into the business realm, touches on his financial analysis (business evaluation) that the Patriots could not be successful economically as a franchise without also owning the stadium and its revenues. Kraft couldn't afford to buy the Patriots in 1988, but his move to save Billy Sullivan
and Foxboro stadium
in Foxborough, MA from bankruptcy by purchasing it himself when Sullivan sold the Patriots to Victor Kiam
made him their landlord, and positioned him to own the team later in pursuit of a years long dream.
and Parcells
was strained and rocky and got worse with time as new owners with their net worth on the line were unwilling to give a carte blanche to Parcells spending on the Football Operations spending side of the business. The Krafts believed in giving management plenty of space, but not carte blanche without occasional questions and answers. Parcells felt the owner was interfering with his prerogatives and what was needed to run a successful winning football franchise, especially in light of the new NFL salary cap which took effect in 1994. The result was a stalemate that led to Bill Belichick
, as newly hired Assistant Head Coach mediating between the two in the 1996 season, and to the distracting and disruptive rumors that Parcells was leaving the franchise that dominated the news prior to the teams participation in Super Bowl XXXI
(as double-digit under dogs) despite the fact Parcells was under contract through the 1997 season.
President of the Patriots, Jonathan Kraft
is quoted in the book as saying "It was a very, very strange time, and when you are not an expert at this business—you know we were still very new to the business—it can be educational. Big Bill had kept us in the dark on a lot of things. He probably misled us on some things. And we didn't know how to go about questioning it."
The reader learns how unable to move the team as he could not break the long term lease with Foxboro Stadium, former owner James Orthwein
put the team up for sale in 1994 and this time Kraft was ready, willing, and able to outbid all others for the team an achieve his lifelong dream, even though he had to pay (for the times) an unprecedented large price for the team, $200,000,000 and inheriting a strong minded football icon for a head coach with whom he had no relationship. Holley next sketches in how the Krafts' business acumen then immediately kicked in to improve the teams revenues and establish an ever increasing fan base (in no small part by ending the dubious practice of blocking out local television coverage when there were seats available) which has resulted in consecutively increasing sales every years since, and a sold out stadium since the 1996 season with a waiting list for season tickets that goes for years.
Michael Holley
Michael Holley is an American television and radio sports commentator, sports reporter and author. He formerly wrote columns for the Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, The Plain Dealer, and Akron Beacon Journal.-Career:...
resulting from two years he was given unprecedented access (as if he were a fly on the wall) to the inner sanctums of the world champion New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
football operations as they worked to turn a good luck year into a legitimate contender of a team. Holley spent his days tracking the behind the scenes operations in the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
organization between their first and second Super Bowl
Super Bowl
The Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League , the highest level of professional American football in the United States, culminating a season that begins in the late summer of the previous calendar year. The Super Bowl uses Roman numerals to identify each game, rather...
(Super Bowl XXXVI
Super Bowl XXXVI
Super Bowl XXXVI was an American football game played on February 3, 2002 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 2001 regular season. The American Football Conference champion New England Patriots won their first Super...
and Super Bowl XXXVIII
Super Bowl XXXVIII
Super Bowl XXXVIII was an American football game played on February 1, 2004 at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas to decide the National Football League champion following the 2003 regular season....
) wins, sitting in on meetings of all kinds, and never being asked to exclude anything. Prohibited from nothing, Holley roamed the managerial meetings and team areas normally closed to the press and conducted in depth interviews with scouts, coaches, and other Patriots insiders up to and including owner Robert Kraft
Robert Kraft
Robert K. Kraft is an American business magnate. He is the Chairman and was the Chief Executive Officer of The Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment, real estate development and a private equity portfolio...
and his son and President of the Patriots, Jonathan Kraft
Jonathan Kraft
Jonathan A. Kraft is an American businessman, the president of the New England Patriots, owner/investor of the New England Revolution, and both president and chief operating officer of The Kraft Group...
.
Published in 2004 by the William Morrow subsidiary of Harper-Collins books, Holley followed the team from within the organization day to day, hour to hour for nearly two full seasons as coach and de facto general manager Bill Belichick
Bill Belichick
William Stephen "Bill" Belichick is an American football head coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. After spending his first 15 seasons in the league as an assistant coach, Belichick got his first head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns in 1991...
resumed the building of a model NFL franchise interrupted surprisingly to all, by the Patriots unexpected appearance and victory in Super Bowl XXXVI against the St Louis Rams, the self-styled "Greatest Show on Turf". Shortly afterwards, Holley pitched his book concept to Belichick, it was rubber stamped by the Krafts, and Holley took a leave of absence from his newspaper work to immerse himself in the NFL football society known as the New England Patriots.
Deep background
The first few chapters of the work set the stage and introduce the main Patriots 'characters' and their resumes, similar to most any book. It does not get bogged down in small biographical data, but focuses in on matters which would be most of interest to fans of American Professional Football. Unsurprisingly, the book begins by covering the early experiences of Belichick as a young coach including his tutoring under his late father, Steven Belichick, a lifelong scout and coach for the United States Naval AcademyUnited States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
football program whom he began to help "breaking down film" and recording (analyzing upcoming opponent) plays as early as age eleven. Belichick was so skilled at this, that when he took a position as a graduate intern where this was his job with the Baltimore franchise, his salary was doubled after only a few weeks.
Subsequently Holley shifts to focus in to the early coaching career of Belichick (from age 23) as he went from Graduate intern to jobs as various positions coach under four different coaches in three different football organizations including Ted Marchibroda
Ted Marchibroda
Theodore "Ted" Joseph Marchibroda is a former American football quarterback and head coach in the National Football League.-Player:...
in Baltimore and Rick Forzano
Rick Forzano
Richard Edward "Rick" Forzano is a former American football coach at the high school, collegiate and professional levels, most prominently as head coach of the National Football League's Detroit Lions from 1974-1976....
of the Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions
The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the North Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League , and play their home games at Ford Field in Downtown Detroit.Originally based in Portsmouth, Ohio and...
.
Holley all but ignores Belichicks ten years or so with the New York Giants
New York Giants
The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in East Rutherford, New Jersey, representing the New York City metropolitan area. The Giants are currently members of the Eastern Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
as defensive co-ordinator and (eventually) as assistant coach —where he established himself as a defensive genius— touching on those years only in passing as if assuming the reader is familiar with that record. One is instead given tidbit mentions of certain key achievements of Belichicks defenses and the dominating Giants' teams he helped construct sprinkled throughout the book.
Eschewing such a linear history, the narrative touches on the near hiring of Belichick as head coach by the Arizona Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
in 1987 when that team moved from St Louis and immediately shifts to the era four years later to focus in closely on Belichicks' four years (1991-1995) with the (Old) Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
where Belchick was the youngest NFL head coach theretofore, but one which the media deemed for a time to be just an average head coach, and one they disliked for his policies keeping them away from the team after they'd had years of free access at will. Holley relates the behind the scenes viewpoint of the press about Belichick based on the Cleveland days, where he had taken a 2-14 team to the 11-5 and the AFC playoffs in just three years, so he "may be worthy of respect". By the time of his surprising resignation as "HC of the NYJ", the press jury was definitely hung on his skills as a head coach. Holley necessarily covers the Browns flight from Cleveland to Baltimore, that left owner Art Modell
Art Modell
Arthur B. Modell is an American businessman, entrepreneur and former National Football League team owner. He owned the Cleveland Browns franchise from 1961–1995 and the Baltimore Ravens franchise from 1996–2004. Modell is the grandson of the late Morris Modell who founded the northeast...
as the most hated man in Cleveland, so much so Modell wouldn't attend the funeral of a long time friend and associate for fear of his life only a few years ago.
In an introspective section contrasting then-to-now Holley covers mistakes (according to) Belichick that he made with the press, general management and the eccentric owner Art Modell in his first position as head coach from the secure seat of his second wearing the ring from Super Bowl XXXVI, and the reader is first presented with some insight-gems as to why Belichick does what he does with the press and players and the glimpses of his thought processes, policies and attitudes that have turned him into one of the most successful head coaches in all of sports. This treatment also serves to let Belichicks personality come through and humanizes the icon and the reader is given the first inkling that Belichick really resents the press perception that he'd been trained by and was some kind of Parcells disciple—which Belichick communicates is very disrespectful of the great coaches he worked under in his twenties and thirties.
Quotes and anecdotes are sprinkled within the narrative flow and well chosen to illustrate the theme of the narrative about the time period being exposed. The technique is quite effective in showing Belichick the complex man behind the dour face, and part of what we learn is the cerebral "defensive genius" is one hell of a teacher, parent, and thinker that possesses a great penchant for joking around and telling stories while being profane as needed in his direct communications at need. If a point can be improved by resorting to the punctuational emphasis of a colorful swear word, Belichick the chess playing intellectual will happily use the tool to accomplish the mission: The job is always to win the next game, to be better going forward, to be more flexible, to have backup options, to be ready for anything, and yesterday as well as what you accomplished back then is irrelevant—always. This part of his history concludes with how Belichick parted ways with owner Art Modell
Art Modell
Arthur B. Modell is an American businessman, entrepreneur and former National Football League team owner. He owned the Cleveland Browns franchise from 1961–1995 and the Baltimore Ravens franchise from 1996–2004. Modell is the grandson of the late Morris Modell who founded the northeast...
and did not follow the team in the 1996-97 off season to Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
where it was reincarnated as today's Baltimore Ravens
Baltimore Ravens
The Baltimore Ravens are a professional football franchise based in Baltimore, Maryland.The Baltimore Ravens are officially a quasi-expansion franchise, having originated in 1995 with the Cleveland Browns relocation controversy after Art Modell, then owner of the Cleveland Browns, announced his...
and enters near-contemporary history and certainly that most of interest to Patriots fans when Belichick first joined the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
.
In February of 2009, the book reentered the national consciousness suddenly after syndicated radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Hudson Limbaugh III is an American radio talk show host, conservative political commentator, and an opinion leader in American conservatism. He hosts The Rush Limbaugh Show which is aired throughout the U.S. on Premiere Radio Networks and is the highest-rated talk-radio program in the United...
discussed the passages in the book dealing with Belichick's philosophy that he found to be instructive on his program.
Tailspin relations of 1996
The narrative continues next by focusing on his history when he was hired immediately post-Browns by his old boss Bill ParcellsBill Parcells
Duane Charles "Bill" Parcells is a former American football head coach, most recently with the Dallas Cowboys from 2003 to 2006...
who'd employed him in his decade with the New York Giants, to one exposing the complex relationships and interpersonal dynamics governing the management interactions of the 1996 Patriots
1996 New England Patriots season
The New England Patriots participated in the National Football League's 1996 season, the team's 37th in football. The Patriots finished with a record of eleven wins and five losses, and finished first in the AFC East division...
, the relationships between the Krafts and Parcells, and exposes key points in their characters, philosophies, and history.
As the new assistant head coach for the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
Belichick soon found he'd become the ombudsman to the novice owners Robert Kraft
Robert Kraft
Robert K. Kraft is an American business magnate. He is the Chairman and was the Chief Executive Officer of The Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment, real estate development and a private equity portfolio...
and his son Jonathan
Jonathan Kraft
Jonathan A. Kraft is an American businessman, the president of the New England Patriots, owner/investor of the New England Revolution, and both president and chief operating officer of The Kraft Group...
who were in a shaky relationship with veteran coach and football icon Parcells, and that there was "A history" between the owners and Parcells that was leading to a deteriorating situation. Using that situation to segue, the book then pauses to give a football background history of Robert Kraft and then moving lightly into the business realm, touches on his financial analysis (business evaluation) that the Patriots could not be successful economically as a franchise without also owning the stadium and its revenues. Kraft couldn't afford to buy the Patriots in 1988, but his move to save Billy Sullivan
Billy Sullivan (American football)
William Hallissey "Billy" Sullivan, Jr. was an American businessman who owned the Boston Patriots franchise from their inception in the American Football League until their sale, as the New England Patriots of the NFL, to Victor Kiam in 1988.-Early life:Sullivan was born in Lowell, Massachusetts...
and Foxboro stadium
Foxboro Stadium
Foxboro Stadium was an outdoor stadium, located in Foxborough, Massachusetts...
in Foxborough, MA from bankruptcy by purchasing it himself when Sullivan sold the Patriots to Victor Kiam
Victor Kiam
Victor K. Kiam was an American entrepreneur and the owner of the New England Patriots football team from 1988-1991....
made him their landlord, and positioned him to own the team later in pursuit of a years long dream.
The 2000 season controversy
Despite the marketing successes, the relationship between KraftRobert Kraft
Robert K. Kraft is an American business magnate. He is the Chairman and was the Chief Executive Officer of The Kraft Group, a diversified holding company with assets in paper and packaging, sports and entertainment, real estate development and a private equity portfolio...
and Parcells
Bill Parcells
Duane Charles "Bill" Parcells is a former American football head coach, most recently with the Dallas Cowboys from 2003 to 2006...
was strained and rocky and got worse with time as new owners with their net worth on the line were unwilling to give a carte blanche to Parcells spending on the Football Operations spending side of the business. The Krafts believed in giving management plenty of space, but not carte blanche without occasional questions and answers. Parcells felt the owner was interfering with his prerogatives and what was needed to run a successful winning football franchise, especially in light of the new NFL salary cap which took effect in 1994. The result was a stalemate that led to Bill Belichick
Bill Belichick
William Stephen "Bill" Belichick is an American football head coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. After spending his first 15 seasons in the league as an assistant coach, Belichick got his first head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns in 1991...
, as newly hired Assistant Head Coach mediating between the two in the 1996 season, and to the distracting and disruptive rumors that Parcells was leaving the franchise that dominated the news prior to the teams participation in Super Bowl XXXI
Super Bowl XXXI
Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game played on January 26, 1997, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 1996 regular season. The National Football Conference champion Green Bay Packers defeated the American...
(as double-digit under dogs) despite the fact Parcells was under contract through the 1997 season.
President of the Patriots, Jonathan Kraft
Jonathan Kraft
Jonathan A. Kraft is an American businessman, the president of the New England Patriots, owner/investor of the New England Revolution, and both president and chief operating officer of The Kraft Group...
is quoted in the book as saying "It was a very, very strange time, and when you are not an expert at this business—you know we were still very new to the business—it can be educational. Big Bill had kept us in the dark on a lot of things. He probably misled us on some things. And we didn't know how to go about questioning it."
The reader learns how unable to move the team as he could not break the long term lease with Foxboro Stadium, former owner James Orthwein
James Orthwein
James Busch Orthwein was an American advertising executive and great-grandson of Anheuser-Busch founder Adolphus Busch. Orthwein owned the New England Patriots from 1992-1993.-Life and career:...
put the team up for sale in 1994 and this time Kraft was ready, willing, and able to outbid all others for the team an achieve his lifelong dream, even though he had to pay (for the times) an unprecedented large price for the team, $200,000,000 and inheriting a strong minded football icon for a head coach with whom he had no relationship. Holley next sketches in how the Krafts' business acumen then immediately kicked in to improve the teams revenues and establish an ever increasing fan base (in no small part by ending the dubious practice of blocking out local television coverage when there were seats available) which has resulted in consecutively increasing sales every years since, and a sold out stadium since the 1996 season with a waiting list for season tickets that goes for years.