PHOENIX — In 1978, Denver Broncos head coach Red Miller hired (Bill) Belichick as the assistant special teams coach and assistant to defensive coordinator Joe Collier.
— New England Patriots media guide
Not exactly.
Bill Belichick is the coach of the year and the NFL coach of this millennium, and he may be the coach of the only 19-0 football team in history, and he might end up as the supreme NFL coach of all time.
But, 30 years ago, Belichick was 25 and unemployed, and Miller had never heard of him.
In late January of 1978, Miller was basking in the afterglow of the Broncos’ first Super Bowl. Even though they had lost to the Dallas Cowboys in XII (the current Super Bowl is XLII), the Broncos finished with a 14-3 record and lost only once in their first 13 games.
Miller had signed in 1977 to coach the Broncos for $50,000. The late Fred Gehrke, then the club’s general manager, gave Miller a $10,000 bonus after the club’s remarkable season, then asked for a favor.
“Fred said he had a friend at Navy who called about his son, who wanted to learn more about football, and he wanted me to give the guy kind of a job,” Miller said Monday.
The friend’s name was Steve Belichick. He was an assistant at the U.S. Naval Academy. His son’s name was Bill.
“Hey, it was room and board and a few bucks, and he was a go-fer, totally,” Miller says. Belichick now makes $4 million a year.
Defensive coordinator Joe Collier wanted Belichick as his own personal assistant for the 1978 season, “but we didn’t have that luxury. The guy was supposed to write (scouting) reports for the offense, defense, special teams.
“He was tardy with a few reports, and I told him that wasn’t going to happen again, or he’d be out. It didn’t.”
Miller has a few vivid memories of Belichick.
“I didn’t think he was good, bad or indifferent. He had his ups and downs, in general. But he was a sponge. Whatever we said and did, he took it all in.”
Belichick “wasn’t the best-dressed kid.” Figures.
And, although Miller emphasizes “that I don’t like to say anything negative about somebody,” Belichick “was the most dour young man I’ve ever been around.”
(So, if you wondering if Belichick recently developed that personality trait . . .)
The New England Patriots coach is Mr. Dark and Gloomy in public, the Crème de la Grim to the media, The Spymaster With the Fish Handshake to opposing coaches.
Belichick’s game-day outfit seems more suited for standing on a downtown side street than a stadium sideline. He needs a cardboard sign, not a game-plan card. To most, he seems to have The Terminator’s heart and an exterminator’s attitude.
He arrived at Monday afternoon’s news conference disguised as a banker — in a coat and tie. But Belichick didn’t mask his antipathy.
Did quarterback Tom Brady practice Monday?
“He was out there like everybody else.”
How was Brady’s ankle?
“He was out there like everybody else.”
It doesn’t matter to me. If I want humor, I go to The Comedy Works. If I want charm and personality, I watch “Miss America.” If I want fashion, I hang out with Giorgio Armani. Anyway, a coach who loves to attend Jon Bon Jovi concerts isn’t always on the dark side of the force, and Belichick did sing “Love Potion No. 9” at a large party he threw (although he did demand that all videos of the performance be destroyed).
And this is about coaching, not congeniality.
Belichick has won 105 games in eight seasons with the Patriots and could win his fourth Super Bowl in seven seasons. He used to be jealous of Mike Shanahan. Guess who’s what this week.
The grandson of a Croatian emigrant — the family name actually is “Belicic” — Belichick studied at the feet, literally, of his father, who played for the Detroit Lions one season (after serving as the team’s equipment manager) and coached as a college assistant for 33. The young Belichick would chart players’ game grades when he was 9 and analyze Navy’s opponents when he was 10.
After he played football — and squash — at Wesleyan (Conn.) University, Belichick got his first opportunity in 1975 as a special assistant with the Baltimore Colts — he mostly drove coach Ted Marchibroda to and from work — then went to the Lions as an assistant’s assistant. When the coach was fired during the season, Belichick’s career in the NFL appeared to be in jeopardy.
Belichick was given another chance in Denver 30 years ago — and got to the playoffs. A season later, he was hired by Ray Perkins to become the special-teams coach of the Giants.
“He’s become a great football coach,” says Miller, who was a great football coach. The old redhead will be viewing the game from his sofa Sunday and occasionally thinking of a Super Bowl XXX years past.
Belichick should send Miller a ticket. Exactly.
Woody Paige: 303-954-1095 or wpaige@denverpost.com
