Addition of Carmen Bricillo gives Patriots coaching staff a new look

Share

The Patriots have some holes to fill on their coaching staff, and apparently they'll move toward accomplishing that goal by giving Dante Scarnecchia a little more help. 

According to The Vindicator, Youngstown State's Carmen Bricillo will make his way to New England to serve as an assistant offensive line coach. Bricillo has been with the Penguins for the last nine seasons. 

There are a couple of Youngstown State products already residing in the Patriots locker room in 2017 third-round edge defender Derek Rivers and practice-squad receiver Damoun Patterson, who just signed a future contract with the team. 

Patriots coach Bill Belichick has long had a good relationship with Youngstown State coach Bo Pelini, who was previously the head coach at Nebraska. 

Bricillo's hire may signal a bit of a domino effect happening on the Patriots coaching staff at the moment. 

When defensive play-caller Brian Flores took the Dolphins' head coaching gig, he brought with him Patriots receivers coach Chad O'Shea, assistant quarterbacks coach Jerry Schuplinski and corners coach Josh Boyer. Defensive line coach Brendan Daly, meanwhile, has joined the Chiefs staff.

The Patriots typically like to promote from within -- though they went a different route with defensive coordinator Greg Schiano -- meaning coaching assistants DeMarcus Covington, Mike Pellegrino, Cole Popovich and Brian Belichick could be in line for new jobs. (Atif Austin was a coaching assistant last year, but has joined Northern Illinois as their running backs coach.)

Covington spent much of his time last season with Patriots linebackers as Flores (the 2018 linebackers coach in title) dealt with increased responsibilities. Popovich has assisted Scarnecchia in recent seasons, though with the hire of Bricillo, perhaps he'll be moving on to work with another position group.

Before heading to Youngstown State, Bricillo worked as an offensive assistant at Illinois and Akron. He played his college ball at Duquesne in the late 1990s.

Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.

Contact Us