How Bill Belichick’s disciples have fared as NFL head coaches

The Bill Belichick coaching tree grew another branch Tuesday when the Giants hired Patriots special teams coordinator and wide receivers coach Joe Judge to become their next head coach. Judge spent eight years under Belichick while winning three Super Bowl rings, but that hasn’t always guaranteed success elsewhere. Here’s a look at how Belichick’s former protégés have fared as NFL head coaches:

Romeo Crennel

Crennel worked with Belichick on the Giants and Jets before becoming his defensive coordinator on the Patriots in 2001 and winning three Super Bowls. Days after the third championship, Crennel was hired as head coach of the Browns in 2005. He earned a contract extension in 2008 after his only winning season there (10-6) but was fired by the end of the year with a 24-40 tenure.

Josh McDaniels

Before he was back in the pool of candidates for this year’s coaching cycle — and before he left the Colts at the altar in 2018 — McDaniels’ first attempt as a head coach failed. After eight years with the Patriots, including the last three seasons as offensive coordinator, McDaniels left in 2009 to become the Broncos head coach. They just missed out on the playoffs in his first year after a hot start and he was fired late in his second season after going 11-17.

Nick Saban

Saban has returned to being one of the all-time great coaches in college football, but he did spend four years under Belichick before trying his hand as a head coach in the NFL. Saban was Belichick’s defensive coordinator for the Browns from 1991-94 and came back to the NFL in 2005 to be head coach of the Dolphins. He went 9-7 in his first season but flopped in his second and final year, going 6-10 before taking the Alabama job.

Eric Mangini

Belichick’s defensive assistant on the Jets and Patriots, Mangini replaced Crennel as New England’s defensive coordinator in 2005 for a season before being named the Jets’ head coach in 2006. He went 23-25 with one playoff appearance as HC of the NYJ, but his biggest claim was exposing Belichick by starting Spygate. Mangini was fired after the 2008 season but found his next job less than two weeks later as head coach of the Browns. That went even worse — 10-22 across two seasons.

Bill O’Brien

O’Brien spent five years under Belichick, the last as the Patriots’ offensive coordinator in 2011. Unlike other Patriots assistants, though, O’Brien left to become a college head coach first (at Penn State) before returning to the NFL to be the Texans’ head coach in 2014. He has led them to winning seasons in five of his six years and currently has them playing in the AFC divisional round Sunday against the Chiefs.

Matt Patricia

Before Judge, it was Patricia who nearly became the Belichick protégé to take over the Giants. The former rocket scientist spent six years as the Patriots’ defensive coordinator (and eight more as a position coach) before interviewing with the Lions and Giants in 2018. Patricia ultimately preferred the Lions job over the Giants and became Detroit’s head coach. The Lions just gave him another year to turn the team around after going 9-22-1 in his first two seasons.

Brian Flores

The Brooklyn native was long groomed in the Patriots organization, spending 15 seasons there in various roles from scouting to special teams assistant to Belichick’s de facto defensive coordinator during their run to another Super Bowl victory in 2018. Flores was then hired as the Dolphins head coach last February. He got off to a rocky start at 0-7 for the tanking franchise before finishing with a 5-11 record, including a win over the Patriots in Week 17.

Mike Vrabel

Vrabel was never on one of Belichick’s coaching staffs, but the Patriots linebacker was a key part of his defense for eight seasons, including three Super Bowl titles. After retiring, Vrabel coached at Ohio State and under O’Brien on the Texans before being named the Titans head coach in 2018. He’s led a pair of 9-7 seasons, the second of which has the Titans still alive in the playoffs after upsetting Belichick and the Patriots on Saturday.