Bill Belichick Reflects on His Mother's Life and Their Relationship

Bill Belichick's mother, Jeannette, passed away at the age of 98 on Monday in Annapolis, Maryland. 

During a video conference with the media Thursday morning, Belichick showed some rare emotion in acknowledging his mother's passing and the support he's been receiving this week. 

"First of all, I’d just like to thank everyone who's reached out and expressed their sympathy and condolences for my mom," Belichick began. "Especially, Pete [Carroll] had some really great words and John Harbaugh and many others that I know – friends, football people – and honestly, many people that I've never met or contacted before, so do really appreciate the support there." 

Belichick was an only child, and continued on to discuss the relationship he had not only with his mother, but with his father as well who passed away in 2005. 

"You know, as an only child – I mean, everybody's close with their or has a certain relationship with their mom and dad – but as an only child, I was especially close to my parents," Belichick said. "My mom and I spent a lot of time together and she was a great woman. I certainly learned pretty much everything from my parents. And then, you know, with her love that she gave to her grandkids, to Amanda, Steve and Brian, was ultra-special to me as well". 

While his father, Steve, was a former football player, coach, and scout, his mother was fairly involved in the world of football as well. 

"You know, my dad was away a lot on scouting trips, and so I always kind of grew up with her on the weekends, on football weekends, at home," Belichick said. "So, we watched hundreds of games together, whether it was Navy games or listened to them on the radio or watched other games that were on TV and so forth when my dad was away on Friday night, Saturday and sometimes Sunday morning, depending on how far he had to travel for the games that he was scouting." 

"So, football season for me as a kid was my dad getting home late during the week and my mom on the weekends to watch football games," he continued. "And we became very close and shared those experiences together. And then, you know, the only time really that I saw my dad during the end of the game week was the Army-Navy game. And then, like I said, when he got home later at night, and when I was older, I was able to stay up and see him. If I stayed out of trouble, I might get to do something with him later at night. But, I just didn't want to act badly for my mom and have her turn me in, which she didn't do very often, even though I was deserving of it. But, yeah, we had a very close relationship there."

Belichick described his mom as a "very unselfish person." He said that she gave up a lot of things for her family, and for that and "many other things" he loves and appreciates her. 

He also shared that she was "kind of an academic person." Jeannette did very well in college and then worked for a map service during World War II translating European maps. She spoke seven different languages, which she taught at Hiram College after the war. 

"Unfortunately, those language skills didn't rub off on her son, and one language is really about all I have," Belichick said. "But, she encouraged me to do the things that I wanted to do. She was very supportive of those. I wish I could have been better in the field that she was very good at. I tried that for a while, but I just didn't have it in all honesty – so just ‘un peu’ of French, and that's about it."

Belichick said that his mother had a "very long and happy life" and  after nearly 99 years of life, supporting her family and being a wonderful mother, will rest in peace with her husband.  

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