Boston’s four major sports teams have featured some great coaches over the last decade plus. At the peak of Boston’s sporting dominance, Bill Belichick, Terry Francona, Claude Julien and Doc Rivers were each at the helm of their respective franchises, giving Boston seven championships over the course of eight years. So, it’s no wonder that they each leaned on one another at times.
The relationship between the four coaches will be featured in a piece set to run on NFL Network’s NFL Gameday Morning on Sunday, focusing on Belichick’s interactions and influence on each of them. In a sneak preview of the feature released at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Rivers and Julien talk about the role Belichick played with them and their teams, according to the Boston Herald.
“The best part about it is you knew you had somebody that you could lean on,” Rivers said. “You had direct access to Bill Belichick, Terry Francona, to Claude. And I think for me as a coach, that was powerful.”
Rivers even invited Belichick to address the Celtics before a game a few years back, remembering the short but meaningful speech with a laugh.
“My favorite speech was he just turned to them and said, ‘Guys, just go win,'” Rivers said. “That was it, and that’s Bill.”
Similarly, Julien reflected back on using Belichick’s experience and knowledge as a resource at times, including when the Bruins won the Stanley Cup in 2011.
“That’s the one thing I was amazed with, was the support that I got from the other coaches, whether it was Bill Belichick coming to our game and even us reaching out to him at times to kind of get some feedback after we won the championship,” Julien said. “How do you react to your team? How do you avoid the sense of entitlement? All of that made me a better coach.”
Belichick has won the most championships of the foursome, so he certainly has the pedigree to be giving advice. But, from the sounds of the preview, he spent plenty of time learning from Doc, Claude and Tito as well.
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