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Jerod Mayo hired as New England Patriots head coach
FOXBORO — The New England Patriots have hired Jerod Mayo as their new head coach, the team announced Friday. The announcement comes just a day after the Patriots “parted ways” with Bill Belichick after 24 years.
Mayo will be formally introduced at a news conference next Wednesday, January 17, at noon at Gillette Stadium.
Robert Kraft said Thursday that the Patriots would work “very quickly” to fill the position, and he wasn’t kidding. Mayo was clearly New England’s guy, as the Patriots didn’t reach out to interview anyone else for the job, according to The Athletic.
The team was able to hire Mayo without a lengthy interview process due to a succession plan that was placed in a contract extension with the team that he signed last offseason.
Mayo was seen as Belichick’s heir apparent since Josh McDaniels left for Las Vegas. He’s spent his entire NFL career — both as a player and a coach — in New England.
Mayo was drafted by the Patriots in 2008 and the linebacker went on to have an eight-year career in the middle of New England’s defense. He retired after the 2015 season, and after a few years away from football working as an executive in finance at Optum, Mayo joined Belichick’s staff as the Patriots’ inside linebackers coach in 2019. He never served as the team’s defensive coordinator in name, but pretty much ran the team’s defense along with Stephen Belichick the last two seasons.
He now has the big task of replacing the greatest head coach of all time, but the New England defense was one of the best in the NFL last season (one of the few bright spots on a 4-13 team) and Mayo has the respect of Patriots players throughout the locker room.
At 37 years old, Mayo will become the youngest head coach in the NFL. He’s a month younger than Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams. Mayo will be the Patriots 15th head coach and their first Black head coach.
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Yellowstone hiker burned when she falls into scalding water near Old Faithful, park officials say
Yellowstone National Park, Wyo. — A New Hampshire woman suffered severe burns on her leg after hiking off-trail in Yellowstone National Park and falling into scalding water in a thermal area near the Old Faithful geyser, park officials said.
The 60-year-old woman from Windsor, New Hampshire, along with her husband and their leashed dog were walking off a designated trail near the Mallard Lake Trailhead on Monday afternoon when she broke through a thin crust over the water and suffered second- and third-degree burns to her lower leg, park officials said. Her husband and the dog weren’t injured.
The woman was flown to Eastern Idaho Regional Medical Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho for treatment.
National Park Service / Jacob W. Frank
Park visitors are reminded to stay on boardwalks and trails in hydrothermal areas and exercise extreme caution. The ground in those areas is fragile and thin and there’s scalding water just below the surface, park officials said.
Pets are allowed in limited, developed areas of Yellowstone park but are prohibited on boardwalks, hiking trails, in the backcountry and in thermal areas.
The incident is under investigation. The woman’s name wasn’t made public.
This is the first known thermal injury in Yellowstone in 2024, park officials said in a statement. The park had recorded 3.5 million visitors through August this year.
Hot springs have injured and killed more people in Yellowstone National Park than any other natural feature, the National Park Service said. At least 22 people have died from hot spring-related injuries in and around the 3,471-square-mile national park since 1890, park officials have said.