The New England Patriots will hire Greg Schiano as their next defensive coordinator, according to The Boston Globe’s Jim McBride. The deal is imminent.
Schiano will replace now Dolphins coach Brain Flores, who served as the Patriots’ play caller and de-facto coordinator during the 2018 season. Flores took over for Matt Patricia in 2017 after he joined the Detroit Lions.
Schiano is the first out-of-house hire at coordinator since 2001 when Bill Belichick hired Romeo Crennel to be the team’s first defensive coordinator. Belichick had no defensive coordinator in 2000, his first year as the Patriots head coach.
From 2001 to 2011, Schiano was the coach at Rutgers, where he rebuilt the program. Belichick drafted a handful of players from that program, and his son Steve, now safeties coach for New England, played under Schiano as a long snapper. From 2012 to 2013, Schiano was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach, where he went 11–21. He was then named associate head coach and defensive coordinator for Urban Meyer at Ohio State from 2016 to 2018.
