Add New England Patriots’ coach Bill Belichick’s name to the ever-growing list of people who consider themselves Ohio State fans.

Or, at least, that’s the way his daughter sees it.

Assistant women’s lacrosse coach Amanda Belichick, 27, said her father has become an OSU fan since she started coaching at OSU.

She said it helps that her father also has close ties to OSU football coach Urban Meyer and former Patriots linebacker Mike Vrabel, now the defensive line coach at OSU.

Many of her father’s former assistants have moved toward the college ranks.

“I think with Bill O’Brien going to Penn State, he’s (her father) spreading his wings in the college world,” she said. “It’s great to see that Patriots connection out here.”

While her father is known for being rather short with the media, Amanda Belichick, a graduate of Wesleyan University, spoke candidly about growing up as the daughter of an NFL coach.

“People give him a hard time for not divulging too much information, but that’s, you know, not his job,” Amanda Belichick said.

Growing up as the daughter as one of the most successful coaches in NFL history, one might assume that coaching would be a natural progression for Amanda Belichick.

“I have a lot of memories of watching him breakdown film and drawing out plays and analyzing a game plan,” she said.

But she said she hadn’t even considered coaching until after graduating from Wesleyan University in 2007 when she took a job coaching high school lacrosse, soccer and ice hockey at a boarding school in Connecticut.

“I worked in the admissions office and it was kind of my full-time job,” she said. “What I loved about that job, and coaching was such a small part of it, was the coaching.”

She stuck with lacrosse because it was something that she had been around her entire life.

“We’ve always been a lacrosse family,” she said. “It’s been my passion, it’s one of his (her father) passions.”

Amanda Belichick followed coach Alexis Venechanos to OSU from the University of Massachusetts where the pair helped lead the Minutewomen to an Atlantic-10 championship in 2010.

Now that she is in coaching, having an NFL head coach for a father does have its advantages, she said.

“I’ve really had an opportunity to work with him and talk about preparation and really evolve the way I prepare for my own, whether its practice or evaluating ourselves or evaluating our opponents,” she said. “Those are things that I’ve really been able to take from him.”

But Amanda Belichick said her and her father’s relationship goes beyond coaching.

“There are a lot of things that are personal that have nothing to do with sports that we can connect on,” she said.

These topics include things like movies, books and a passion for history, she said.

Amanda Belichick joked that during the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, she can only reach her father in the very early morning or very late at night.

She said during a week like this she understands he’s busy and never tries to hold him up.

When the ball is kicked off Sunday from Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., Amanda Belichick said she will be watching with the same nervous excitement that she watches all her father’s big games with.

“You want the best for your father and you want to see him be successful,” she said. “I know how hard he works. To see him go out and win games is great.”

The Patriots organization and the OSU women’s lacrosse team did not immediately respond to The Lantern’s request for comment.

The Patriots and New York Giants will play in Super Bowl XLVI at 6:30 p.m., Sunday.

Tight end Jake Ballard and center Jim Cordle are both former Buckeyes and are on the Giants’ active roster.