FOXBOROUGH, Mass. - The New England Patriots announced today two additions to Bill Belichick's coaching staff. The Patriots named Cameron Achord as an assistant special teams coach and Atif Austin as a coaching assistant.
Achord most recently served as interim head coach of at Southwest Mississippi Community College. After playing safety at Belhaven University, Achord took his first coaching position in 2009 when he served as a special teams graduate assistant at the University of Southern Mississippi, while earning his master's degree in sports management. He then joined Southwest Mississippi as an assistant coach in 2012, where he served in roles as offensive coordinator, special teams, quarterbacks, running backs and tight ends before being named the interim head coach last year.
Austin spent the last four seasons as a wide receivers coach and special teams coordinator at North Dakota State. He was part of three Football Championship Subdivision national championships and four Missouri Valley Football Conference titles. He also served as an assistant at Stetson, Northern Iowa and Southwest Minnesota State, where he earned a master's in leadership and education in 2005. Austin was a four-year starter at Iowa State from 1999 through the 2002 season.
