Belichick Goes To His Lacrosse Roots To Find New Talent

Lacrosse was perhaps the first love in Belichick's life as an undergraduate at Wesleyan University. He played on the lacrosse team throughout his college career and was even named captain for his senior season.

As Mike Kadlick notes for Sports illustrated, Belichick has had former lacrosse players play for him in the National Football League. Chris Hogan, a former Patriots receiver, played lacrosse for three seasons at Penn State in addition to playing on the football team. After Hogan retired from football, he went on to a second career as a professional lacrosse player.

Further, Belichick employed a former standout lacrosse player as his cornerbacks coach with New England. Mike Pellegrino played at Johns Hopkins and played professionally in the Major Lacrosse League before joining the Patriots. Additionally, the lacrosse roots run deep in the Belichick family as his daughter Amanda is the head women's lacrosse coach at Holy Cross.

The 73-year old coach has had an effect on the lacrosse team at North Carolina. Tar Heels lacrosse coach Joe Breschi told US Lacrosse Magazine in December Belichick extended an offer to top lacrosse recruit Gary Merrill to play both sports for the Tar Heels.

“What I’m really excited about is our hire of Coach Belichick,” Breschi said. “Not only the buzz around him coming, but what it does for us recruiting dual athletes. Now that we have Belichick, he’s like, ‘Whatever you need for the lacrosse program, let me know,’. To have a lacrosse guy in that role is enormous.”

As for the recruiting class of 2026, Belichick secured the commitments from two additional crossover athletes in Jermaine Anderson and Crew Davis. They are both lacrosse players, who also happen to play football.

Belichick knows there is a tie in between lacrosse and football. The only thing left to find out is what kind of transition Barton makes to the gridiron and see if success in lacrosse can translate to success on the football field.

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