You can have some bad and boring press conferences when you’re arguably the best NFL coach ever.
It’s a different story for a struggling first-year leader.
Fired Patriots coach Jerod Mayo’s tenure as Bill Belichick’s successor lasted just one season in part due to his mishandling of media opportunities, according to The Athletic.
“Almost from the beginning, Mayo’s various media appearances, from news conferences to his weekly morning-drive interview on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show,” ranged from contradictory and uncomfortable to one unfortunate instance that had a whiff of old-fashioned buck-passing,” Steve Buckley wrote.
The Patriots hand-picked Mayo, a former Super Bowl champion with the team, to be the one to take on the gargantuan task of following the Belichick era.
They hoped his time as a player and coach under Belichick would allow for a seamless transition.
That didn’t happen.
The Mayo era started with a shocking upset of the Bengals and ended with the team blowing the No. 1 pick by beating the Bills at home in Week 18.
A 4-13 record won’t do a coach any favors, and Mayo did himself no favors by failing to impress in other areas of the job, particularly public appearances.
“But as the verbal missteps continued, it became ever more obvious Mayo lacked the proper amount of training to be a head coach in the NFL,” The Athletic reported.
Mayo reportedly raised eyebrows when he called 83-year-old team owner Robert Kraft “Young Thundercat” and “Thunder” because he felt he has a “young soul.”
The 38-year-old also did not communicate well regarding the quarterback battle between veteran Jacoby Brissett and Drake Maye.
Mayo noted how Maye had outplayed Brissett during camp, but then named the journeyman the starter.
The coach also had multiple instances where he walked back comments.
Mayo said the Patriots were “ready to burn some cash” in free agency, a statement that ended up looking foolish when New England did little to improve its roster this offseason.
He later attempted to downplay those comments, saying how money could be used over several seasons.
One of his notable quotes from the season came after an international loss to the Jaguars in October in which he labeled his team as “soft.”
He later clarified that he meant his team was playing soft.
A third example feature Mayo detailing why he did not burn timeouts late in a loss, only to say the next day “I shouldn’t have said that.”
Mayo also had to clarify a comment that some took as a dig at offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, even admitting “I’m still learning how these things work,” per The Athletic.
The final media blunder came when Mayo said before Week 17 that Antonio Gibson would start over Rhamondre Stevenson, only for Stevenson to get the first carry.
All the examples painted the picture of a coach who clearly needed more seasoning with how to publicly address issues.
Kraft did not mention Mayo’s media appearances in a statement after the dismissal, instead noting “the trajectory of our team’s performances throughout the season did not ascend as I had hoped.”
With Mayo gone, the door is open for fellow former Patriots star Mike Vrabel to return to Foxborough.
