Not even 24 hours after the current Illinois coach, Bret Bielema, was relieved of head coaching duties at the University of Arkansas, he received a phone call from the greatest football coach of all time, Bill Belichick. What followed was more than just a career lifeline. It was a masterclass in football wisdom, taught quietly from the front seat of a long drive across state lines.

“Yeah, not just coach, but in that building, you know, so it was interesting,” Bielema told David Pollack on See Ball Get Ball. “Two years ago, the Cardinals took two of our guys, but there’s a guy that’s a GM there for the part of the name named Monti Ossenfort, who is literally one of the better personnel minds. And obviously, Coach Belichick great with football, but I got to spend time with Nick Caserio—now he’s the GM with the Houston Texans. You got all these guys all around the NFL now that you build relationships with in the building.”

Shortly after, Bill Belichick and the NE Patriots offered Bret Bielema the role of ‘defensive consultant to the head coach.’ Reflecting on the journey, Bielema added, “There’s more things that I do now as a head coach at Illinois, that I learned in my three years in the league, than I spent the 12 years prior as a head coach in college football. It’s a world now where the things I learned under Coach Belichick, the things I learned in the ownership of both the Patriots and the Giants, but also all my coach. That I was able to be a part of it and see their success now is really two years or three years of just great learning.”

Relationships. That’s what this chapter of Bielema’s coaching life was built on—not titles or job descriptions, but trust, intelligence, and quiet time on the road. Belichick didn’t just hand Bielema a headset and call it a day.

And yes, there was a ring, too. Bielema picked up a Super Bowl trophy with the Patriots following the 2018 season, a cerebral win over the Rams that was equal parts strategy and suffocation. Then there’s the side of Belichick we rarely hear about—the human one. Imagine riding shotgun with the football oracle himself on the way to an Alabama pro day. So what happens when you’re riding shotgun with the GOAT?

“No music,” Bielema said. “As you know, guys get around Coach Belichick… he’s truly one of the most entertaining, intelligent—just his way of seeing the world is awesome. It was a pretty entertaining ride for all the right reasons.” Consultant or not, Bret Bielema wasn’t parked in the backseat. Belichick gave him projects—real assignments with impact. For Bielema, it was like being handed the playbook to football’s deepest vault.

Bret Bielema reflects on life-changing time under Belichick

If you thought Bret Bielema’s NFL stint was just a pit stop, think again. The now Illinois coach didn’t just hang around in Foxborough. He sharpened his blade in the football dojo run by none other than Bill Belichick himself. And when Bielema says, “I really grew with Bill,” you know he means it. The way he tells it, the journey started with a simple conversation and turned into something that changed his entire coaching outlook.

“He just kind of started talking to me, ‘Hey I don’t know how long we are gonna go, but when we are done, I would like to give you a call, and see if you would like to work in our organization,’” Bielema recalled last week on Pardon My Take. It wasn’t some formal sit-down. That’s the Belichick way.

Then came the real test. “That week he came to me and said, ‘Why don’t you start prepping for L.A.,’” Bielema said. That game? Super Bowl LIII against the high-powered Rams offense led by Jared Goff. Bielema dove into NFL Films, dissected every audible Goff barked out, and created a tape to decode it. “So I made an audible tape, and I knew what he was saying so I worked on that for three weeks.”

Now that Belichick has moved on to become the coach at North Carolina. He might be reaching out to Bielema again to see what advice he has to offer after a 10-win season and putting Illinois football back on the map.