In one of the true feel-good stories on Thursday, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft announced the team was inducting former longtime assistant coach Dante Scarnecchia in the Patriots Hall of Fame.
It’s a much-deserved honor for Scarnecchia, who coached for the Patriots for a span of nearly 40 years. His influence within the organization clearly remains, given fans were actually campaigning for his return to help fix the broken offensive line in 2022.
Not only is Scarnecchia one of the all-time great Patriots coaches, but he’s one of the all-time great offensive line coaches in NFL history, period.
“Dante Scarnecchia is recognized as one of the greatest assistant coaches of all time,” said Kraft in a released statement. “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.”
Delivering the Hall of Fame news!@TheHall | #ForeverNE pic.twitter.com/Pz2MM22OAU
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) April 6, 2023
Scarnecchia joins a special list of Patriots greats that have already been enshrined in the team’s Hall of Fame. So many players over the years were made better by the work Scarnecchia did on and off the field.
Now, he’ll take his rightful place in history among the other New England legends that paved the way for a brighter future.
