Brian Flores confident he can break negative history of Belichick coaching tree
The Bill Belichick coaching tree has not been a very successful one, as numerous New England Patriots assistants have flopped as head coaches elsewhere. Brian Flores is confident that he’ll be different.
Flores, previously the Patriots’ defensive playcaller, is now the head coach of the Miami Dolphins, and he’s confident he can succeed where other Belichick assistants have failed.
“I’m my own man. I’m Brian Flores,” Flores said, via ESPN’s Cameron Wolfe. “I learned a lot from Bill, but I’ll also be different than Bill. I’ll put my own style on how we do things here.”
Flores spoke highly of the famous “Patriot Way,” but sounded willing to deviate it when the situation requires.
“The core values, the core beliefs, the principles — there will be some similarities, for sure. But I have my own unique coaching style,” Flores said. “Just like some players need a pat on the back, some players need to get yelled at. Every team is a little bit different every year. We’ve got to be versatile as a staff. We’ve got to be versatile as a team. And if we can do that, I’ll think we’ll have success.”
Flores is the ninth Belichick assistant to become a head coach, and the fifth to be hired directly from the Patriots. The other four all have losing records as head coaches, and only Eric Mangini managed to guide a team to a playoff berth in his first season with the New York Jets. Miami targeted Flores early, so they’re clearly confident that he’ll take a different path and be different from the other hires that didn’t work out so well.
