The Patriots became the latest team to open up a head-coaching vacancy Thursday and the first to fill it, when Jerod Mayo succeeded Bill Belichick on Friday morning.

Belichick, 71, was briefly the NFL’s oldest head coach after the Seahawks parted ways with Pete Carroll. Mayo, 37, is now the NFL’s youngest head coach.

Here’s how Mayo went from All-Pro linebacker to TV star and business executive to NFL head coach in eight short years.

2008: Top-10 pick

The Patriots used the 10th overall pick on Mayo in the 2008 NFL Draft. A four-star recruit out of high school, Mayo had been named a defensive co-captain and earned first-team All-SEC honors as a junior at Tennessee before declaring a year early for the draft.

Mayo was a Week 1 starter and started every game for the Patriots as a rookie as he earned NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors.

2010: Captaincy and stardom

In just his third NFL season, Mayo was named a Patriots captain. After leading the NFL in tackles, Mayo was named a first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl selection in 2010. He played in his first and only Super Bowl in 2011 and registered 11 tackles in the 21-17 loss to the Giants.

Mayo was named to another Pro Bowl in 2012.

2013: Introduction to coaching

As the Patriots relaunched their dynasty, Mayo finished his next three seasons, in 2013, 2014 and 2015, on injured reserve. While nursing a torn pectoral in 2013, a torn patellar tendon in 2014 and a shoulder injury in 2015, Mayo worked with then-defensive assistant Steve Belichick and spent hours watching film together.

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“Back when I was a QC (quality control) and Jerod went on IR those couple years, he spent a lot of time with me,” Steve Belichick recalled in 2021. “We called it back in the dungeon. It was really, really beneficial for me as a young coach to get an elite player’s perspective. And I’m sure at the time he didn’t think he would be coming down this path, but he just kind of got to see the other side of it.

“He’s always been an extremely hardworking person, both as a player and coach since I’ve known him. So, he was always around the building. When he was finishing up his rehab, he’d come in there, help me break down film. And again, me just teaching him the concepts and what we were looking for as coaches and him telling me the player perspective. And it was really, really beneficial for me, like I said, to hear firsthand just the two of us in a room together, no filters or anything like that, no one to try and impress, just two guys learning about football from different perspectives. So, it was great.”

“Steve and I, our relationship goes a long way back,” Mayo said in 2019. “When I was hurt, we would spend hours watching film together, breaking down film, talking X’s and O’s. Steve loves the history of the game, as well, so he would always drop nuggets. He grew up around it. We have a very strong relationship, and we kind of play off each other. It’s been great.”

2016: Retirement

Mayo retired from the NFL on Feb. 16, 2016, after playing 28 games over his final three seasons. Mayo played 16 games in 2015, but only started eight and was placed on injured reserve during the postseason.

Mayo finished his career with 802 tackles, 11 sacks, three interceptions, 19 pass breakups, eight forced fumbles, seven fumble recoveries, 30 tackles for loss and 28 QB hits. He was named to the Patriots’ All-2010s team and won Super Bowl XLIX while on injured reserve.

He spent three years in the media, working on NBC Sports Boston’s “Quick Slants” with Tom E. Curran and worked in business at Optum, a healthcare services company, as vice president of business development.

2019: Joining the staff

From the business world, Mayo jumped straight to the Patriots’ staff in 2019, when he was hired as an inside linebackers coach.

Mayo, Steve Belichick and Bill Belichick ran the Patriots’ defense from 2019 to 2023. Steve Belichick called plays during that time period, but Mayo took on other traditional coordinator duties. Mayo also interviewed for three open head-coaching positions during this time; in 2021 with the Eagles and in 2022 with the Raiders and Broncos.

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Mayo and Steve Belichick were then named co-linebackers coaches for the 2022 and 2023 seasons. The Patriots had the NFL’s top-ranked defense and pass defense based on EPA (expected points added) per play from 2019 to 2023. Mayo turned down an interview with the Panthers in Jan. 2023.

2023: Extension and Kraft’s comments

On Jan. 12, 2023, the Patriots released the following statement in unprecedented fashion:

“The New England Patriots and Head Coach Bill Belichick have begun contract extension discussions with Jerod Mayo that would keep him with the team long-term.”

According to a source, the Patriots included a clause in his contract that established a succession plan if and when the franchise parted ways with Bill Belichick. That clause allowed Mayo to succeed Belichick without the Patriots conducting a full head-coaching search under normal league rules.

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Kraft made it clear that he wanted Mayo to be the team’s next head coach at the NFL’s Annual Meetings in March.

“There’s no ceiling on (Mayo’s) ability to be a head coach. And he’ll be a head coach. I’m sure of that,” Kraft said. “I hope he’s with us, so we’ll see what happens.”

Mayo expressed his desire to be a head coach earlier this month.

“I feel like I’m prepared. I feel like I’m ready,” Mayo said. “I feel like I can talk to men, women, old, young, white, Black — it doesn’t matter. And hopefully develop those people into upstanding citizens and help them evolve. That’s how I think about it. I feel like my calling is to develop.”