Being the first Black head coach in Patriots history ‘means a lot’ to Jerod Mayo

Mayo was introduced as the organization’s 15th head coach on Wednesday.

From Lou Saban to Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots organization employed 14 head coaches over its first 64 years of existence. On Wednesday, No. 15 was officially introduced: Jerod Mayo.

It remains to be seen how Mayo’s coaching credentials will eventually stack up against his predecessors, and whether he will truly usher in a “new era” for the team. At least in one respect he has already been able to do that, though.

Mayo is the first Black head coach in Patriots history. The 37-year-old is very much cognizant of the honor and responsibility that comes with it.

“You’d better believe being the first Black coach here in New England means a lot to me,” Mayo said during his introductory press conference on Wednesday.

The Patriots, like pro football as a whole, have been diverse through the years and — from players, to coaches, to executives. It did take some time for arguably the two most prominent positions on the team to be occupied by people of color, though, in large part due to the staying power of key figures within the organization over the last two-plus decades.

The Patriots did not have a Black quarterback start a game until Jacoby Brissett in 2016, for example. Likewise, they did not employ a Black head coach until Mayo was officially promoted to the position last week.

For team owner Robert Kraft, however, the goal was not to diversify his club but rather to hire the best man for the job.

“I’m really colorblind in terms of I know what I feel like on Sunday when we lose,” Kraft said. “I want to get the best people I can get. I chose the best head coach for this organization. He happens to be a man of color, but I chose him because I believe he’s best to do the job.”

While innocent and seemingly not made with any malicious intent, Kraft’s comment about colorblindness did receive some quick pushback from his new coach.

“You want your locker room to be pretty diverse, and you want the world to look like that. What I will say, though, is I do see color because I believe if you don’t see color, you can’t see racism,” Mayo said.

“Whatever happens, Black, white, disabled person. Even someone with disabilities, for the most part people are like — when they’re young, they kind of make the spot hot. … But what I would say is: no, I want you to be able to go up to those people and really understand those people. It goes back to whatever it is, Black, white, yellow, it really doesn’t matter, but it does matter so we can try to fix the problem that we all know we have.”