The legendary partnership between Bill Belichik and the New England Patriots came to an end after 23 years and six Super Bowls.
Belichik is considered one of the best coaches in the National Football League history.
He started as an assistant coach and defensive backs for the Patriots and was hired as a head coach in 2000. Since that year, Patriots reached greater heights.
He led the 30-12 record in the playoffs and nine Super Bowl appearances. He led them to eleven consecutive playoff appearances, which is the most in league history for any team.
The legacy he left will be tough to follow.
Can his replacement Jerod Mayo live up to Belichick's success?
It is a full-circle moment who spent his entire pro career with the Patriots, all under Belichick.
He retired in 2016 with one Super Bowl and two Pro Bowl awards. He was then hired by his former mentor to become his inside linebackers coach.
Familiarity with the system is what Mayo was hired for. In act, he was groomed to be the successor.
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The Patriots organization did not part ways with Belichik without a back-up.
Team owner Robert Kraft plotted a succession plan while the nation was already in discussion of Belichick's future.
There's reason to be optimistic about Mayo
Mayo, 37, is a players' coach.
While the league has seen some coaches return to or promote the traditional type of coaching, Mayo takes the other route.
"He deserves to be a head coach. He's a leader. You have to have your guys want to get up and play for you. It's not easy to do in the NFL when you have other grown men. It's not easy to get up to play for coaches, especially coaches you don't respect. I think I'm speaking for everybody when I say everybody respects Coach Mayo," veteran Davon Godchaux said of Mayo's hiring.
Mayo wants to do it differently. He is not a Belichick clone. He believes that it is important to adjust to the way the game is played today by a whole different generation.
"I coach out of love. Once you build that relationship with a guy, you can be tough on the players," he said after the announcement.
"But if you don't have that warmth before confidence; it was a little different when I played. Whatever the coach told you to do, you just go out and do it. But this generation is a little bit different. They want to understand the 'why.'"
Defensive genius is what Mayo generally brings to the table.
In Week 18, he is credited for the team's success against the Buffalo Bills even if it did not translate to a victory.
His football IQ is not to be underestimated though. That is what endeared him to Belichick, leading to his hiring as an assistant and then later on as an NFL analyst with NBC.
Belichik called him the defensive signal caller for his leadership in the field.
Mayo can change the culture with the Patriots and all needs fans to do for now is trust the process, just like how they trusted the guy as their player and assistant coach.
Related article: Bill Belichick's 5 Most Memorable Moments of His Patriots Coaching Career
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