BY NICK ST. DENIS
Dante Scarnecchia, the only member of the New England Patriots to have been a part of all seven of the team's Super Bowl appearances, is finally retiring.
The 65-year-old offensive line coach will call it a career after 32 seasons in the NFL -- 30 with the Patriots. It's the longest any active coach has been with his respective team.
"In an industry of constant change, Dante remained a fixture here for the simple reason that he helped every player reach his highest potential, regardless of who he was, how he was acquired or how much raw talent he had," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said, via Patriots.com.
Year in, year out New England's offensive line is regarded as one of the best in the league. The unit has entered the past few seasons with plenty of question marks but by the end of the year has finished as one of, if not the, strongest positional groups on the team.
"In whatever category a coach can be assessed – evaluator, teacher, motivator, problem solver, disciplinarian, team player, winner – Dante is as good as it gets," Belichick said."
In announcing Scarnecchia's departure, the Patriots also named Dave DeGuglielmo as his replacement. DeGuglielmo a former assistant of the New York Jets, Miami Dolphins and New York Giants, most recently pulled out of his post on the University of Maryland's staff, where he spent less than a week.
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