FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Patriots held their annual Hall of Fame nomination committee meeting today to select this year's candidates for induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame. The Patriots remain the only team to allow a committee to nominate three annual choices for the fans to select for induction into their Hall of Fame. All former head coaches and Patriots players who have been retired for at least four years are eligible for nomination. The only others allowed induction into the Patriots Hall of Fame are lifelong contributors to the franchise, an honor bestowed by Patriots Chairman and CEO Robert Kraft. During today's nomination committee meeting, Kraft announced that former assistant head coach/offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia will be the next person to receive the honor. He will be inducted as a contributor into the Patriots Hall of Fame at ceremonies to be held later this year. Scarnecchia becomes just the fourth person to be selected by Kraft as a contributor, joining Patriots founder Billy Sullivan (2009), the team's long-time play-by-play announcer Gil Santos (2012), and long-time cheerleader director Tracy Sormanti (2021).
"Dante Scarnecchia is recognized as one of the greatest assistant coaches of all time," said Kraft. "He is the first Patriots assistant coach to receive this honor and I can't think of a more deserving person. You would be hard pressed to find anyone who made greater on-field contributions over his 34 seasons with us, which propelled us to 10 of our 11 Super Bowl appearances and helped us claim five of our six Super Bowl championships. He earned the respect of his fellow coaches and players, many of whom credited Dante for making them the best they could be. I am proud that his legacy will be preserved in our Hall of Fame forever."
Scarnecchia spent 36 years in the NFL, including 34 seasons with the Patriots (1982-88, 1991-2013, 2016-19). He joined the Patriots as an assistant on Ron Meyer's staff in 1982. He spent his first six seasons coaching special teams and tight ends before joining the Indianapolis Colts staff as offensive line coach in 1989. He returned to the Patriots after two seasons with the Colts and remained with the team until retiring following the 2013 season. He was rehired as the offensive line coach in 2016 before retiring for the second time after the 2019 season.
Scarnecchia was the longest tenured NFL coach when he retired following the 2019 season. The last NFL coach to garner at least 30 seasons with one team was Dick Hoak, who spent an NFL-record 35 seasons as an assistant with Pittsburgh.
Scarnecchia was on the Patriots coaching staff for 22 of the franchise's 28 playoff seasons and coached in 48 of the 59 playoff games in team history, including 10 of the franchise's NFL leading 11 Super Bowl appearances and five of the Patriots' six Super Bowl championships.
Presenting the best photos of former Patriots offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia.
Scarnecchia coached the offensive line for 19 seasons for the Patriots, a position he coached for 32 of his 48 seasons in the coaching profession. He originally joined the Patriots and made his NFL coaching debut in 1982. He coached the Patriots tight ends and specials teams for seven seasons (1982-88) before moving to Indianapolis in 1989. After two seasons (1989-90) as the
Colts offensive line coach, he re-joined the Patriots in 1991. After two seasons as a tight ends and special teams coach on Dick MacPherson's staff, Scarnecchia was appointed special assistant on Bill Parcells' staff from 1993-94, which was re-defined as defensive assistant from 1995-96. He resumed special teams responsibilities on Pete Carroll's staff in 1997 before being named the offensive line coach in 1999. When Bill Belichick was named the Patriots head coach in 2000, he made Scarnecchia his assistant head coach/offensive line coach, positions he held for 14 seasons before retiring after the 2013 season and then served as offensive line coach upon his return in 2016 through the 2019 season.
He began his coaching career in 1970 as the offensive line coach at California Western University. His coaching career led him to Iowa State (1973-74), Southern Methodist (1975-76), Pacific (1977-78), Northern Arizona (1979) and back to Southern Methodist (1980-81) before entering the NFL ranks in 1982.
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- Houston Antwine (2015)
- Bruce Armstrong (2001)
- Drew Bledsoe (2011)
- Troy Brown (2012)
- Tedy Bruschi (2013)
- Nick Buoniconti (1992)
- Gino Cappelletti (1992)
- Raymond Clayborn (2017)
- Ben Coates (2008)
- Sam Cunningham (2010)
- Bob Dee (1993)
- Kevin Faulk (2016)
- Leon Gray (2019)
- Steve Grogan (1995)
- John Hannah (1991)
- Rodney Harrison (2019)
- Mike Haynes (1994)
- Jim Lee Hunt (1993)
- Ty Law (2014)
- Matt Light (2018)
- Willie McGinest (2015)
- Stanley Morgan (2007)
- Jon Morris (2011)
- Jim Nance (2009)
- Steve Nelson (1993)
- Vito "Babe" Parilli (1993)
- Richard Seymour (2020)
- Andre Tippett (1999)
- Vince Wilfork (2022)
Contributors:
- William H. "Billy" Sullivan, Jr. (2009)
- Gil Santos (2013)
- Tracy Sormanti (2021)
- Dante Scarnecchia (2023)
