One of Bill Belichick’s long-time assistants is leaving his post.
Patriots special teams coach Scott O’Brien has retired from coaching, the club said Tuesday. He will remain with New England in an undisclosed capacity.
Assistant special teams coach Joe Judge will replace O’Brien.
O’Brien had spent the last six seasons with the Patriots. He was also special teams coach under Belichick in Cleveland from 1991-1995, then oversaw special-teams units in Baltimore (1996-1998), Carolina (1999-2004) and Denver (2007-2008). He was also the Dolphins’ coordinator of football operations/assistant to the head coach in 2005 and 2006.
In a club-issued statement, Patriots coach Bill Belichick paid O’Brien extraordinary praise.
“I have never worked with a coach better than Scott O’Brien,” Belichick said Tuesday. “Scott is second to none at preparation, strategy, teaching, techniques, fundamentals, scouting and virtually any other aspect of team-building, game planning or player development that exists in football. I thank Scott for making me a better coach, finding and developing countless players and being such a tremendous asset at both organizations we worked together.
“Scott O’Brien is undoubtedly one of the finest coaches of his generation and he deserves having his final game be a Super Bowl championship. While we will miss his contributions in coaching, we look forward to continuing to work with him in other capacities.”
