Patriot Lames: Why Have Bill Belichick's Disciples Failed to Succeed?

Sometimes, the apple falls a little further from the tree than usual.

With some of Bill Belichick’s disciples, it’s safe to say the apple fell off the tree, rolled down a hill, across the street, and into a sewage drain.

How one of the greatest head coaches of our time has dispensed so many head coaches who have utterly failed to live up to expectations leaves a lot of space to wonder.

All these men were heralded play-callers who could maximize the talents of their players. The additional work implied with any head coaching job goes far above and beyond those of a coordinator, though. Head coaches largely take charge of personnel decisions ranging from players to coordinators, and all the staffing in between.

With that in mind, I’ll take a look at some of Belichick’s most notable disciples and grade their performance since they left the Patriots’ threshold.

Charlie Weis

Head Coaching Record: 35-27

Not enough is made of Charlie Weis’ overall record with the Fighting Irish. He had three winning seasons in his five seasons as head coach of Notre Dame.

With a rapidly-developing Brady Quinn at quarterback, the Irish went 9-3 in Weis’ first season as head coach in 2005. They lost in the Fiesta Bowl to Ohio State and finished the season ranked No. 9 in the BCS rankings.

The 2006 season was even more impressive, as the Irish went 10-2 in the regular season and earned a trip to the Sugar Bowl, where they were unceremoniously smacked around by LSU to the tune of 41-14.

That loss seemed to mark a turning of the tide for Notre Dame.

At that point, most of the players who Weis had inherited had left. They finished the 2007 season 3-9, Notre Dame’s highest loss count in history. Their ineptitude can be attributed to the departure of several key starters; the Irish only returned three offensive starters to go along with five defensemen.

He consistently had solid recruiting campaigns, scouting a couple of top-15 recruiting classes, even after the abominable 2007 season.

Despite being loaded with talent, Weis’ 2008 season was a mediocre 6-6, but the Irish managed to snap a record nine-game bowl losing streak to finish 7-6. Again, Weis rounded up what was ranked as one of the top recruiting classes of the season.

But again, he didn’t get to enjoy the fruits of his labor.

In his last season, 2009, the Irish finished with a 6-6 record, despite lofty expectations at the beginning of the season, which included a top-25 ranking in the preseason. They bounced in and out of the top 25, but were driven out for good by another two-point loss to Navy, their second in three years. That started a four-game losing skid to close out the season.

Constant inconsistency accompanied by an underachieving recruiting class drove Weis out of Notre Dame, ushering in the era of former Cincinnati Bearcats' head coach Brian Kelly.

Weis certainly wasn’t a failure due to a lack of talent, but simply to inconsistent performances on either side of the ball.

He never found the consistency he was looking for in his defense and shuffled around coaches as a result. Perhaps he was doing more harm than good by taking that approach though, as the guys on defense never got settled in to one scheme.

Overall Grade: C-

Romeo Crennel

Head Coaching Record: 24-40

Despite his head coaching record, Crennel has long been associated with success in the NFL.

But there are two things Crennel didn’t have anymore when he left New England: Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.

Of course, it’s going to be difficult to succeed without those two, but the struggles could be explained by the team he was coaching: the Cleveland Browns.

Only in his first two seasons (‘05 and ‘06) did his defense even draw near expectations. They were ranked in the top half of the league in passing defense but were getting trounced in the running game, and they were in the bottom half in nearly every category that matters.

In 2007, forget about it. The Browns might have been better off with no defense at all.

Their offense, believe it or not, usually did worse than the defense. In three of Crennel’s four seasons, the offense finished in the bottom three in points scored, including dead last in his first season.

Despite the defense’s deficiencies in ’07, Crennel’s Browns finished with a 10-6 record and showed a lot of promise for the 2008 season, as they only missed the playoffs by one game. In a rare turn of events, the offense performed quite well, led by up-and-comer Derek Anderson.

Then, it was back to the losing ways of old. Anderson never lived up to the expectations of the previous season, and Crennel was fired after the 2008 season following a 4-12 finish, and replaced by none other than Eric Mangini.

If there’s a consolation prize to be had for Crennel’s tenure in Cleveland, it’s that Mangini didn’t do much better; in fact, he finished 5-11. Perhaps it wasn’t all Crennel’s fault after all, but he must accept a large part of the blame.

Overall Grade: D-

Eric Mangini

Head Coaching Record: 28-36

Eric Mangini left the New England cold for the one place Bill Belichick told him not to go.

But Mangini got things going right from the start in New York. The Jets went 10-6, and the Jets' defense was the league's sixth-ranked in scoring, and improved in nearly every statistical category along the way. A playoff berth was the last thing Jets fans expected, but that's what Mangini gave them.

He even stuck it to his old coach, as his Jets defeated the Patriots in their second meeting.

Then, Belichick stuck it to Mangini, as his Patriots unceremoniously bounced the Jets out of the playoffs in the first round. Despite the loss, the future looked bright for the Jets.

Perhaps the most noteworthy event in Mangini's stay in New York came when "The Penguin" turned into a rat, catching a member of Belichick's staff videotaping on the sidelines in a breaking news saga that would eventually be dubbed "Spygate."

Sadly for Jets fans, this was the highlight of their season. They made the opposite turnaround from the year before, falling back to their low rankings from 2005 as they struggled to a similar 4-12 finish with inconsistent play on both sides of the ball.

In 2008, Mangini went all-in, and let the Brett Favre circus roll into town.

For the first 11 weeks of the season, the marriage couldn't have looked more right. They were 8-3 and poised for a high seed in the playoffs.

Some would say the defense, once aggressive and hungry, grew soft and complacent, but most would say that Favre's gun-slinging and risk-taking came to the forefront. Either way you look at it, the Jets did a tailspin out of the playoffs, and Mangini could do nothing to stop their demise.

A divorce followed soon thereafter; no, Brett Favre retired. The Jets divorced Mangini as their head coach.

With the many good personnel decisions Mangini made in his time in New York, as well as the great progress he looked to be making, it was a surprise to many that he was let go, but you just can't have a meltdown like that and expect to get away with it.

His stint with Cleveland has been a roller-coaster ride thus far, to say the least. What do you expect in Cleveland? It started with a quarterback controversy that he failed to resolve, refusing to name a starter until just before the season opener.

This proved to be the first of many questionable calls, though most of the others were play calls.

Then, sitting at 1-11 going into the home stretch, the Browns won the final four games of the season, albeit against teams with a combined record of 25-39.

Many were surprised that new GM, Mike Holmgren, elected to keep Mangini on as head coach even despite the fact that Mangini was rebuilding the roster, but the defensive "man-genius" gets another chance to prove himself in Cleveland.

His defenses were remarkably inconsistent in New York, bouncing back and forth between stellar against the pass or run, and terrible against the other. The offense was never more than middle-of-the-road until Favre arrived and drastically improved the performance of both.

Although he hasn't had the best staffs to work with, Mangini isn't living up to his heralded advertisement as a defensive mastermind. He's never had the stellar play-calling ability he showed in New England, and it leaves room to wonder how much control he really had over the defense of the Patriots.

That, and he's never assembled quite the crack roster he had in New England. Although most of Rex Ryan's defense from this season can be attributed to Mangini building the roster, including the drafting of Darrelle Revis.

Overall Grade: C-

Josh McDaniels

Head Coaching Record: 8-8

As offensive coordinator for the Pats during the 2007 season, McDaniels’ play-calling and coaching helped set many milestones in history. Of course, it helps to have Tom Brady on your side.

McDaniels proved he could get it done even without Brady. In fact, he worked magic with Matt Cassel, who hadn’t started a game since high school.

He proved his worth as a mentor to quarterbacks, and in the 2009 offseason, McDaniels signed on as head coach of the Denver Broncos, where franchise quarterback Jay Cutler was waiting to be molded into one of the greatest quarterbacks in the league.

But McDaniels’ arrival immediately began a shockwave of controversy.

Several questionable decisions, including the trade of Cutler to Chicago and his never-ending riff with wide receiver Brandon Marshall, left many analysts scratching their heads in wonder. According to most pundits, the Broncos were doomed from the start.

Then, what seemed so wrong began to look so right. The Broncos rolled to a 6-0 start under their new fiery head coach, and his fist-pumping celebrations became a thing of spectacle over the course of their hot start.

Finally, another Mile High meltdown brought the Broncos crashing back to earth. For the second year in a row, the Broncos ended the season on a losing skid that ultimately eliminated them from the playoffs.

The trade of Cutler proved not to be so treacherous after all for Denver, as Cutler’s play became treacherous upon arrival in Chicago. Meanwhile, Kyle Orton was proficient in the passing game. He was never dominant, but his play wasn’t as costly to his team as Cutler’s was.

He did, however, make some questionable decisions during the season. His suspension of Marshall from the final game of the season didn’t come without controversy or consequence. The head coach had little more to say than that Marshall was “indifferent” to the team’s success in making the postseason.

Perhaps McDaniels learned more from Belichick than the other assistants. Not only did McDaniels have the wherewithal to say that no individual player is bigger than the team, but he also set his team up for success down the road, frugally taking draft choices for the future in exchange for the dramatic quarterback.

Interestingly enough, their defense wasn’t a problem as it had been in years past, even though defense isn’t McDaniels’ specialty.

Under new defensive coordinator Mike Nolan, the Broncos improved from 2008 in every statistical category that matters; they went from ranked 30th in points allowed to 12th, and from 29th in yards allowed to seventh. Curiously, though, the Broncos chose to get rid of Nolan shortly after the season.

Thus far, McDaniels has done a good job of setting up a staff to succeed minus the poor decision to get rid of Nolan. He has made frugal choices in trades, and has taken after his mentor in not allowing any one player to ruin the team-first mentality of everyone else.

It’s way too early to give McDaniels a final grade in Denver, but if he can learn from his mistakes, he’ll make a great head coach. With several questionable decisions this past season, though, it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Overall Grade: C+

Conclusion

The key characters in the New England Patriots dynasty were like The Beatles. Together, their success reached astronomical heights.

They split up, each thinking they could be successful on their own.

Since then, they haven’t enjoyed the fruits of success as they did in the dynasty days.

None of them is as strong without the others at their side.

The question also remains of how many nuggets of knowledge Belichick really gave his disciples.

Did he avoid giving them all the valuable information in regard to running an organization in an effort to prevent them from becoming his stiffest competition? Belichick probably never taught them about the nuances of being a great head coach, but made sure to maximize their potential as play-callers and teachers.

All of these former coordinators are great play-callers. When that is the largest extent of their duty, they shine. When it comes to running an organization? They just didn’t know how to assemble a great team or how to maximize the potential of their team.

Will all the members fade off? If one will be left in the end, a la Paul McCartney, my money's on Belichick.