Belichick's Inner Circle of Berj Najarian and Ernie Adams Are Key Figures In the Patriots' Run

The New York Times profiled Berj Najarian, who is referred to as a “consigliere” for Belichick, and who has the official title of director of football/head coach operations. Najarian plays a gatekeeper role for Belichick, and also organizes his activities. In addition, he is part damage control and part public relations coach for the sometimes surly coach.

Najarian met Belichick when both were with the Jets, and they became very close. Najarian followed Belichick to the Patriots, and has been with him from the beginning. He does not handle any football or coaching duties, but what he does do is provide the things that Belichick wouldn’t or couldn’t do as well, and leave him to focus with his white-hot intensity on winning football games.

The man who helps him do that is his long-time friend and confidant Ernie Adams, officially the director of football research. Yahoo’s Les Carpenter has a profile of Adams, another secretive type who plays an invaluable role for Belichick. The thing is, no one is really sure what that role is entirely, though my guess is as a sounding board and strategist with Belichick.

Belichick and Adams met all the way back in prep school and have been friends since Adams recognized Bill’s last name because of his father, who Adams had great admiration for as a coach. Adams is singularly of focus on football, but also described as knowledgeable about almost everything. He became an assistant coach at Northwestern University when he went to school there, starting as a student assistant. He impressed the coaches with his detailed memory and ability to see things others missed. However, he did not have the personality for recruiting or the ego to do the other things related to coaching football. He was focused on the strategy and the game.

Adams was instrumental in getting Belichick his position with the Giants when Adams was there, and their lives have been intertwined at every stop since. You have to have an ego to be a great coach. Sometimes you need those without one, or at least with a different version of ego, behind the scenes. Belichick has that in Najarian and Adams — one to handle the details that come with being the head of a large organization, and the other to provide the egoless foil and strategy behind the scenes.

[photo via Getty]