Legendary Coach Marv Levy Reveals His Advice For Bill Belichick

A closeup of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick during a game.
A closeup of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick during a game.

Bill Belichick is turning 69 this week and is heading into his 46th season coaching in the NFL. It’s unknown if or when he plans to retire, but Hall of Fame head coach Marv Levy has some advice for when he starts thinking about it.

In a recent interview with ESPN, Levy – who turns 96 later this year – suggested that Belichick keep coaching as long as he loves the game. Levy revealed that he didn’t feel ready to retire until he realized that his favorite players were all retiring and needed time away from the game.

“Age is only an approximate thing. You’re involved and you’re going at it hard, and you love it, that’s it,” Levy said. “You just coach as long as you love it. I finally retired because the great core of our team had gotten old, and they were all retiring. And I had it finally. I felt I needed some time away.”

Levy coached football from 1951 to 1997, retiring with the Buffalo Bills at the age of 72. He returned to the Bills briefly in 2006 as their GM but retired again after 2007.

Bill Belichick is showing few signs of slowing down as he continues to build on his Hall of Fame legacy. His Patriots went 7-9 despite fielding one of the NFL’s worst offenses in 2020.

The next step in Belichick’s tenure has to be identifying a permanent replacement for Tom Brady. He’s already brought Cam Newton back, no doubt with the expectation that another year in his offense will improve on the flaws we saw last year.

Whether that requires a trade or the draft or both remains to be seen.

The 2021 season could go a long way in determining just how much longer Belichick wants to keep coaching. Especially if the team struggles again.

The post Legendary Coach Marv Levy Reveals His Advice For Bill Belichick appeared first on The Spun.

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