Tag: Cole Popovich

Commanders interview Texans assistant for offensive line coach opening

Popovich spent five seasons as a young assistant coach for Bill Belichick.

The Washington Commanders filled three positions on their coaching staff Thursday, hiring Brian Johnson (offensive pass-game coordinator), Jason Simmons (defensive pass-game coordinator) and retaining quarterbacks coach Tavita Pritchard.

Washington requested permission from the Dallas Cowboys to interview defensive backs coach Al Harris and tight ends coach Lunda Wells on the staff of new head coach Dan Quinn, but Dallas denied the requests.

Quinn had sought to interview Wells for the offensive line coach position on his staff. While Quinn was denied permission to interview Wells, he did interview Houston Texans assistant offensive line coach Cole Popovich, according to Aaron Wilson of KPRC 2 in Houston.

Popovich, 38, spent the 2023 season with the resurgent Texans and new head coach DeMeco Ryans. Popovich was the assistant offensive line coach under Chris Strausser. The Texans had a dramatic offensive turnaround behind rookie quarterback C.J. Stroud in 2023, but Houston’s offensive line was outstanding, too.

A four-year starter at left guard for Fresno State, Popovich began his coaching career in 2011 at a small college. His first NFL job came in 2016 as a coaching assistant for the New England Patriots. In 2019, he was named assistant running backs coach, and in 2020, he served as assistant offensive line coach.

After his five years with the Patriots, Popovich returned to the college game to serve as the offensive line coach at Troy in 2022.

Popovich’s New England ties to GM Nick Caserio led him to the Texans.

Popovich is the first known candidate to interview for the position.

 

 

Texans spur toward completing coaching staff with asst. OL coach Cole Popovich

The Houston Texans continue to spur toward completing the coaching staff with the hiring of former New England Patriots asst. OL coach Cole Popovich.

The Houston Texans are adding a former New England Patriots assistant coach to DeMeco Ryans’ new coaching staff.

According to Aaron Wilson from KPRC-TV, the Texans are hiring Cole Popovich as their new assistant offensive line coach to work with Chris Strausser.

Popovich worked in a variety of roles for the Patriots from 2016-20, first as a coaching assistant in his first three seasons, then as an assistant running backs coach for a season, and finally as co-offensive line coach in 2020. No doubt this is where he made an impression with Texans general manager Nick Caserio, who was with the Patriots from 2001-20.

In between the Patriots and the Texans, Popovich has worked as the offensive line coach with the Troy Trojans in 2022, and then with Franklin as an assistant coach in 2021.

The relative to San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich started out as an offensive line coach in 2011 with Los Angeles Valley College. The Fresno State graduate worked as offensive line coach with Fresno City College from 2012-13. Popovich was a graduate assistant for Utah State from 2013-14, and then was an offensive line coach and co-offensive coordinator with Minot State from 2014-15 before entering the NFL ranks.

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Report: Patriots’ Cole Popovich parts ways with team due to COVID-19 protocols

Patriots co-offensive line coach Cole Popovich is parting ways with the team.

The NFL’s new guidelines for the the COVID-19 vaccine during the 2021 season haven’t sat well with some players and coaches in the league.

New England Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon, along with other players in the league have vocally expressed their frustration with the protocols. Patriots co-offensive line coach Cole Popovich made the decision to step away from the team because of the new rules, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss and The Boston Globe’s Jim McBride.

Popovich joined the Patriots in 2015 as a coaching assistant and he shared offensive line duties with Carmen Bricillo in 2020 following the departure of Dante Scarnecchia. Bricillo will now take the lead role as the offensive line coach.

Popovich wasn’t the first coach to part ways this offseason due to COVID-19 rules and he likely won’t be the last.

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Bill Belichick explains what goes into position changes for assistant coaches

This is what keeps the Patriots’ coaching staff in sync with each other.

Bill Belichick has a long history of moving assistant coaches to different positions from season to season.

Former star receiver Troy Brown began his coaching career last season to help with the wide outs, and now he’s with the running backs. Cole Popovich helped out with the running backs last season and now he’s the co-offensive line coach alongside Carmen Bricillo.

These are two minor examples of coaching changes that happen yearly in the New England Patriots organization. It’s a smart move that familiarizes coaches with each position and the intricate details that each entails.

Belichick joined a Zoom call on Friday morning and explained these position changes in much further detail.

“I would say every situation is a little bit different, but also coaches – they specialize or focus on a certain position, their area of responsibility, but they’re also aware of other things, whether it’s on the other side of the ball at the complementary positions, like wide receivers and defensive backs type of thing, or whether it’s adjacent positions,” Belichick said. “So, that’s linebackers to D-line, that type of thing. I think the move isn’t maybe quite as monumental as what you think it is. It’s hard to coach one position without knowing what the guys beside you are doing, or if you’re a back, not knowing what the line is doing in front of you or not knowing what the guys across the ball are doing.”

I think there’s certainly a build-up of knowledge there, and in some cases, it brings a little bit of a different perspective than if you’ve just coached only that one spot. The opportunity to coach something else and see what’s going on around it or how those units work together or work against each other, depending on if it’s the opposite side of the ball, that can be valuable, too. So, ultimately, it’s the staff on either side of the ball or special teams meshing together and making sure the communication, the assignments and all that are consistent so the players are getting the same thing and it all fits together.”

Belichick’s method has proved useful and it’s helped guys like Brian Flores and Joe Judge land head coaching jobs.

“But specifically, each person is responsible for a certain area, but certainly the more that they can know, understand and even be able to coach other positions is valuable, too,” Belichick continued. “When we do group drills together – like putting the line and linebackers together, or the linebackers and defensive backs together, or the tight ends and tackles together, or the running backs and the line together – then the more that those coaches can know what’s going on with those adjacent or complementary positions, then the more effective they can coach and the better the drills and the information is to the players.”

This strategy of putting his coaches in the right positions and allowing them to learn every aspect of the game could be easily applicable to everyday employees. Learning every aspect of the job a person has will quickly lead to promotions and a further understanding of how things operate.

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Dante Scarnecchia believes Patriots are in good hands with OL coaches

Replacing Dante Scarnecchia is nearly impossible, but the Patriots should still be in good hands.

Dante Scarnecchia’s impact for the New England Patriots can’t be put into words.

The legendary coach joined the team in 1982 and spent nearly two decades coaching numerous positions, before taking over the offensive line in 1999 and holding that role for most of the following two decades. Scarnecchia, 72, officially retired at the end of the 2019 season and walked away with five Super Bowl championships.

ESPN’s Mike Reiss caught up with him and talked about life after retirement — while discussing the Patriots’ current coaching situation on the offensive line. The Patriots have Cole Popovich and Carmen Bricillo sharing responsibilities for the 2020 season.

“They’re both really good coaches and both really good people. Very, very smart guys,” Scarnecchia said. “I know no one has been named, and there are reasons for that, but clearly those are the two guys that are going to do it, and I think they’ll do an outstanding job. The other thing is they know the players. It’s not like they’re new, coming in from the outside. They’ve both been around there — especially Cole, who has been in the system for five years. Carm for one.”

The Patriots will have a solid unit together if healthy. David Andrews is returning after missing 2019 with blood clots and Isaiah Wynn showed he’s the real deal while on the field. Popovich and Bricillo both spent time with Scarnecchia, giving them a leg up on the difficult roles they’ll have.

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