Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell was a third-round draft pick of the Patriots in 2008 and spent a year and a half in New England, and although O’Connell rarely got much playing time, he did leave with a lot o respect for Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
O’Connell, who will coach against Belichick on Thanksgiving, said he still studies notes he took from Belichick coaching him 14 years ago.
“I still have old notebooks with team meeting notes that are always great to go back and look through,” O’Connell said, via the Star-Tribune.
How much does O’Connell respect Belichick?
“You really can’t put any kind of term on how much respect I have for him as far as the person, the coach, the leader, what he’s meant to this league,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell didn’t have much of a playing career -- he got on the field for two games as a rookie and then never played in a regular-season game again -- but he’s off to a good start in his coaching career. And he credits Belichick for some of that success.