From Father to Son: Patriots HC Still Learning from His Dad

As Father’s Day is celebrated throughout the nation this weekend, New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel is grateful to still be learning lessons from his dad.

Vrabel, a recent guest on Boston College coach Bill O'Brien's podcast, discussed the impact his father, Chuck, had on him while growing up in Northeast Ohio and how it has shaped his approach as a coach. His insight was particularly poignant considering the proximity of entering his first training camp as the Pats’ new head coach.

"I grew up an only child of two educators. My dad was a gym/health teacher and basketball coach, so that's all I knew," Vrabel told O'Brien, as reported on Sunday by ESPN’s Mike Reiss. "[Through] those teams, my dad taught me a few things. When you're an only child, you get what you want, but I appreciated the fact I learned the value of how important being part of a team was and the value of hard work.”

From the moment he took the reins in January as the franchise’s 16th head coach, Vrabel has made it clear that his leadership style will attempt to once again instill a culture of hard work, collaboration and accountability. Far too often last season, the Pats played fundamentally-unsound and listless football — providing a clear indication that the team had serious on-field issues with motivation and execution. To only compound the situation, the Pats did not have experienced coaching to pull them through their struggles. Unsurprisingly, the team limped to its second-straight 4-13 season. 

Conversely, Vrabel has already begun to impart his objective. The 49-year-old has vowed to remove the “entitlement” from the team and thus create an aura of self-responsibility. While New England’s front office has worked diligently to stack its roster with high-quality, high-character players, they are now devoid of any direct link to the “dynasty” days of former coach Bill Belichick and legendary quarterback Tom Brady. As such, Vrabel’s message must not only be heard, but unconditionally embraced by his team to succeed.

With the start of the 2025 NFL season fast approaching, Vrabel clearly understands that his team must bond in a familial way to build a successful identity. That process begins by first improving his players as individuals, and then as teammates. As Vrabel told O’Brien — the coach for whom he worked under for four seasons [2014-17] with the Houston Texans — the blueprint he follows was provided by his father many years ago.

"The team was an extension of my siblings, my brothers that I didn't have,” Vrabel told O’Brien. ”I can remember saying, 'Let's go home after the game, stay the night, we'll go swimming.' If I was saying that to two people, my dad was like, 'Either the whole team is coming or nobody is coming.' I've always appreciated that and being around that set the tone for what was to come."

Thanks to the insight of Chuck Vrabel, the best may be yet to come for his son Mike and the New England Patriots — perhaps the greatest gift which may be passed down from father to son.