Scott O'Brien is ending his coaching career on top. Just days after winning the Super Bowl, the New England Patriots' special teams coach is retiring, the team announced Tuesday.
O'Brien is retiring after coaching for 24 seasons, including the last six years in New England. The longtime coach will remain in the organization in another capacity.
The Patriots announced that Joe Judge has been promoted to replace O'Brien as special teams coach. Judge joined the Super Bowl champions in 2012 as O'Brien's assistant.
"I have never worked with a coach better than Scott O'Brien," Bill Belichick said in a statement released by the team. "Scott is second to none at preparation, strategy, teaching, techniques, fundamentals, scouting and virtually any other aspect of team building, game planning or player development that exists in football.
"I thank Scott for making me a better coach, finding and developing countless players and being such a tremendous asset at both organizations we worked together. Scott O'Brien is undoubtedly one of the finest coaches of his generation and he deserves having his final game be a Super Bowl championship. While we will miss his contributions in coaching, we look forward to continuing to work with him in other capacities."
In 22 seasons as an NFL special teams coach, O'Brien's units have produced 41 special teams touchdowns, including 22 punt returns for touchdowns, 12 kickoff returns for touchdowns, three blocked field goals returned for touchdowns and two blocked punts returned for touchdowns.
The Patriots will miss O'Brien, but Belichick has an uncanny ability to shuffle the deck and retool.