Pro Career: Bill Belichick is the only head coach in NFL history to win three Super Bowl championships in a four-year span. In 2007, he became the first NFL head coach to guide his team to a 16-0 regular season.

Belichick was hired by Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft on Jan. 27, 2000 and is in his ninth season as Patriots head coach in 2008. In his first eight seasons in New England, Belichick has delivered three Super Bowl championships, four conference titles, six division crowns and 14 playoff victories, while posting an overall record of 105-40. Belichick directed the Patriots to victories in Super Bowls XXXVI (2001), XXXVIII (2003) and XXXIX (2004), and claimed the 2007 AFC Championship. New England's 14 playoff victories in the 2000s are tied for the highest total in any decade in NFL history.

In 2001, just his second season as Patriots head coach, Belichick guided the Patriots to their first league title with a dramatic victory in Super Bowl XXXVI. In the seasons since then, he has directed New England to sustained success, reaching the Super Bowl four times in the last seven years while claiming five straight division championships. Over the last five seasons (2003-07), the Patriots have compiled an overall record of 77-17 (.819), totaling the most victories of any five-year span in NFL history.

In 2007, Coach Belichick earned NFL Coach of the Year honors as the Patriots became the fourth team in the league's 88-year history to complete an undefeated regular season and the first to achieve the feat since the NFL increased the number of regular-season games to 16 in 1978. Belichick joined Pro Football Hall of Famers George Halas and Don Shula as the only head coaches to complete undefeated regular seasons. New England's 18 overall victories in 2007 tied the 1985 Chicago Bears and the 1984 San Francisco 49ers for the most in league history. New England became the first team in NFL history and the first major American pro sports team since 1884 to open a season with 18 straight wins. The Patriots set all-time NFL records for points scored (589), touchdowns (75) and point differential (+315) in addition to numerous individual and team records. Of the Patriots' 22 starters in Super Bowl XLII, 21 were acquired since Belichick became head coach in 2000.

Belichick has led the Patriots to nine or more victories in each of the last seven seasons, making the Patriots the only NFL franchise to accomplish that feat from 2001-07. Additionally, his teams have won the AFC East title and advanced in the playoffs in five straight seasons and have accomplished the feat in six of the last seven seasons. The Patriots' five straight years of playoff advancement mark the longest such streak in the NFL and their string of five straight division crowns are the most in the history of the AFC East division.

Including regular season and playoff games, Belichick enters 2006 as the winningest head coach in the NFL over the last five seasons and is also the Patriots' all-time leader in victories (73) and winning percentage (.682).

Belichick's accomplishments have placed him among the elite coaches in NFL history. Belichick has led the Patriots to an 86-26 (.768) regular-season record since 2001, which is the best in the NFL over that period. New England's 14-3 playoff record since 2001 is also a league best. Belichick owns a career playoff record of 15-4, with his .789 playoff winning percentage placing second in NFL history behind only the legendary Vince Lombardi (9-1, .900). Belichick's 15 career playoff wins rank fifth all-time.

Belichick launched his career in 1975 as a special assistant with the Baltimore Colts, then became an assistant special teams coach with Detroit (1976-77) and Denver (1978). In 1979, he joined the New York Giants to begin a 12-season stint. Belichick was named head coach of the Cleveland Browns in 1991, becoming the youngest head coach in the NFL at age 37. By 1994, Belichick returned the Browns to the playoffs, finishing 11-5 and advancing to the second round, while allowing a league-low 204 total points. In 1996, Belichick joined New England and was a key contributor to the team's rebound from a 6-10 season in 1995 to an 11-5 season and the team's first division title in 10 years en route to the Patriots' appearance in Super Bowl XXXI. Belichick then spent three seasons with the Jets from 1997 to 1999, helping New York improve from a 1-15 season in 1996 to reach the AFC Championship Game in 1998.

Background: Belichick was a center/tight end at Wesleyan 1971-74.

Personal: Born April 16, 1952, Nashville.