You can have some bad and boring press conferences when you're the best coach in the NFL ever.
It's a different story for a struggling first-year leader.
According to The Athletic, fired Patriots coach Jerrod Mayo's tenure as Bill Belichick's successor only lasted one season, due in part to his poor handling of media opportunities.
“Almost from the beginning, Mayo's various media appearances, from press conferences to his weekly morning drive interview on WEEI's 'The Greg Hill Show,' ranged from incongruous and uncomfortable to one unfortunate instance that had a whiff of old-fashioned buck-passing.” , wrote Steve Buckley.
The Patriots selected Mayo, a former Super Bowl champion with the team, as the person to take on the massive task of continuing the Belichick era.
They hoped his time as a player and coach under Belichick would allow for a smooth transition.
This did not happen.
The May era began with a shocking upset by the Bengals and ended with the team earning the No. 1 pick by defeating the Bills at home in Week 18.
A 4-13 record wouldn't do a coach any favors, and Mayo hasn't done himself any favors by failing to impress in other areas of the business, especially public appearances.
“But as the verbal gaffes continued, it became clearer than ever that Mayo lacked the proper amount of training to be a head coach in the NFL,” The Athletic reported.
Mayo reportedly raised eyebrows when he called 83-year-old team owner Robert Kraft a “Young Thundercat” and a “Thunder” because he felt he had a “youthful spirit.”
The 38-year-old also didn't communicate well regarding the quarterback battle between veteran Jacoby Brissett and Drake Maye.
Maye noted how Maye outplayed Brissett during camp, but then named the journeyman as the starter.
The coach also had several instances where he retracted comments.
Mayo said the Patriots are “willing to burn some money” in free agency, a statement that ended up sounding foolish when New England hasn't done much to improve its roster this offseason.
He later tried to downplay the comments, saying how the money could be used over several seasons.
One of his standout quotes from the season came after the international loss to the Jaguars in October where he described his team as “soft.”
He later clarified that he meant his team was playing calmly.
There is a third example in which Mayo details why he didn't burn timeouts late in a loss, only to say the next day “I shouldn't have said that.”
Mayo also had to clarify a comment that some took as a dig at offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt, even admitting “I'm still learning how this stuff works,” according to The Athletic.
The latest media blunder came when Mayo said before Week 17 that Antonio Gibson would start over Ramondre Stevenson, only for Stevenson to get the first carry.
All the examples painted a picture of a coach who clearly needs more experience in how to address issues publicly.
Kraft did not mention Mayo's media appearance in a statement after the dismissal, instead noting that “the trajectory of our team's performance throughout the season has not progressed as I had hoped.”
With Mayo's departure, the door is open for fellow former Patriots star Mike Vrabel to return to Foxboro.
