Meet the men leading the Patriots head coaching search

The search for the next head coach of the New England Patriots is in full swing. As of Thursday morning, five candidates have been linked to the position that was opened up when Jerod Mayo was fired on Sunday afternoon.

Who is in charge of that search, though? According to team owner Robert Kraft, who spoke at a press conference the day after Mayo’s firing, the team is relying on four people to find the 16th head coach in franchise history: besides him, his son and team president Jonathan as well as Patriots executives Eliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith are involved.

Let’s take a closer look at the quartet.

Who is on the Patriots’ head coach search committee?

Robert Kraft (Chairman and CEO): A fan of the team since its inception, Kraft bought the Patriots from previous owner James Busch Orthwein in 1994 to prevent a move to St. Louis. In his 31 years of ownership, the team became the most successful in the league and established itself as the defining dynasty of the early 21st century: under head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady, the franchise brought six championships to New England. The new head coach will be Kraft’s fourth hire at the position after Pete Carroll (1997), Belichick (2000) and Mayo (2024).

Jonathan Kraft (President): One of Robert Kraft’s four children, Jonathan has been involved with the franchise since his father purchased it in the mid-90s. In his role as team president, he is effectively forming a dual-leadership atop the organization alongside his father and closely tied to the Patriots’ decision-making process in matters such as hiring a new coach.

Eliot Wolf (Executive vice president of player personnel): Wolf started his career in Green Bay, where his father Ron had previously served as general manager. The younger Wolf rose through the ranks through his 14 years with the Packers, but in 2018 left to join Cleveland as its assistant GM. Via a brief stint in Seattle, Wolf found his way to New England. Originally serving as a consultant, he was named director of scouting under Bill Belichick in 2022. Two years later, he took over as head of the personnel department and quasi-general manager following Belichick’s departure.

Alonzo Highsmith (Senior personnel executive): A former first-round draft pick, who spent seven years in the NFL as a fullback, Highsmith worked alongside Eliot Wolf in Green Bay, Cleveland and Seattle. Whereas Wolf left the Seahawks after only one month, Highsmith stayed on until he joined the University of Miami as its general manager of football operations in 2022. In 2024, he reunited with Wolf as a senior personnel executive with the Patriots.

While these four men lead the search for the team’s next head coach, they are not operating in a vacuum. Instead, they also rely on additional counsel either in the form of their existing network throughout the league or other team-internal personnel.

Who will decide the next Patriots head coach?

While Eliot Wolf and Alonzo Highsmith are both active participants in the search for New England’s next head coach, and well-connected in league circles, they will not make the ultimate decision who to hire. That responsibility falls on the team’s ownership pair of Robert and Jonathan Kraft.

While that part of the search has remained the same when compared to last offseason’s hire of Jerod Mayo, the process as a whole is looking significantly different this time around.

Mayo, after all, was contractually guaranteed to succeed long-time coach Bill Belichick after his eventual exit from the organization. As a result, no proper search was conducted in 2024; Mayo was announced as New England’s head coach less than 24 hours after Belichick and the Patriots parted ways.

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