Robert Kraft and Jerod Mayo Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports

Last week, the New England Patriots decided to part ways with longtime head coach Bill Belichick, but team owner Robert Kraft did not have to look far for his replacement as the team quickly hired former linebackers coach Jerod Mayo to take over the team.

During in his joint press conference to introduce Jerod Mayo as the team’s next head coach, Robert Kraft was asked why he didn’t go through a full search before settling on Mayo as the replacement for Bill Belichick, and he made it clear that the decision was largely just about trusting his instincts.

“It’s a good question,” Kraft said according to Pro Football Talk. “You know, in all our companies, early on when we started doing well, people tried to get us to go public and bring in partners, we could make all kinds of money and everything. And I made a decision, I always wanted to stay private and didn’t want partners who would weigh in because our family — it’s a family group of business.

“I like to think strategically, what’s best for the long-term, not [wanting] to do things that are going to require quick decisions. And we’re willing to do things that are unorthodox and it’s worked out pretty well for us over the last 50 years.”

It is certainly a unique approach. We’ll have to see how it works out for the Patriots.

[Pro Football Talk]