‘If You Don’t See Color, You Can’t See Racism’: Jerod Mayo Discusses Becoming New England Patriots’ First Black Head Coach

Jerod Mayo believes it’s important to acknowledge the fact that he’s the first Black head coach in the history of the New England Patriots.

Last week, the NFL community was stunned by the announcement that legendary coach Bill Belichick was stepping down in New England. Belichick, who’s just 15 wins away from becoming the winningest head coach in league history, spent 24 seasons with the team and led the Patriots to six Super Bowl wins.

The next day, it was revealed that Mayo would succeed Belichick. The 37-year-old spent eight seasons with the Patriots as a linebacker before becoming the linebackers coach in 2019.

Mayo was officially introduced as the head coach of the Patriots on Wednesday. Joined by Robert Kraft, he briefly touched on the feeling of being the team’s first Black head coach.

“I do see color,” Mayo said, “because I believe if you don’t see color, you can’t see racism. And whatever happens — Black, White, even someone with disabilities — for the most part, people are like, ‘Don’t.’ When they’re young, they kinda make the spot hot.

“What I would say is, no, I want you to be able to go up to those people [and] really understand those people. So, that goes back to whatever it is — Black, White, yellow — it really doesn’t matter; but it does matter so we can try to fix a problem that we all know we have.”

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