Bill Belichick doesn’t smile much. It is what it is.
The New England Patriots won twelve games this year, including unforgettable comebacks against New Orleans, Denver, and Cleveland. But not much gives the Patriots head coach reason to show his teeth. He may be the da Vinci of coaches. He’s not the Mona Lisa.
The Wall Street Journal examined every minute of Belichick’s sixteen postgame press conferences this year. The paper found seven smiles. In other words, that’s about a half-smile for every victory or one smile for every sixteen minutes of press conference.
Worse still was the tight-lipped coach’s laugh ratio. Just once in his sixteen press conference did Belichick let out a laugh. The Journal reports that Roosevelt Colvin, a retired Patriots linebacker, crashed a press conference and queried Belichick on who is the best linebacker from the city of Indianapolis that he has ever coached. Colvin is from Indianapolis, and Belichick found it funny enough to laugh.
Tellingly, Belichick smiled only after Patriots victories. And even then teeth weren’t automatic. The three-time Super Bowl-winning head coach sported the default frown-face in press conferences after victories over Houston, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and Baltimore. He wins more than he smiles.
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