From tenuous start, Belichick, Scarnecchia & Fears walked long path together to NFL success with Patriots

ATLANTA — It has been a long journey to this point for Bill Belichick, Dante Scarnecchia and Ivan Fears.

The head coach and his two longest-serving assistants — the only two members of the New England coaching staff who predate Belichick’s tenure as New England’s head coach — will wrap up their 17th season together at Super Bowl LIII. (Scarnecchia’s two-year retirement in 2014 and ’15 being the only interruption in their tenure as a group.)

On Thursday, in the final media availability of the season, the trio reflected on the time they’ve spent together. It all started in 2000 when Belichick was hired as the head coach of the Patriots, and Fears and Scarnecchia were holdovers from Pete Carroll’s old coaching staff. Belchick knew Scarnecchia from their time together as assistant coaches on the 1996 staff under Bill Parcells, a group Belichick called “a great, great staff.”


“I’m just so fortunate (Scarnecchia stayed),” Belichick said. “He’s developed so many players, from undrafted free agents to low draft choices to guys other people didn’t think they would have careers or so forth but have played very well, very consistently for us for a long period of time.

“He does a great job in terms of game-planning, in-game adjustments, protections, protection adjustments. He does a phenomenal job in every area. I can’t say enough about him, what he’s done.”

As for Fears and Belichick, they coached against each other throughout the 1990s, with most of the matchups coming when Fears was the running backs coach with Chicago and Belichick serving as head coach in Cleveland.