FOXBORO, Mass. (AP) – Dour, disheveled and devoted to the Xs and Os of football.

The public image of New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick is as colorful as the baggy gray sweat shirt he wears as he stands behind the podium, talking about an opponent, with little expression on his face or in his voice.

“This is a good, young football team,” he said before this past week’s exhibition game against Jacksonville, “well coached, a good, young quarterback and are strong on defense.”

Yawn.

So how do you explain his wry sense of humor? And what’s up with his friendship with rocker Jon Bon Jovi, singer of “It’s My Life” and the not-so-mellow “Wanted Dead or Alive.”

Does Belichick let his short hair down when the lights go out – if they ever do – in the coach’s office?

“It’s a classic Don’t judge a book by its cover.’ Bill is very serious when he’s at work,” Bon Jovi said. “But when he goes home, he’s a different guy and the Bill I know is a great fan of music. It gives him great joy.”

They met in the late 1980s when Belichick was defensive coordinator for the New York Giants and the New Jersey-born singer attended practices of his favorite team. Belichick also watched Bon Jovi work, taking in European concerts in the mid 1990s, but don’t expect the stickler for footwork by his linemen to jump on stage and dance.

“He’s not a bling-bling kind of guy. He doesn’t wear his Super Bowl rings,” Bon Jovi said. “Does that make him a better coach if he screams and yells and gets tabloid headlines? No. What really matters is the rings he wins, and he didn’t get them in a jewelry store.

“He can’t dance, but everybody’s got one shortcoming.”

Belichick got his rings by coaching the Patriots to last-minute Super Bowl wins over St. Louis in 2002 and Carolina in 2004. Just as his game plans mystify opponents, he has no urge to reveal details of his non-football life.

“I don’t say I go to great lengths to keep them private but I don’t go to great lengths to make them public either,” Belichick said.

His players describe him as fair and straightforward, handing out criticism and praise when deserved. His practices are serious, although he can throw in a light touch, such as when he promised to end a recent workout if offensive tackle Matt Light caught a punt. Light did.

Before the exhibition game at Carolina on Aug. 28, he discussed the reception he expected.

“Probably a parade when we land,” he said with a slight curl of a smile at the corner of his mouth. “I imagine there will be a lot of cheering when they introduce us, I would think, maybe some fireworks.”

Basically, Belichick is a matter-of-fact guy who simply wants to do everything possible to win.

So he shrugs off broadcasters’ comments about his casual dress on the sidelines – a sweat shirt at one game, a windbreaker at another.

“It’s all clean,” he said. “I just try to be comfortable.”

Belichick, 52, grew up in Annapolis, Md., where his father was an assistant coach at the Naval Academy. He played football in high school in Maryland, then at Phillips Academy in Andover and later at Wesleyan University.

Although he’s not exactly a master of one-liners these days, he admits he seemed less cooperative with reporters in his first head coaching job at Cleveland from 1991 to 1995.

“I understand what your job is and I respect it,” he said. “Ultimately, I’m going to be judged on my performance. I understand that.”

Nick Saban, now head coach at defending Bowl Championship Series champion LSU, was Belichick’s defensive coordinator with the Browns and they remain close friends.

Off the field, Belichick is “quiet, shy, unassuming. You would never know he’s the head coach. He’s a real good person,” Saban said. “As a coach, he’s a relentless competitor, really works extremely hard and is well organized.”

Since his first head coaching experience in Cleveland, “he has developed a more outgoing approach with everybody,” but success hasn’t changed him, Saban said.

Belichick said that with the Patriots he delegates more work to his assistants and deals with more off-field issues than he did with the Browns.

His current players have noticed a personal touch.

“I have seen a more nurturing side of him,” said wide receiver David Patten, who played only six games last year because of a knee injury but had an outstanding training camp. “He’d pull me aside and say, Look, man, we really hate that you’re not out there with us. We miss you.’ Just letting me know how much he appreciated me.

“Once a coach establishes how much he cares about you, there’s nothing a player wouldn’t do for him on the field.”

Center Dan Koppen, a rookie last season who found Belichick somewhat intimidating, respects his coach’s approach.

“He’s going to tell you how it is. He’ll joke around with you a little bit too,” Koppen said. “Sometimes you don’t know whether to laugh or just keep your mouth shut. I’d rather he just never talked to me. Then I’d know I’m doing my job and that’s it.”

AP-ES-09-02-04 1413EDT