The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in Foxborough, Massachusetts. They are a member of the East Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). The team began as the Boston Patriots in the American Football League, a league which merged with the National Football League before the 1970 season.
There have been 16 head coaches for the Patriots franchise. Lou Saban became the first coach of the Patriots in 1960, although he was fired partway through their second season. The 16th and current head coach is Mike Vrabel, who was hired on January 12, 2025. He is the second coach in the club's history to have played for the team (2001–2008). Longtime head coach Bill Belichick led the team for more regular season games (387), post-season games (41) and complete seasons (24) than any other head coach. His 266 wins with the Patriots are far and away the most in franchise history, more than five times those of runner-up Mike Holovak. Belichick also led the team to nine of their eleven Super Bowl appearances, winning six of them. Holovak, Raymond Berry and Bill Parcells all led the Patriots to league championship games, with only one (Holovak) failing to reach the Super Bowl. Five Patriots head coaches, Holovak, Chuck Fairbanks, Berry, Parcells, and Belichick have been named coach of the year by at least one major news organization. Additionally, Raymond Berry and Bill Parcells are members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, with Berry being inducted in 1973, and Parcells in 2013.Twice in Patriots history there were "interim" head coaches. In 1972, John Mazur resigned with five games left in the season. Phil Bengtson was named as the interim head coach for the rest of the season, during which he only won one game, and he was not made the permanent coach the next year. In 1978, head coach Fairbanks secretly made a deal to leave the team to coach the University of Colorado Buffaloes while he was still coaching the Patriots. Team owner Billy Sullivan suspended Fairbanks for the final game of the regular season, stating "You cannot serve two masters," and Ron Erhardt and Hank Bullough took co-head coaching responsibilities for that game. Fairbanks was reinstated when the team qualified for the playoffs, and he lost the first playoff game, his last for the Patriots. Since Dick MacPherson, the Patriots have had only 5 coaches in 33 seasons.
Key #Number of coachesGCGames coachedWWinsLLossesTTiesWin%Winning percentage †Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a coach‡Elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a player * Spent entire NFL head coaching career with the Patriots
Coaches Note: Statistics are accurate through the end of the 2025 NFL season.
# Image Name TermEach year is linked to an article about that particular NFL season. Regular season Playoffs Accomplishments Ref. Yrs First Last GC W L T Win% GC W L Boston Patriots1219601961 19 7 12 0 .368 —2819611968 107 52 46 9 .528 2 1 11 AFL playoff berthUPI AFL Coach of the Year (1966)3*219691970 21 5 16 0 .238 —4*11970 7 1 6 0 — New England Patriots—*219711972 23 8 15 0 —511972 5 1 4 0 .200 —6*619731978 85 46 39 0 .541 2 0 21 AFC East Championship (1980)2 Playoff berthsUPI NFL Coach of the Year (1976)Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (1976)7 319791981 49 21 28 0 .428 —8319821984 33 18 15 0 .545 1 0 11 Playoff berth9*‡619841989 87 48 39 0 .551 5 3 21 AFC Championship (1985)1 AFC East Championship (1985)2 Playoff berthsUPI NFL Coach of the Year (1985)10 *11990 16 1 15 0 .062 —11 *219911992 32 8 24 0 .250 —12 †419931996 64 32 32 0 .500 4 2 2Inducted Pro Football Hall of Fame (2001)1 AFC Championship (1996)1 AFC East Championship (1996)2 Playoff berthsAP NFL Coach of the Year (1994)Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year (1994)Maxwell Football Club NFL Coach of the Year (1994)UPI NFL Coach of the Year (1994)13319971999 48 27 21 0 .562 3 1 21 AFC East Championship (1997)2 Playoff berths142420002023 387 266 121 0 42 30 126 Super Bowl championships (XXXVI, XXXVIII, XXXIX, XLIX, LI, LIII)9 AFC championships (2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2011, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018)17 AFC East championships (2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019)18 Playoff BerthsAP NFL Coach of the Year (2003, 2007, 2010)Sporting News NFL Coach of the Year (2003)Pro Football Weekly NFL Coach of the Year (2003)Maxwell Football Club NFL Coach of the Year (2007)PFWA Executive of the Year (2021)15*12024 17 4 13 0 —1612025 present 17 14 3 0 .824 4 3 11 AFC Championship (2025)1 AFC East Championship (2025)1 Playoff berthAP NFL Coach of the Year (2025)Totals 67 1960 2025 1,017 559 449 9 63 40 23
Notes and references