On Thursday, in response to a question about taking his time deciding whether to move on from Bill Belichick, Patriots owner Robert Kraft used one of his favorite phrases.
“I have a saying, when I’m making important decisions, I try to ‘measure nine times and cut once’ because you want to be sure,” Kraft said.
That’s good advice. It’s curious why he didn’t adhere to it when choosing his next coach. Kraft and the Patriots barely had time to do any measuring before they started cutting to replace Belichick.
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Just over 24 hours after the photo opportunity love fest between Robert Kraft and Bill Belichick, the Patriots announced they were hiring Jerod Mayo.
Why the rush?
That’s an awfully quick turnaround. This isn’t college football where a program needs to get their guy in place to start recruiting. Kraft had some time to consider options, gauge interest and then make a more informed decision.
Whatever deal Kraft made with Mayo likely came with the expectation that a Belichick retirement would trigger it. Mayo profiles as a guy who can continue things on the same path. But Belichick’s recent stumbles along that path are why he’s not the coach anymore. The Patriots need some real change. Mayo came into the NFL and played only for Belichick. He entered the coaching world and worked only for Belichick. How is that actually change?
Belichick’s assistants and coordinators have overwhelmingly been failures as head coaches. Trying to replicate his methods hasn’t been successful. Except for Brian Daboll, who is on the hot seat, they’ve all eventually been fired. Mayo comes off both intelligent and wise and his players swear by his leadership. But that doesn’t make him different than so many of the other Belichick acolytes, who were outstanding as Robin, but floundered when asked to be Batman.
Even if the intent was always to hire Mayo, interviewing other candidates has huge value. It will allow whoever is conducting the interviewing process from the Patriots to hear different voices and listen to different ideas.
In his Thursday press conference, Kraft was asked:
“Robert, in your mind, watching this team over the last three losing seasons in four years, 4-13 this year, what’s the biggest reason in your mind on why the team has fallen?”
Kraft paused and answered honestly:
“Well, I’m not sure I’m qualified to answer that. You might be better than I. I don’t know. So many games we’re close. Is it the coaching? Is it the personnel? Something isn’t quite right from where it was. And I’m not smart enough, I think, to give you a credible answer.”
While Kraft’s answer didn’t have knowledge, it had wisdom. He didn’t guess or try to portray himself as a football expert. His success in life didn’t come from football evaluation. Running this interview process is a chance to get valuable answers. It’s a chance to bring in a small parade of really smart people to tell the Krafts what’s gone wrong in the organization and how they’d improve the New England Patriots.
Every year smart executives use some of those ideas even from people they didn’t hire and sometimes hearing those ideas will spark thoughts of their own.
On top of that, maybe the Jets hire one of these candidates next year and today’s conversation becomes interesting intel a year from now.
And maybe it opens the door to the possibility that there might be a candidate who is better than their heir apparent. Finding the best candidate should be the ultimate goal.
And if they still ended up with Mayo, it sends a message to fans and players that he finished first against a robust field which elevates his status beyond just being the guy Kraft took a shine to.
Legacies usually aren’t fair. For all Kraft has accomplished in New England turning the Patriots into a premiere franchise, a large part of how he’s remembered will come from how things finish in his tenure. John Henry made the championship-starved Red Sox into a perennial contender, but fans give his recent failings more weight than his four championships.
Kraft undoubtedly gets that. He admitted Thursday, “At heart, I will always be a sentimental sports fan.”
His fellow sentimental sports fans will equate Mayo’s success or failure to Kraft. With that much on the line, why not measure a few more times to ensure the right guy made the cut?
MassLive sports columnist Matt Vautour on Twitter at @MattVautour424.
