The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in Foxborough, Massachusetts.
Lou Saban became the first coach of the Patriots in 1960, although he was fired part way through their second season.
His 266 wins with the Patriots are far and away the most in franchise history, more than five times those of runner-up Mike Holovak.
Belichick also led the team to nine of their eleven Super Bowl appearances, winning six of them.
Team owner Billy Sullivan suspended Fairbanks for the final game of the regular season, stating "You cannot serve two masters," and Ron Erhardt and Hank Bullough took co-head coaching responsibilities for that game.