After 50 years working in the National Football League, former New England Patriots defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel announced his retirement on Monday.
Crennel released a statement through the Houston Texans, the team he held his last head coaching position with.
https://twitter.com/HoustonTexans/status/1533833847653163010?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1533833847653163010%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fnesn.com%2F2022%2F06%2Fformer-patriots-assistant-romeo-crennel-announces-nfl-retirement%2F
In 1981 Crennel began his NFL journey with the New York Giants after 11 years at the division-one collegiate level.
During his Giants tenure, Crennel won his first two Super Bowl rings as an assistant under Bill Parcells before joining the Patriots in 1993, where he spent the next four years once again under Parcells.
Following the 1996 season, Crennel followed Parcells to another team, the New York Jets, where he spent the next three years.
After a short stint with the Cleveland Browns in 2000, Crennel joined Bill Belichick’s coaching staff in New England before the 2001 season as the defensive coordinator.
From 2001 to 2004, Crennel helped build an elite Patriots defense that contributed to three Super Bowl championships in four years.
After the Super Bowl XXXIX title, Crennel was named the head coach of the Cleveland Browns (2005-2008), Kansas City Chiefs defensive coordinator, interim head coach, and head coach (2010-2012), and took on multiple roles with the Houston Texans (2014-2021).
During his press conference Tuesday morning before minicamp, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick shared a congratulatory message for his longtime friend.
“A big congratulations to Romeo on his great career, saw the retirement yesterday and certainly he had a great influence here and many other places where I worked with him,” Belichick said. “Contributions to the National Football League in so many ways and he mentored so many other young coaches, not to mention hundreds and hundreds of players, just really a first-class guy. “In his two stints here, he achieved a lot of success. Certainly we, and I personally, owe a huge debt of gratitude to Romeo for what he did for me, what he did for our football team, and the success that we had with him here, but also on a personal level with the Giants.”
A first-class guy.
BB congratulates Romeo Crennel on his retirement after 50 years in coaching. pic.twitter.com/lshITCcQC1
— New England Patriots (@Patriots) June 7, 2022
Both Tedy Bruschi and Willie McGinest, two leaders during Crennel’s Patriots defensive coordinator years, also shared messages over their Instagram accounts.
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