The New England Patriots wasted no time in naming a successor to Bill Belichick.

Multiple outlets reported Friday that the Patriots have promoted inside linebackers coach Jerod Mayo to be their next head coach, one day after the team and Belichick announced they would part ways after a historic 24-year run.

Mayo, a former New England linebacker, spent the last five seasons on Belichick's staff. The 37-year-old becomes the youngest current head coach in the NFL and the first Black head coach in Patriots history.

The Patriots are expected to formally introduce Mayo at a news conference next week, according to ESPN.

New England was able to quickly appoint Mayo and forego the NFL's standard hiring process by stipulating in his most recent contract that he would succeed Belichick and communicating that plan to the league. Mayo signed an extension to remain with the Patriots in January 2023.

The NFL's "Rooney Rule," which mandates that teams interview minority candidates for head coaching and senior football operations positions, also states that teams can immediately fill those jobs if a candidate has been declared a coach or executive in waiting.

Patriots owner Robert Kraft had alluded to Mayo being Belichick's heir apparent when interviewed at the NFL's Annual League Meeting in March, where he gave a glowing endorsement of the young coach's credentials.

"There's no ceiling on his 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."

It’s a new era in New England: the Patriots have hired Jerod Mayo as their next head coach and he will be formally introduced at a press conference next week, a source tells ESPN. pic.twitter.com/SeHKoAonrP

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) January 12, 2024

Mayo has spent his entire professional career in the New England organization, as he had a distinguished eight-year playing career under Belichick from 2008-15 before moving into the coaching ranks in 2019.

The 2008 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, Mayo made two Pro Bowls as a player, was named a First Team All-Pro in 2010 and was a member of the Patriots' 2014 Super Bowl champion team.

Mayo faces quite a challenge in his first go-around as a head coach. Not only will be replacing a legendary figure in Belichick, whose 333 wins when including postseason games are the second-most in NFL history, but he'll be taking over a rebuilding team that's coming off a 4-13 season and recorded the franchise's lowest win total since 1992.

The Patriots are still expected to hire a general manager this offseason, a role Belichick implicitly held by having full control over player personnel for much of an enormously successful tenure that included six Super Bowl victories, the most of any head coach in league history, and nine AFC championships.

Mayo becomes the NFL's fourth current Black head coach, joining the Pittsburgh Steelers' Mike Tomlin, Todd Bowles of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Houston Texans' DeMeco Ryans, and its sixth active minority head coach. Mike McDaniel of the Miami Dolphins is bi-racial, while the New York Jets' Robert Saleh is of Lebanese descent.