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Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Ex-Patriots defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel nominated for lifetime achievement award

Wild Card Round - Kansas City Chiefs v Houston Texans Photo by Bob Levey/Getty Images

Related: Long-time Patriots special teams coach Brad Seely announces retirement from coaching

Last week, a long-time New England Patriots assistant coach was in the news: former special teams coordinator Brad Seely, who was a part of the organization for 10 years and helped it win its first three Super Bowls, announced his retirement.

This week, another long-time Patriots assistant coach is in the news as well: former defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel, who was part of the organization for seven years and helped it win its first three Super Bowls, has been nominated for the prestigious Paul “Dr. Z” Zimmerman Award for Lifetime Achievement as an Assistant Coach by the Pro Football Writers of America.

The award, which is named after the late Sports Illustrated writer, will be given to two current and/or former assistant coaches this year. In order to receive the honor, Crennel will therefore have to beat out six of the other seven men nominated: Bill Arnsparger, Dick Hoak, Rod Marinelli, Bobb McKittrick, Floyd Peters, Buddy Ryan and Bobby Turner.

Crennel’s career in coaching began in 1970, when he became the defensive line coach at his alma mater, Western Kentucky. Following other stops in college football, he made the jump to the NFL in 1981, when he joined the New York Giants as their special teams coach — a role he held for nine years before taking over the team’s defensive line in 1990. Three years later, his first of two stints in New England began.

Re-joining with long-time Giants head coach Bill Parcells, Crennel joined the Patriots as their defensive line coach between 1993 and 1996. After stints with the New York Jets (1996-99) and Cleveland Browns (2000), he returned to the Patriots in 2001: now under head coach Bill Belichick, a former colleague of his in New York, Crennel was named the team’s head coach and as such was one of the architects of a dominant defense that helped the club win three world championships over a four-year span.

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Romeo, and I have a lot of trust in him,” Belichick said about Crennel during his introduction in New England back in 2001. “It is a close personal relationship and a close professional relationship. People talk about my defensive system, but nobody has worked as closely in the system with me as Romeo has. We’ve been through an awful lot of games, workouts and practices. Of all the people I have worked with, I think I have the most history with him.”

Crennel left New England following the 2004 season to become head coach in Cleveland (2005-08) and later defensive coordinator and head coach in Kansas City (2010-12). Since 2014, the 72-year-old has filled numerous roles with the Houston Texans, most recently as assistant head coach for the last three years.

Crennel would become the fourth former Patriots to win the award. Long-time offensive line coach Dante Scarnecchia was one of the recipients in 2015, one year after Ernie Zampese (offensive coordinator, 1998-99) and Fritz Shurmur (defensive line coach, 1978-79; defensive coordinator, 1980-81) were honored.



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