On Wednesday, audio from Boston College head football coach Bill O’Brien’s podcast began to make the rounds, as the former Patriots offensive coordinator talked about the return of a New England legend to the coaching staff at 1 Patriot Place.
When talking about newly hired Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel bringing aboard former Boston College senior analyst Doug Marrone as his new offensive line coach, O’Brien revealed some surprising mentorship Marrone was already allegedly receiving.
“Dante [Scarnecchia] has already met with him a few times, which is good,” O’Brien said on his podcast. “Like you said, Dante’s back involved with the program, just, you know, helping out as an advisor and things like that. And that’ll help Doug, and Doug will do a great job with Josh [McDaniels]. And it’s a good staff - a very, very strong coaching staff.”
A return in any capacity of the greatest position coach in the history of the franchise got Patriots fans excited. With Scarnecchia’s decades-long track record of coaching offensive line at the highest level, having him in the building in any role was going to help a unit that was among the worst in the NFL in 2024.
But on Thursday’s edition of The Greg Hill Show, Scarnecchia nipped this one in the bud.
“[O’Brien] has informed the world that you’re going to be consulting with the New England Patriots next season,” said WEEI’s Greg Hill. “Can you talk about that, or not?”
“It’s not true,” Scarnecchia said matter-of-factly.
“Well, he did kind of walk it back this morning, Dante,” said WEEI’s Courtney Cox, referencing O’Brien’s weekly spot with the morning show. “He said, ‘Well, you’ve been doing this the last couple of seasons, and you’ve always kind of been in this role. So is that true, that you have been helping out, kind of, behind the scenes, and you’re gonna continue to do so?”
“I have not been helping out behind the scenes,” said Scarnecchia. “I’m not involved over there.”
Scarnecchia’s denial does follow suit with the Patriots’ official announcement on Wednesday evening of Vrabel’s complete coaching staff, where the Patriots Hall of Famer’s name was absent from the section listing offensive coaches, as well as the section listing additional contributors serving in advisor-type roles.
But even with the strong denial and his name missing from the press release, O’Brien’s tidbit from Wednesday’s podcast didn’t come out of nowhere.
O’Brien has a well-documented friendship with both Vrabel and Marrone, with the latter routinely referred to by O’Brien as one of his best friends. With Scarnecchia well-known as someone happy to keep a low profile, this may be a case of the 76-year-old wanting to keep his name out of the limelight, opting to keep consulting conversations private between him and Marrone.
And with Scarnecchia denying that he’s been helping out behind the scenes in recent years before Vrabel was hired, this also could be a case of him not wanting any blood on his hands for the atrocious output that unit gave during the 2024 season.
Whether Marrone is taking on the offensive line duties with only the help of assistant coaches Jason Houghtaling and Robert Kugler, or with a secret mentorship program from one of the greatest O-line coaches in NFL history, one thing has to be true in 2025 if this team is going to improve:
The offensive line needs to be better.
Period. End of story.