Bill Belichick and Linda Holliday have had ‘drawn-out, back-and-forth breakup’ … that has New England Patriots execs on edge

Bill Belichick and his longtime girlfriend Linda Holliday were involved in what is described as a “long and conflicted breakup” that lasted a year.

The New England Patriots coach, 71, has been linked to Holliday, 59, since 2007, and his split is making football team executives nervous as Belichick is set to enter his 24th season with the franchise, sources said. sources. page six Wednesday.

Insiders told the outlet that Holliday, who has a background in beauty pageants, continues to live at the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach’s home in Nantucket, Mass., and is “very fond of of the house and the region.

Holliday, who was linked to Belichick a year after his marriage to Debby Clarke Belichick ended in 2006, is also linked to the veteran NFL coach through other endeavors.

She is the president of her Bill Belichick Foundationwhich “aims to provide coaching, mentoring and financial support to individuals, communities and organizations”.

Holliday made headlines in January 2021 when she slammed longtime Belichick star player Tom Brady, who himself went through a high-profile breakup when he split from wife Gisele Bündchen in last October after 13 years of marriage.

At the time, Brady had won a playoff game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers – en route to his first Super Bowl championship without Belichick – when an Instagram follower told him, “Too bad Bill let Tom go! “

Holliday — in a response the outlet said caused the head coach some backstage trouble — downplayed Brady’s performance in his team’s win.

She said, “And you obviously have all the answers? Tom didn’t score last night… not once! The defense won this game. Did you at least look?

News of the split comes as Belichick prepares for his 49th NFL season and 29th as head coach.

He enters Sunday’s season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles with 329 career wins (including the playoffs), leaving him 19 behind Don Shula (347), the all-time high in the NFL.

Belichick made it clear Wednesday that nearly five decades of scouting and game prep hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm heading into his final season in the NFL.

“That’s what I do,” Belichick said, according to the AP. ‘I appreciate. It’s better than working for a living.

Working to stay relevant in what should be a competitive AFC East this season will be another story for his Patriots.

After an 8-9 record in 2022 in which their offense finished in the bottom half of the league in several categories, all eyes will be on this group on a weekly basis.

Linebackers coach Steve Belichick, the coach’s son, doesn’t expect the team to look bland on both sides of the ball.

This will be his 12th season with his father’s team and he says he has seen a coach who remains open to change despite his long career.

“He’s obviously old,” young Belichick said. “He is definitely old. But I haven’t seen a lot of changes in terms of approach and that sort of thing.

“I think he does a good job of adapting. He is not stuck in his habits. He listens to feedback and implements it as he wishes.

Micromanagement is also not part of the textbook, said Steve Belichick.

“There’s always a level of questioning, ‘What can we do better? What should we do better? And I appreciate that from him,” Steve Belichick said. “He lets us do what we do.

“He hired us to do a job. He trusts us to do a job. But if it’s not good enough, he will step in and tell you emphatically that it’s not good enough.