What to know about DC Steve Belichick and UW Huskies’ defense

Aug 30, 2024, 9:35 AM | Updated: 1:25 pm

UW Huskies defensive coordinator Steve Belichick. (Christian Caple/On Montlake)

(Christian Caple/On Montlake)

BY CHRISTIAN CAPLE

UW Huskies Insider

SEATTLE — Steve Belichick betrays little about the UW Huskies’ defensive scheme or strategy. Or much else, really.

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“We’re not really running the Patriots defense,” Washington’s new defensive coordinator said before the start of training camp, referring to his former employer. “We’re not running an NFL defense. We’re just running the UW defense.”

Which means?

“It always starts with fundamentals,” he said. “You’ve got to start with tackling. You’ve got to get the ballcarrier on the ground.”

That is always the objective, I suppose, and players say Belichick does emphasize the basics; “run to the ball” is a common refrain, senior defensive lineman Voi Tunuufi said. But there obviously is far more to Washington’s defensive scheme than that which the coaching staff prefers to discuss publicly, and it will be on display for the first time in UW’s Saturday night opener against Weber State.

Here are some thoughts on Belichick and Washington’s defense after watching the Huskies practice and talking with players and coaches.

• The depth chart lists a base 4-2-5, and that reflects what we saw for much of training camp: two defensive tackles, two edge rushers/d-ends, two inside linebackers, a nickel, two cornerbacks and two safeties, generally speaking. But versatility and adaptation should be hallmarks of a Belichick defense. The Huskies practiced with various speed-rush packages, three-linebacker packages, and all sorts of different fronts that utilized the diverse skill sets of players like Tunuufi or Sacramento State transfer Deshawn Lynch.

“We definitely want to be versatile,” senior linebacker Carson Bruener said. “The best answer I can give is, it’s the 2024 Dawg defense. Come fall, people are going to be surprised by it, and people are going to love to watch us play.”

• Another common refrain, summarized by coach Jedd Fisch: “What you’re going to see is that mentality by Steve that he learned from his dad: it’s our job, each down, to get the best 11 out there to stop what they’re doing on offense, and not worry about what position they play.”

• Senior linebacker Alphonzo Tuputala says he feels more freedom in this scheme than any other he’s played in: “This scheme for sure allows players to paint their own picture. I’m not really used to that, compared to all the defenses I’ve had that are very clear cut and, ‘do this, or do this.’ But what I really like about Steve’s defense is it allows us to grow as players and grow in terms of knowing the scheme more. If you know the scheme more, you’ll know which calls to make, which checks to make. He empowers the players to go out there and make their own calls and paint the picture of what the defense could do.”

As Tunnufi put it: “It’s a professional defense. It’s all dependent on the players and how we decide to coordinate things. He puts a lot of responsibility on us.”

More simply, junior safety Makell Esteen said: “You’ve got to be a dog. Very fun defense. We do everything, honestly.”

• Belichick, 37, played lacrosse at Rutgers, and spent one year as a longsnapper there, in 2011, under coach Greg Schiano. “It was a great experience,” Belichick said, “and I really, really appreciate Coach Schiano letting me do it.” He also remembers attending an Ohio State-Michigan game more than a decade ago, when his older sister, Amanda, was an assistant women’s lacrosse coach for the Buckeyes (she’s now the head coach at Holy Cross). Otherwise, it’s been all NFL. Belichick spent the past 12 seasons as an assistant under his father, Bill, with New England, including the last four years as the team’s playcaller.

Steve made clear to players early on that he’s all in on Washington.

“I feel like he’s emphasizing it’s the 2024 Dawg defense,” Bruener said. “‘I’ve got the Belichick name, I’ve had to live up to that. I’ve been with the Patriots, I’ve won Super Bowls, but that doesn’t matter because I’m here at UW now.’ He’s come to us and he’s like, ‘forget my past. This is our team, this is our defense. This is what we’ve got, and we can’t control anything other than that.’”

• Fisch got to know Steve Belichick during the 2020 season, which Fisch spent coaching quarterbacks for the Patriots. Their families are close, and have vacationed together, Fisch said. I thought it was interesting that Belichick, then New England’s outside linebackers coach and defensive playcaller, mentioned that he learned a good bit from Fisch during their one year together.

“How he dealt with players, how he ran his room, how he talked, his style of teaching,” Belichick said. “I wasn’t in his actual position meetings, but being able to pick his brain. How he was able to relate to different guys. Everybody’s different. Everybody receives information differently. So just him coaching Cam (Newton) was different than the guys he coached before that. You have different personalities in the room. Those types of things, as well as him coming from different schemes that we didn’t really run in New England on offense, so picking his brain about what other teams do and what other styles of offense are out there.”

Fisch mentioned on his radio show last week that he first broached the possibility of hiring Steve during a conversation with Bill Belichick, not long after the Patriots and the longtime coach had parted ways. When Steve came to Seattle for his interview, Fisch said, he asked if he could bring his wife, because “he wanted to make it a family decision if they chose to do that,” Fisch said.

“He was very prepared when he flew out here for the interview,” Fisch said. “Had an exact plan of what he wanted to go through on the computer in terms of installation and in terms of schematics (and) how he teaches it. He’s not very threatening in the way he speaks, so everyone on the staff felt really good about the inclusiveness that he was going to bring to the coaching staff. But they also were so impressed with his intelligence and how well he knew the game.”

• I wondered, too, what Belichick is like in meetings and at practice. He strikes me as fairly relaxed on the field, unassuming in his black t-shirt or hoodie, black shorts and black shoes, his hair pulled back in a ponytail, no ballcap or visor. Here is a sampling of player perspectives:

Esteen: “Coach Belichick is one of my favorite coaches. He’s funny. He’s relaxed. He’s always calm, no matter what the situation.”

Tunuufi: “Steve’s like one of the players, to be honest. He’s really cool. He’s chill. He’s clear-cut, straight to the point, which I love, being able to be real with me. …He can turn it up when he wants to. For the most part, he’s very calm-headed, he’s very informative, he’s very helpful when he’s on the field. You can tell he loves football. I love playing for him.”

Bruener: “He’s funny. He’s a good guy. He’ll get to it, but even at practice, he’ll just be talking to you on the mic (over the headset) when you’re not even in, just joking around. He’s got humor to him, but when it’s time to flip the switch, he knows football really well, probably better than anyone I’ve ever met.”

Also Bruener: “He’s not too much of that rah-rah guy, really hyping you up. It’s more just like, ‘hey, know your shit, and I’ll be there to help you, and if you’ve got any questions, ask me.’ It’s kind of like that big brother role model in a way. You can look up to him because of the things that he’s done, and that has allowed me to put trust in him, as well.”

“Steve’s a dream,” linebackers coach Robert Bala said. “He’s awesome. He’s a guy that’s very approachable, very open to what he’s done in his past, but what I really love about him is exactly what he says — we’re not running the Patriots defense. We’re running 2024 Washington defense.”

There are times during practice, Bruener said, when the defense might struggle for a play or two, and Belichick will gather them together and try to put things in perspective.

“This is football,” Bruener said their coach will tell them. “We’re supposed to have fun. Just go out there and play just like it’s peewee football. That’s it. Just because we’re in college and at UW now, we don’t need to start overcomplicating it.”

• They hope it is overcomplicated for opposing offenses, of course. I asked quarterback Will Rogers to describe the defense he’s practiced against for the past month.

“Pretty complex,” he said. “As a quarterback sitting back there, a lot of movement, a lot of … I don’t want to give away our secrets or anything like that yet, but it’s a really good scheme. I’ve been really impressed. I think it’s just made me a better player, to be able to go up against that every single day. I think it’s made me a better player. The game’s definitely slowed down for me since spring ball and to be able to see the different things we do defensively, I think it will only help me come this fall.”

• Fisch said Thursday that Belichick will call plays from the sideline, as he did in New England. Fisch will call the offensive plays.

• Bill Belichick’s presence around the program was among the most intriguing early storylines of the Fisch tenure. The legendary coach spent a week in Seattle this spring, attending UW practices and serving as a keynote speaker for the program’s annual coaching clinic. He was spotted wearing Washington gear at a Boston Celtics game. He was back this summer, matching Fisch in a black UW shirt and white visor while chatting with Steve and observing practice. Every now and then, he would offer a few words to a player in whatever drill he was watching.

The elder Belichick told Pat McAfee earlier this month: “I’m just here to watch, and sometimes they ask me to look at something or what I think about this or that or whatever. Really, it’s been great.”

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Bill Belichick will be back this fall, too, for a dinner fundraiser — deep pockets only — in partnership with NIL donor collective Montlake Futures the week of the Michigan game. That idea was born out of a dinner conversation with Fisch.

“We have a season ahead of us. We need to raise money. We need to be able to continue to provide at the highest level,” Fisch said. “How many people would dream of the opportunity to sit down and have a two- or three-hour dinner with a guy that’s won eight Super Bowls — two as a coordinator, and six as a head coach?”

I asked Steve Belichick how often Washington comes up in conversations with his dad. He took the opportunity to remind that there is more to life.

“The thing I appreciate most about my dad — he calls to check in on me as a person, and if football comes up, it comes up,” Steve said. “I can call him about stuff in life, or I can call him about stuff in football. … There is more to our relationship, surprisingly, than football.”

This article was originally published at OnMontlake.com, the home for Christian Caple’s full UW Huskies football coverage. Subscribe to On Montlake for full access to in-depth UW coverage.