FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- The New England Patriots resumed their coaching-staff shakeup Tuesday by hiring Scott O'Brien as special teams coordinator and reassigning two assistants.
Bill O'Brien moved from wide receivers coach to quarterbacks coach, and Josh Boyer went from defensive coaching assistant to defensive backs coach.
New England is still without an offensive coordinator, wide receivers coach and tight ends coach.
Since the Patriots' 2008 season ended with an 11-5 record but without a playoff berth, they have lost four assistants.
Josh McDaniels went from offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in New England to head coach of the Denver Broncos. Brad Seely moved from special teams coach for the Patriots to assistant head coach and special teams coach under new Cleveland Browns coach Eric Mangini. Dom Capers went from secondary coach and special assistant to Patriots coach Bill Belichick to defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers, and Pete Mangurian left as New England's tight ends coach to become the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' offensive line coach.
The Patriots also have hired Floyd Reese as senior football adviser and Nick Caserio as director of player personnel after losing vice president of player personnel Scott Pioli to the Kansas City Chiefs as general manager.
In 2007 and 2008, Scott O'Brien was the special teams coach for the Broncos, the fourth NFL team for which he has served in that position. His first stop in that job was under Belichick in Cleveland from 1991 to 1995. O'Brien moved to the Baltimore Ravens and Carolina Panthers before serving as assistant to head coach Nick Saban with the Miami Dolphins in 2005 and 2006.
Bill O'Brien began his NFL career as an offensive coaching assistant for the Patriots in 2007. He had spent the previous 12 seasons as an assistant at Georgia Tech, Maryland and Duke.
Boyer became a coaching assistant with the Patriots after serving as defensive coordinator at the South Dakota School of Mines in 2005.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
