New England Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia will retire following the 2019 season, according to multiple reports.
Scarnecchia has already retired once — he missed the 2014 and 2015 seasons during his first stint in retirement. However, this decision may be final. Scarnecchia has been with the Patriots from 1982 to 1988 and 1991 to present (with the exception of those two retired seasons). He is among the most-respected offensive line coaches in the NFL — the Patriots have won five Super Bowls with him serving in that position. He was also the assistant head coach from 2000 to 2013.
“Dante does an excellent job of developing younger players and getting older players and the playing group to play cohesively, and with good communication, and trust and accountability for each other,” Belichick said this season. “He’s an excellent game-planning coach, and an excellent in-game coach in terms of making adjustments and recognizing what the problems are and fixing them. Very fortunate to have had the opportunity to coach with him for, going all the way back to ’96, for so many years.”
Spoken to a handful of players over the last 24 hours or so. Several are under the impression that yes, Scarnecchia is calling it a career. https://t.co/1FJo6AHBNc
— Michael Giardi (@MikeGiardi) January 28, 2020
The Patriots have a few candidates to replace Scar, with the most obvious being Carmen Bricillo, who worked closely with Scar this season on the offensive line. Bricillo was in his first season with the Patriots after spending nine years coaching the offensive line at Youngstown State.
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