It wasn’t in the cards for Jerod Mayo.
The recently dismissed ex-Patriots head coach raised eyebrows this year when he chose to hang out with his players on a flight home from a loss while they engaged in card games rather than sit with his assistants, per The Athletic.
“Look, there are a lot of ways to do the job,” a team source present that day told the outlet. “It’s not that Jerod’s was definitely wrong. But I can’t say I’ve seen that before.”
The Patriots did not fire Mayo because of where he sat on a plane on the ride home, but this story shows some of the bumps the former team captain experienced in his first year as a head coach.
Players and coaches usually sit in separate parts of the plane, with the report noting how Patriots assistants spent the flight watching clips from that day’s 30-17 road loss to the Cardinals in Week 15.
Mayo, who played eight seasons and won a title with New England, returned to his player roots by opting for the entertainment rather than schematics.
Sources on the plane said it “felt like another example of Mayo going too far in the opposite direction of [Bill] Belichick,” whom Mayo had been hand-picked by ownership to replace.
This incident, though, aligns with a previous report that highlighted how Mayo struggled at times with media responsibilities.
Mayo had to walk back several remarks during the season, including remarks about the team’s spending, labeling his team as “soft” and a perceived dig at his offensive coordinator.
It all tells the tale of a first-time coach who may not have been ready for his gig, which Patriots owner Robert Kraft admitted Monday.
“This whole situation is on me,” Kraft said. “I feel terrible for Jerod because I put him in an untenable situation. I know that he has all the tools as a head coach to be successful in this league, he just needed more time before taking the job. In the end, I’m a fan of this team first, and now, I have to go out and find a coach who can get us back to the playoffs and hopefully championships.”
With Mayo out, the Patriots could turn to another former player in ex-Titans head coach Mike Vrabel.
New England has been slammed by some for allegedly attempting to skirt the Rooney Rule by interviewing former Buccaneers offensive coordinator Byron Leftwich and ex-Texans offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton, neither of whom are viewed as a serious head coaching candidate.
The Rooney Rule is designed to help minority coaches have a fairer shake in hiring processes.
