If only Bill Belichick's friends could visit Foxboro every day. Tony LaRussa and Tom Thibodeau visited Day 2 of Patriots mini camp and brought a rare smile to Belichick's face.
"It's great. It's great having them here," Belichick said. "I have all the respect in the world for Tom and Tony. They're great coaches in their respective sports. Tony has won over like 2000 games . . . He wins more games in a month than I've won in my career.
"Tom's done a great job. I respected what he did here in Boston, with his defensive patterns.
"I have a lot of questions I want to ask them about running a team, getting ready for the season, things like that, maybe they'll be able to help me out."
The trio hung out in the rain for part of Wednesday's practice, and it looks like Belichick was nice enough to dive into his pile of backup hoodies to make sure his pals were taken care of.