Bill Belichick and his longtime girlfriend Linda Holliday have been involved in what's being described as a 'drawn-out, back-and-forth breakup' that has been prolonged for a year's time.

The New England Patriots coach, 71, has been linked with Holliday, 59, since 2007, and his breakup has executives with the football team on edge as Belichick is slated to commence with his 24th season with the franchise, sources told Page Six on Wednesday.

Insiders told the outlet that Holliday, who has a background in beauty pageants, continues to live at the six-time Super Bowl-winning coach's Nantucket, Massachusetts home, and is 'very fond' of the home and area.

Holliday, who was linked with Belichick since a year after his marriage to Debby Clarke Belichick ended in 2006, also is tied to the veteran NFL coach through other endeavors.

She is the president of his Bill Belichick Foundation, which 'aims to provide coaching, mentorship, and financial support to individuals, communities, and organizations.'




The latest: Bill Belichick, 71, and his longtime girlfriend Linda Holliday, 59, have been involved in what's being described as a 'drawn-out, back-and-forth breakup' that has been prolonged for a year's time. Pictured in 2019 at the Kentucky Derby

Holliday made headlines in January of 2021 when she was critical of Belichick's longtime star player Tom Brady, who himself had a high-profile split when he parted ways with wife Gisele Bündchen last October after a 13-year marriage.

At the time, Brady had won a playoff game with Tampa Bay Buccaneers - en route to his first Super Bowl championship without Belichick - when an Instagram follower said to her, 'Too bad Bill let Tom go!'

Holliday - in a response that the outlet said caused behind-the-scenes issues for the head coach - downplayed Brady's performance in his team's victory.

She said, 'And you have all the answers evidently? Tom didn't score last night…not once! Defense won that game. Were you even watching?'

News of the split comes out as Belichick is preparing for his 49th season in the NFL and 29th as a head coach.

He enters Sunday's season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles with 329 career victories (including playoffs), leaving him 19 shy of passing Don Shula (347) for the most in NFL history. 

Belichick made clear on Wednesday that nearly five decades' worth of scouting and game preparations haven´t dimmed his excitement in advance of his latest NFL season.

'It's what I do,' Belichick said, according to the AP. 'I enjoy it. Beats working for a living.' 




Holliday has been linked with the New England Patriots coach since 2007; pictured in Foxborough, Massachusetts in December of 2019





His breakup has executives with the football team on edge as Belichick is slated to commence with his 24th season with the franchise; pictured in February of 2020 in Miami 













Holliday is the president of his Bill Belichick Foundation , which 'aims to provide coaching, mentorship, and kraken7.at financial support to individuals, communities, and organizations.' Pictured in January of 2012 

Working to remain relevant in what is expected to be a competitive AFC East this season will be another story for his Patriots.

Coming off an 8-9 finish in 2022 in which their offense finished in the bottom half of the league in several categories, all eyes will be trained on that group on a weekly basis. 

Linebackers coach Steve Belichick, the son of the coach, doesn't expect the team to look stale on either side of the ball.

This will be the 12th season he has spent on his father's staff and he said he has observed a coach that remains open to change despite his long career.

'He's obviously old,' the younger Belichick said. 'He's definitely old. But I haven´t seen a ton of changes in terms of his approach and stuff like that. 

'I think he does a good job of adapting. He´s not stuck in his ways. He listens to feedback, and he implements it how he wants to.'

Micromanaging is also not part of the playbook, Steve Belichick said.

'There´s always a level of "What can we do better? What do we need to do better?" And I appreciate that from him,' Steve Belichick said. 'He lets us do what we do. 

'He hired us to do a job. He has trust in us to do a job. But if it´s not good enough, he'll step in and tell you flat out it's not good enough.'