A Massachusetts high school football team grappling with challenges is welcoming a seasoned veteran with Super Bowl credentials to its coaching staff, alongside a familiar presence.
Phillips Andover Academy, a renowned boarding institution with esteemed alumni including Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush, has appointed veteran NFL assistant coach and executive Ernie Adams as its interim head football coach.
Adams’ connection to Phillips Andover dates back to the late 1960s and early 1970s when he was a student there. During his time at the academy, he read “Football Scouting Methods,” authored by former Detroit Lions fullback Steve Belichick. Coincidentally, Steve’s son, Bill Belichick, joined the school for a post-graduate year in 1970. Recognizing the name, Adams forged a lifelong friendship with Bill.
“This is strictly an interim role,” Adams, 72, shared with the Boston Globe regarding his debut head coaching role. “The school plans to conduct an extensive search for a younger, permanent football coach after the season, so my stay is just for this year.”
Adams has already received well-wishes from his old friend, who is embarking on his second year as the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels.
“Bill is also an alumnus, so I know he supports us, just as I cheer for North Carolina,” Adams mentioned to the Globe.
Ernie Adams is seen during one of six Super Bowl parades during his time in Foxborough
Adams (right) was referred to as ‘Belichick’s Belichick’ by author David Halberstam
He also received a vote of confidence from one notable Patriots fan and Massachusetts native.
‘Can I bet my net worth on Phillips Andover to win the NEPSAC next year,’ Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy wrote on X. ‘Old Pink Stripes is gonna have the boys flying…’
Portnoy’s mention of ‘pink stripes’ is an inside joke from the Patriots practice facility that has yet to be fully explained, publicly.
Adams (’71) replaces Trey Brown (’12), who posted a 2-7 record in New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class A last fall, losing to rival Phillips Exeter, 48-16, in the season finale.
He is best known for working as Belichick’s lead researcher in New England from 2000 to 2021, winning six Super Bowl titles along the way and earning a reputation as a brilliant, if somewhat shrouded, football mind. Players regularly joked about not knowing his role with the team, and legendary sportswriter and author David Halberstam famously referred to Adams as ‘Belichick’s Belichick.’
But Adams’s football career has not come entirely alongside Belichick.
Ernie Adams is seen watching Tom Brady practice with the Patriots in 2018
Adams played high school football at Phillips Andover, where he befriended Belichick
Belichick brought Adams to Cleveland, where they struggled to improve the hapless Browns
Both broke into the NFL in 1975, with Belichick working as an assistant for the Baltimore Colts and Adams taking a job as a Patriots administrative assistant. Adams would later move on to the New York Giants, where he would reunite with Belichick.
And in 1991, he followed Belichick to Cleveland, where the two began an unsuccessful five-year stint with the Browns. It was during his time along Lake Erie that then-Browns owner Art Modell famously remarked: ‘I’ll pay anyone here $10,000 if they can tell me what Ernie Adams does.’
Adams was out of football until Belichick got the head-coaching job in Foxborough in 2000.
Now, after a four-season hiatus, Adams is eager to get back on the sideline.
‘Listen, it’s great,’ Adams told the Globe. ‘[Been] working there the last couple years, so I know all the players. But just standing in front of them [Monday] afternoon when I was introduced to them, these are a great bunch of kids and it was a lot of fun.’
As for any schematic plans, Adams is predictably keeping those to himself.
‘Hopefully the offense we run is one that moves the ball and scores points,’ he said.
Known as one of the most prestigious schools in world, Phillips Andover Academy was founded in 1778 and went on to produce Presidents and Super Bowl-winning coaches
A portrait of an adolescent George H.W. Bush and a teammate during their time in Andover
George W. Bush was a cheerleader at Phillips Andover before moving on to Yale
Jackie Kennedy Onassis smiles at her son, John, on his graduation day at Phillips Andover. With them are daughter, Caroline and Uncle Ted, Senator Edward M. Kennedy
Phillips Andover athletic director Lisa Joel has released her own statement on the hiring.
‘The Phillips Andover experience was formative for [Adams],’ she said Tuesday, as quoted by the Globe. ‘He’s all in. He loves the school, he loves the game of football, and he understands what it means to be an Andover student. He’s a team guy. And he’s incredibly humble and understated.’
Phillips Andover is not known as a football powerhouse. The Big Blue last had a winning season in 2017 and finished 9-0 in 2013, but have produced only a handful of professional players. Zak DeOssie, the son of Patriots and Giants linebacker, Steve, played at Phillips Andover before a successful college career at Brown and 13 seasons as the Giants long snapper.
Other Phillips Andover academy alums include John F. Kennedy Jr., writer Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., actors Jack Lemmon and Olivia Wilde, journalist Buzz Bissinger and famed Chicago White Sox owner Bill Veeck.
