PatsFans.com Menu
PatsFans.com - The Hub For New England Patriots Fans
PatsFans.com - The Hub For New England Patriots Fans

Today In Patriots History March 28, 2019: DC Greg Schiano resigns

Fun historical team facts.
Status
Not open for further replies.

jmt57

Moderator
Staff member
PatsFans.com Supporter
2024 Weekly Picks Winner
2025 Weekly Picks Winner
Joined
Aug 13, 2005
Messages
23,782
Reaction score
19,717
Today in Patriots History
Greg Schiano


March 28, 2019:
Newly hired defensive coordinator Greg Schiano resigns


Greg Schiano joined the New England Patriots’ coaching staff in February after not being retained following Ryan Day’s hiring (at Ohio State).​

Now he’s stepping down from the new position after being on the job for a little more than a month.​



Greg Schiano, hired last month as the New England Patriots defensive coordinator, stepped down Thursday, the team announced.​

"This is not the result of any one event, but rather a realization that I need to spend more time on my faith and family," Schiano said in a statement. "I don't want to look back years from now and wish I had done things differently. Therefore, I am taking time away from the game to recalibrate my priorities."

Schiano, 52, was most recently the defensive coordinator at Ohio State. He was 11-21 in two seasons as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' head coach in 2012 and 2013 before being fired. Schiano was 68-67 in 11 seasons as the head coach at Rutgers (2001-2011).​


Schiano was expected to replace Brian Flores, last year’s defensive play-caller, who was hired as the Miami Dolphins head coach. His hiring was never officially announced, but it was widely known he’d taken the position.​

Bill Belichick and Schiano, who coached at Ohio State last year, are longtime friends, dating back to when Stephen Belichick, the head coach’s son was a long snapper for Schiano at Rutgers.​

Schiano has been back and forth between the NFL and college. He made a name for himself as the head coach at Rutgers from 2001-2011. He was the Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach in 2012 and 2013 and produced a record of 11-21. He struggled there when players didn’t respond to his tough guy tactics.​

After being fired he spent two years coaching in high school before becoming the defensive coordinator at Ohio State from 2016-18.​




Albert Breer's take:
I’m not here to tell you that Greg Schiano’s abrupt departure from the Patriots isn’t unusual. It’s a tough pill for New England to swallow in an offseason full of change. But I think the statement he released—saying family was a driving factor in his decision—was truthful. His high school-aged daughter is a big-time women’s soccer recruit, and his twin sons are playing college football. That made displacing his family and diving into the job in Foxboro tough. Maybe he’ll have some regret down the line on leaving the staff of his close friend Bill Belichick, but my sense is that he feared there’d be deeper regret if he went the other way, which is something we can all respect.​


Ben Volin:
Maybe there is more to it, but from everything I know about the coach, the decision really was about family. A league source has said that Schiano doesn’t want to move his family until his daughter, a high school sophomore in Columbus, Ohio, graduates. Schiano basically had an open invitation to join Bill Belichick’s staff for several years, and only took it now because he was let go from Ohio State in January.​

Even though Schiano agreed to join the Patriots and was at the Combine last month, my hunch is he discovered pretty quickly that being a long-distance father wasn’t going to work. And it’s better for Schiano to acknowledge this now, five months before the Patriots’ first snap of the season, than to realize it in August.​


Mike Reiss:
Schiano was hired by the Patriots less than two months ago, although the team never specified what his role would be. It was widely assumed he would play a lead role on defense as the club replaced playcaller Brian Flores, who was hired as Miami Dolphins coach after the season.​

It is a stunning turn of events, as Belichick had raved about Schiano in an interview with Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski that aired Thursday on the "Basketball and Beyond with Coach K" show on SiriusXM.​

"He's a very experienced and outstanding fundamental coach," Belichick said in the interview, which was recorded at some point before Sunday. "He's a good teacher and has a lot of experience in both the college and pro game. ... I think he'll be a great addition."​

Schiano is a longtime friend of Belichick's and coached Belichick's son Steve at Rutgers for one season. He also coached current Patriots defensive backs Devin McCourty, Jason McCourty and Duron Harmon.​

Schiano's departure comes one day after former Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo (2008-15) announced that he was joining the team's coaching staff.​


The makeup of the Patriots’ defensive coaching staff as a whole remains somewhat of a mystery. Flores took cornerbacks coach Josh Boyer with him to Miami, and defensive line coach Brendan Daly jumped to the Kansas City Chiefs, leaving Steve Belichick (safeties) as New England’s lone remaining defensive position coach.​

Ex-Patriots star Jerod Mayo announced last week he’d been hired to coach the team’s linebackers, and 2018 coaching assistant DeMarcus Covington (who primarily worked with linebackers) could take on more responsibilities this season. The Patriots also reportedly hired longtime Schiano assistant Bob Fraser for an unspecified defensive role, but it’s unclear whether he’ll remain on staff with Schiano now gone.​

The Patriots have yet to announce any coaching hires.​


Former Pats player Jerod Mayo was just hired Wednesday as the team’s linebackers coach, but he was expected to be working with Schiano and the rest of the defensive staff. Another thing worth mentioning is that defensive end Michael Bennett, who was traded to New England on March 14, played for Schiano on the Bucs and very much disliked the experience:​

He gathered us before we practiced and told us that if Belichick said something to us on the field, we should listen,” one current Bucs player recalls. “He said, ‘Treat their coaches like they’re your coaches.’ We were like, ‘Huh?’ When we practiced together, whatever Belichick wanted, he did. It was hilarious — here (Schiano) is, acting like Mr. Tough Guy all the time, and when Belichick wanted something he was like, ‘Yes, Bill.’ “

Bennett, who laughs at the recollection, put it this way: “He’s trying to be Belichick. Yeah, some people think Belichick’s an (expletive), but he’s a legend. When this guy acts that way, it’s a whole different deal.”



Greg Schiano's tenure as New England Patriots defensive coordinator lasted zero days, officially.​

Less than two months after the former Rutgers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach was reportedly hired to replace Brian Flores, Schiano has announced his resignation from the Patriots via an official team statement.​

"I have informed Mr. Kraft and Coach Belichick that I am stepping down from my position at the Patriots," Schiano said Thursday. "This is not the result of any one event, but rather a realization that I need to spend more time on my faith and family. I don't want to look back years from now and wish I had done things differently. Therefore, I am taking time away from the game to recalibrate my priorities."

Long praised by Belichick, Schiano was never officially announced as the Patriots' new defensive coordinator following Flores' departure for the Miami Dolphins' head coaching vacancy. He spent the last three years with Ohio State, serving as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator, and previously spent the 2012-2013 seasons as the Buccaneers' head coach, guiding Tampa Bay to an 11-21 record before his dismissal. Also a candidate for the University of Tennessee's head coaching job before a social media protest all but negated a Volunteers contract offer, Schiano is perhaps best known for his 11-year stint as Rutgers coach from 2001-2011.​


Nov 26, 2017:
Greg Schiano will not be the next coach at the University of Tennessee.​

According to Bruce Feldman of Sports Illustrated and a report from Volquest, talks between Schiano and the school have broken down following unprecedented backlash from Vols fans after news of Schiano's possible hire leaked on Sunday.​

The crux of the backlash surrounded Schiano's possible but unsubstantiated thin ties to the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse at Penn State.

Former Penn State assistant Mike McQueary testified that he was told by another Penn State assistant, Tom Bradley, that Schiano "had come into [Bradley's] office white as a ghost and said he just saw Jerry [Sandusky] doing something to a boy in the shower." Prosecuting attorneys in the Sandusky trial did not investigate the claims about Schiano because it was deemed to be hearsay, and there was not enough supporting evidence. Both Bradley and Schiano denied the incident ever happened after McQueary's testimony was released.​

Tennessee fans were irate about the reported decision made by athletic director John Currie. Some of the Vols faithful protested via march to the university's athletic center. State representatives tweeted that they would not support the football team any longer. Other fans painted The Rock in Tennessee, set fire to mattresses and immediately called for Currie to be fired. Former Vol defensive tackle Albert Haynesworth said he would no longer support the school financially or otherwise because leaders were no longer taking football seriously.​

Schiano has been the defensive coordinator at Ohio State since the beginning of the 2016 season. He spent 11 seasons at Rutgers, taking over one of the most difficult jobs in college football at the time, and took the team to six bowl games during his tenure. He followed that up with a failed two-year experiment with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.​


Oct 28, 2013:
Whenever the Tampa Bay Buccaneers decide to fire head coach Greg Schiano, we won't look back at his team's winless start or the backlash among local fans as the deciding factor.​

It ultimately will be three seemingly innocent words uttered by cornerback Darrelle Revis that will be his undoing, words that recently were offered when a local reporter asked Revis if the players still supported their head coach. When Revis said, "I don't know," he created an awkward vibe that will reverberate throughout that franchise for weeks to come. He also confirmed what most people have been thinking: Schiano was never the right man for this job.​





 
Last edited:
This was a very ****ty move by Schiano.
 
Today in Patriots History
Bob Gladieux


March 28, 1972:
Patriots running back Bob Gladieux makes the headlines in the slow offseason.
Harpo falls victim to Florida's War on Drugs and is arrested for possession of marijuana in Fort Lauderdale, after police took one look at his long hair and deduced he was a no-good commie pinko radical hippie agitator.




Bob Gladieux is most well known for one of the most famous (infamous?) incidents in the clown-show era of the franchise.

Backstory: Billy Sullivan was looking for a new head coach. This was just after Super Bowl III, when the Jets upset the Colts. There were two obvious choices available: Chuck Noll, who was the DC for the Colts, and Clive Rush, OC for the Jets. Sullivan decided to go with Rush, based solely on the fact that his team won and Noll's had lost. We all know how that turned out. . .

Clive Rush's time with the Patriots was a disaster from the get go, begiining with his getting electrocuted when he touched a shorted microphone at his introductory press conference. Fast forward to week one of the 1970 season; team is in the locker room, getting ready for the game. Veterans John Charles and Larry Carwell had yet to sign their contracts, trying to negotiate a better deal. Rush marches over to them and asks/demands for them to sign the original contract the Patriots had offered. They both said no, so Rush released them right then and there - less than an hour before kickoff.

So now the Patriots are short two players.

Gladieux had been cut a few days earlier, and was in the stands at Harvard Stadium. He and his buddy had already downed several beers. His friend gets up to go fetch two more brewskies. While he is gone the voice of the public address announcer comes over the stadium speakers, paging Gladieux to the dressing room. His friend returned to their seats, now unoccupied. A few minutes later her hears the PA announcer say that Gladieux had made the tackle on the opening kickoff.




Bob Gladieux, 1963 Louisville High School



Gladieux at Notre Dame



Nov 30, 1968 versus Southern Cal






Sept 28, 1969: Bob Gladieux tackling George Atkinson on a punt return for no gain.
Raiders won 38-23




Sept 19, 1971: Gladieux breaks away from three Oakland defenders.
The Patriots upset Oakland, who was favored by 14½, in rookie Jim Plunkett's first NFL game.



https://media.gettyimages.com/id/1013897236/photo/foxborough-ma-new-england-patriots-defensive-line-coach-****-evans-times-bob-gladieux-in-the.jpg?s=612x612&w=0&k=20&c=T2BKcg6nuYHwZCvX6haUr8v61OVs4i4zgHt_h_anjew=
July 16,1972: Defensive line coach timing Bob Gladieux at training camp






1974 World Football League photos
 
Today in Patriots History
More March 28 Events


March 28, 2013:
In a minor roster move, the New England Patriots waived wide receiver Shun White from their reserve/military list on Wednesday.​

White had been in active duty for the Navy for the past several years and does not intend on continuing his playing career following his release Wednesday, per a league source.​

The Patriots signed White as undrafted free agent from the Naval Academy in 2009, along with fullback Eric Kettani and wide receiver Tyree Barnes. However, all three players were soon required to return to active duty, with Kettani and Barnes returning to the team in 2011.​

The 27-year old White was a productive slot back at Navy, where he ran a team-best 4.36-second 40-yard dash, according to the school. He also set a school record in the 60-meter dash.​







March 28, 2025:
Ja'Whaun Bentley tweets that he is being released


The Patriots are releasing linebacker Ja’Whaun Bentley, according to sources.​

Bentley, 28, was a four-time captain in his seven seasons with the Patriots. He was selected in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft and appeared in 83 games with the team, registering 509 tackles, 10.5 sacks, two interceptions, 11 pass breakups, four forced fumbles, one fumble recovery, 21 tackles for loss and 29 QB hits.​

Bentley played just two games in 2024 before suffering a season-ending torn pectoral. He was fully cleared from the injury over the weekend, according to ESPN.​

The Patriots are switching defenses this season, and Bentley, who was listed at 6-foot-2, 250 pounds, isn’t the traditional fit for what head coach Mike Vrabel and defensive coordinator Terrell Williams look for in a linebacker.​


The 6-foot-2, 250-pound Bentley totaled more than 100 tackles in each of the 2021, 2022 and 2023 seasons, setting a career high with 122 in 2022. He tore his left pectoral muscle in Week 2 of last season, missing the rest of the year, and said last weekend at a season-ticket member event that he had recently been fully cleared.​

Earlier in March, when the Patriots signed former Raiders linebacker Robert Spillane to a three-year, $33 million contract that could be worth up to $37.5 million, it sparked a question of whether Bentley's spot on the team was in jeopardy.​

Then New England matched Las Vegas' two-year offer sheet for restricted free agent linebacker Christian Elliss that is worth up to $13.5 million, which further increased the team's financial commitment at the position.​

Bentley, 28, was scheduled to earn $4.35 million in base salary this season. He also was set to earn per-game roster bonuses of $60,000 and had a $130,000 workout bonus (the team's voluntary offseason program begins April 7).​

Under first-year head coach Mike Vrabel, the Patriots plan to adopt a more aggressive defensive scheme, and that also could have contributed to the anticipated release of Bentley, who was considered an ideal fit in the old Bill Belichick/Jerod Mayo scheme that placed a high value on run-stuffing linebackers who play downhill.​

Bentley initially joined New England as a fifth-round draft pick out of Purdue in 2018. He was the first three-time captain in Purdue history.​


That ends a 7-year tenure for Bentley, who quietly worked his way up and became a leader in the locker room. He was a key part of the defense. . .​

The veteran, who was selected by the team in the 5th round of the 2018 draft, didn’t take long before he made his presence known. He established himself on defense, becoming the second-leading tackler on the team by his third season, while leading the team in tackles in every season after that prior to last year.​

Looking back, Bentley’s intensity and work ethic were evident even back when he was drafted. He didn’t hold back in his reaction to joining the Patriots the day he was selected, telling reporters he had watched a lot of former linebackers here in New England and was excited to get to work.​

“I’ve definitely watched a lot of football, so I’ve seen a lot of guys from the Patriots, even back to Tedy Bruschi, Adalius Thomas days,” said Bentley at the time. “Especially Roosevelt Colvin, like you said, Rob Ninkovich, guys like that – I definitely watched a lot of ball, watched some guys play, the history of backers. Dont’a Hightower is one of my favorites. It’s definitely a good system as far as the linebacker is concerned. I’m just excited to get to work.”

His absence after suffering a torn pectoral in Week 2 of last season certainly stung. That injury sidelined him for the season and ultimately left a void on defense that no one ever stepped into.​

Clearly, as new head coach Mike Vrabel looks to establish a new defensive scheme here in New England, smaller and even more athletic players appear to be his preference. Who will now step into that role during that evolution will be something to watch. They’ll also need someone to fill the hole leadership-wise after the team also recently parted ways with David Andrews on the offensive side of things.​


































 
Status
Not open for further replies.
What Does An Early Look At The Patriots’ 53-Man Roster Prediction Look Like?
MORSE: Final Patriots Draft Analysis
Patriots News 04-26, Meet The Patriots’ 2026 Draft Class
MORSE: Patriots Day Three of NFL Draft, UDFA Signings
Patriots Grab A Big Offensive Tackle in Round Six On Saturday
Patriots Take a CB With Their First Pick on Day 3
Wolf Cites ‘Untapped Potential’ After Patriots Select Notre Dame Tight End Raridon
Patriots Trade-Up Landed Them a Defensive Menace in Jacas
TRANSCRIPT: Eliot Wolf Night Two Press Conference 4/24
MORSE: Patriots Don’t Sit Back, Team Trades up to Get Their Guy
Back
Top