Ernie Adams (born March 31, 1953) is a former American football coach and researcher best known for his years with the New England Patriots of the National Football League (NFL). He is a longtime friend and associate of head coach Bill Belichick, first meeting Belichick when they played high school football together. With Adams, the Patriots won six Super Bowls. Adams is renowned for his casual style of dress and his low profile, as well as his extremely thorough analysis of the game. Early years Adams attended the Dexter School near Boston in Brookline, Massachusetts. Given his knowledge of football for his age, Adams was asked to coach the school's intramural football team as an eighth grader. He later attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts for high school. While there, he read Football Scouting Methods written by Steve Belichick, who was then a football scout for the United States Naval Academy. In 1970, Steve Belichick's son Bill enrolled at Phillips Academy for a post-graduate year after graduating from Annapolis High School. Adams, a senior, recognized Belichick's name and the two quickly became friends. At one point, they sneaked into a Boston College football practice together to practice scouting. Beginning in 1971, Adams attended Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. As a freshman, Adams sought a student assistant position for the Wildcats' football team and secured it after impressing an assistant coach with a report on a football formation. He would serve as a scout for Northwestern until his graduation in 1975 with a degree in education. Professional career First stint with Patriots After his graduation from college, Adams pursued an unpaid position with the New England Patriots in 1975. After contacting then-head coach Chuck Fairbanks numerous times, Adams received a playbook from assistant coach Hank Bullough to learn; Adams learned it in two days, and was presented with another playbook, which he again learned in two days. Adams was hired as an offensive and administrative assistant, and eventually prepared scouting reports for the team, which Fairbanks said were the most thorough he had received in his career. New York Giants In 1979, Patriots assistant Ray Perkins was hired to be the head coach of the New York Giants. He promptly hired Adams as an offensive assistant, working with quarterbacks and receivers. Adams then convinced Perkins to hire Belichick as a special teams coach; Belichick had spent the previous eight years as