Bill Belichick has won four Super Bowls as a head coach while Brad Stevens hasn’t yet brought home an NBA title.

So if you heard that one of them was learning a lot from the other, it’d be logical to assume it was the younger Stevens learning from the older Belichick. According to the Patriots coach, though, that’s not necessarily how it’s going.

On Friday during an event for Belichick’s charity at Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center, the two Boston area head coaches came together to talk about their respective sports according to NESN. While football and basketball are very different, there are aspects of the two that are interchangeable:

“Brad and I talked about a lot of things that are just coaching related,” Belichick said during a conference call Sunday. “Obviously the sports are different. I don’t know anything about basketball and he doesn’t know much about football so it’s really not about X’s and O’s and that kind of thing, but you know, more of the other parts of coaching; preparation, training, team work, teambuilding, confidence, communication, players relationships and so forth.”

Belichick is right. On the surface the two are very different. But at their core, the two are very similar, especially when one looks at the coaches role in bringing the team together to perform well together.

“(Stevens) has given me a lot of insight and I’d say some of the players that they get are a little younger than the guys we get on average,” Belichick said. “They’re coming out of college after one year; we get them after three years or four. Just the transition from college to pro which he obviously has a lot of experience with, coming to the New England area — for most players, that’s an adjustment. We don’t get too many guys from this area, so all the things like that.”

Stevens wasn’t exactly quick to take a ton of credit, though. The always humble Celtics coach responded with gratitude of his own:

“I think that coaches — and I said this when (San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich) said stuff (about me) — I think they’re really nice when asked,” Stevens said. “I haven’t taught any of those guys anything. I think the reality is that I really enjoy being around high achievers, people that strive for continuous growth and are always challenged to meet the next challenge.”

It’s safe to say Stevens will have plenty of opportunities down the road to consult with Belichick. After all, their own courts/gridirons are only about 28 miles away from each other.

“Whether it’s in coaching or whether it’s in business, or whether it’s in higher education — whatever the case may be, those types of people inspire me,” Stevens said of Belichick. “I will eat up whatever they’re telling me, and I certainly appreciate Bill’s willingness to open his doors to me and let me learn from him, as others that I’ve gotten a chance to be bettered by being around.”

On a larger scale, getting public praise from the notiriously tight-lipped Belichick is probably one of the rarest forms of flattery you can hope to receive.

[NESN]

About David Lauterbach

David is a writer for The Comeback. He enjoyed two Men's Basketball Final Four trips for Syracuse before graduating in 2016. If The Office or Game of Thrones is on TV, David will be watching.