The Patriots hired Mike Vrabel on Sunday.
The New England Patriots have found their next head coach. Mike Vrabel, a former linebacker and three-time Super Bowl champion for the team between 2001 and 2009, will return to Foxboro to succeed the recently-fired Jerod Mayo.
With Vrabel re-joining the Patriots on a reported multi-year deal, he will become the 16th head coach in franchise history. The full list of head coaches since the organization’s first season in 1960 — back when it still played in the old AFL — looks as follows:
The Patriots’ head coaches have been a mixed bag so far. Obviously, one name towers above the rest: Bill Belichick, who coached Mike Vrabel as a player, oversaw the organization’s most successful stretch ,leading the team to six Super Bowls, nine conference titles, and 17 division crowns.
Vrabel coming anywhere close to that production would be a pleasant surprise, and one that would make hiring him more than worth it.