When former Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels reflects on some of the defining moments that led to him becoming head coach of the Denver Broncos, he goes back to last season's playoffs.

At the time, while the Patriots had a bye, he had an opportunity to interview for head coaching vacancies. His stock couldn't have been much higher as the play-caller for the NFL's record-smashing offense.

Yet McDaniels passed on those opportunities. He had little desire to leave New England at the time, and remembered thinking that it was more important to focus on the opponents the Patriots might be facing the next week. He said it was an easy decision.

The way McDaniels approached that time period caught the attention of his boss, Bill Belichick. Soon enough, their working relationship started to shift to a new level.

Belichick had already helped groom McDaniels from a young personnel/coaching assistant into a top offensive coordinator, and now he was officially taking him under his wing to fly to a higher place, exposing him to some of the ins and outs of becoming a head coach.

"From that point forward, Bill really provided me with a little more of a foundation to prepare me, from the inside, to possibly handle that role at some point in the future," McDaniels said. "I've said it 100 times how fortunate I am to have worked with him, and he really treated me that way and helped me get more ready for this process if it were to ever come up again in the future.

"He sat down with me and talked about his experiences in the past, what it was like for him when he first took a job, some of the things that he learned. I always tried to listen as intently as I could. It was, `Hey, what do you think about this?' And he would be very forthright and honest with me about his experience.

"He really just tried to give me a little bit of a background of entering the process, and some of the things that you might want to be a little more alert to and aware of. They are things that when you're an assistant coach, because your time is spent on so many other things, you don't really see that part of it.

"Bill tried to just give me a little guidance that has obviously been very useful for me in a lot of different areas."

In that sense, the 2008 season was slightly different for McDaniels behind the scenes. He always felt strongly about his working relationship with Belichick, but this had taken things to a different level.

So what did McDaniels learn most from Belichick?

"It's hard to really narrow it down to one, because this guy has meant so much to me, not only professionally but personally," he said. "I know people won't really understand that, and it's hard to explain that to some people outside of that building.

"But he's really mentored me, taught me how to be a good coach, taught me how to identify a way to win each week, taught me how to evaluate players, taught me how to be a part of the draft.

"He was a mentor in other ways, a very big influence in my life, from off-the-field things, decisions you had to make, those kinds of things. There was nothing that he turned me away for.

"He would always be there to give me his advice. To me, that's the greatest thing I got from him - he was willing to help me in any way to become a good coach and a good person."

The 32-year-old McDaniels said that as he went through the process of interviewing for head jobs last month - with the Cleveland Browns and Broncos - he ultimately made the final, difficult decision by consulting with a small inner circle that included his wife Laura, his parents, and Belichick.

He said he was unsure how it would unfold, but that "too many stars started to line up" as discussions progressed with the Broncos. He saw similarities between the Broncos and Patriots, starting with owner Pat Bowlen's all-encompassing commitment, which seemed to reflect what he experienced with the Kraft family.

As a sign of respect, McDaniels decided he wouldn't hire anyone from Belichick's staff.

Already, however, McDaniels is beginning to shape the Broncos in a Patriot-like way.

"We're going to try to do the best thing for the team," he said. "We're going to try to build a well-rounded team that competes. I want to build a tough team, I want to build a team that's smart, and one that can win close games, which in my mind comes down to being able to play well under pressure.

"It's something I don't think comes along because you say it. You have to work at that and stay committed to bringing in tough, smart players that want to win and love Football, and are willing to prepare and work hard."

If it sounds downright Belichickian, it's supposed to. As McDaniels is one month into his new job, many of the things he's implementing in Denver are those he learned under Belichick.

"There are so many things that he taught me that are invaluable to me, that it's impossible for me to repay," he said.

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