Report: No 'Bad Blood' Between Bill Belichick, Josh McDaniels Over Assistant Coaches Heading To Vegas
BOSTON (CBS) -- Given Bill Belichick's past comments about coaches taking away his assistants upon getting a job elsewhere, it was fair to wonder how the Patriots' head coach felt about Josh McDaniels hiring away three members of New England's offensive coaching staff.
Apparently, though, Belichick has no issue with McDaniels' hiring of Mick Lombardi, Carmen Bricillo, and Bo Hardegree, all of whom coached for the Patriots last year but are now a part of McDaniels' staff in Las Vegas.
"I'm told there's no 'bad blood' between him and Belichick on that front," ESPN's Mike Reiss wrote in his Sunday column.
Reiss added that there are no "strained relations" in this instance, "in part because of expiring contracts and Belichick moving pieces around on his offensive staff by welcoming back Joe Judge and adjusting Matt Patricia's responsibilities."
Previously, in the HBO documentary "Belichick & Saban: The Art Of Coaching," Belichick agreed with Nick Saban during a discussion about coaches taking fellow assistants to new teams.
"Look, I'm happy for the people that have worked hard for me to get opportunities," Belichick said in the documentary. "And I want to see them build their own program. When they try to tear down our program, that's kind of where the line, I feel like, gets crossed."
Lombardi spent the last three seasons on the Patriots' coaching staff, after working as a scouting assistant in 2011 and 2012. He was the assistant quarterbacks coach in 2019 and the wide receivers coach for the past two seasons, and he's now the offensive coordinator for McDaniels.
Bricillo spent three years on Belichick's staff, first as a coaching assistant in 2019, then as the offensive line coach in 2020 and 2021. Hardegree spent just one season on the Patriots' staff as a quality control/quarterbacks coach.
