In his recent commencement address at Georgetown University’s business school graduation, the seven-time Super Bowl champ and three-time MVP, Tom Brady, spoke largely about conquering adversity. However, the former New England Patriots quarterback couldn’t resist taking a playful jab at his old boss. Stepping up to the podium, the veteran poked his former coach at the Patriots, Bill Belichick.
“I want you to challenge yourself with ideas that are uncomfortable and people that push you to be your very best,” the QB told the graduates. “Even if one of those people is a cranky old coach who cuts the sleeves off his sweatshirt and screams at you all day, ‘Do your job.’ Okay, that’s too specific.”
Brady admitted that his coach’s demanding nature helped him develop into a star player. He said that Belichick’s relentless pushing and frequent skepticism constantly triggered a desire to prove his coach wrong. Rather than taking the criticism personally, he used it as raw motivation to always do better.
For 20 seasons, Tom Brady and Belichick formed one of the most formidable partnerships in the NFL. They showed their dominance by winning six Super Bowl rings during their time together.
Brady has never shied away from crediting Belichick for his coaching brilliance. Earlier this year, Brady gave a huge label to the coach and stated how good he was in carrying a team.
“He’s the best coach to ever coach in the NFL,” Brady said Tuesday during the “Spittin’ Chiclets” podcast. “One of the great motivators. So many things are uncanny about the coaching style that he had so high expectations for us, and he never let off the gas.”
Even when the coach was not named in the Hall of Fame Class of 2026, Brady expressed his frustration.
“I just think that to me, I don’t understand it,” Brady said on Seattle Sports’ Brock and Salk show. “I mean, I was with him every day. If he’s not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, there’s really no coach that should ever be a first-ballot Hall of Famer, which is completely ridiculous because people deserve it. He’s incredible. There’s no coach I’d rather play for. If I’m picking one coach to go out there, to win a Super Bowl, give me one season, I’m taking Bill Belichick.
During the speech, he implored the newly graduated students not to give up when they face hurdles as they enter the workforce. To make his point, he said 99.7% is not always a foregone conclusion and told the story of the Patriots’ legendary comeback in Super Bowl LI against the Falcons. Late in the third quarter, Tom Brady’s team was down by 28-3. The QB said that statisticians said that there was already a 99.7% of Atlanta pocketing the game. Yet, they somehow dragged the game into overtime and walked away with a miraculous 34–28 victory.
Today, both legends are chasing success in entirely new arenas. Brady has moved into the front office as a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders. On the other hand, Belichick is preparing for his second season coaching college ball at the University of North Carolina.
Tom Brady is working as a Quiet Architect for the Raiders
While Tom Brady keeps a low profile when the cameras are rolling, his influence as a Raiders minority owner is undeniable. He is serving as a trusted football advisor to owner Mark Davis. For a franchise that has spent the last two decades searching for relevance, having one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time in management has already been paying dividends.
According to reports, Brady actively sits in on high-stakes meetings and helps guide the franchise through its toughest decisions. He was the one who spearheaded the move to bring in Klint Kubiak as the new head coach. He was also behind drafting a quarterback, Fernando Mendoza, with the team’s first overall pick. Raiders radio analyst Kirk Morrison has talked about his impact on the Raiders’ decision-making process.
“I think when it comes to Tom, he just loves football,” said Morrison on The Rich Eisen Show. “So, it is not just like he keeps his thoughts and how he played so many years at a high level, Tom Brady wants to talk football. When I see him at practice or where, he may be calling a game. Tom is always intense. I have never seen Tom so calm. When he is at practice, he is about football.”
Tom Brady’s transition from an athlete to an executive proves that you can take him out of the game, but you can’t take the football out of him. His relentless intensity is exactly what a struggling Raiders franchise needs to break a two-decade cycle of irrelevance.
