The New England Patriots hired Greg Schiano to be their defensive coordinator in February, hoping the former Rutgers and Bucs head coach — who most recently was the DC at Ohio State — could keep their defense moving forward off of yet another Super Bowl winning season.
However, on Thursday, less than two months after he was hired, Schiano released a statements through the team announcing he was stepping down from his post.
Statement from Greg Schiano:
“I have informed Mr. Kraft and Coach Belichick that I am stepping down from my position at the Patriots. 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.”
Head coach Bill Belichick also released a statement:
From Bill Belichick:
“I respect Coach Schiano greatly and appreciate his contributions to our staff and team. He is a friend who we support completely.”
Schiano cites the need to spend more time with his family and faith to “recalibrate my priorities,” which doesn’t offer much in the way of reason beyond that he apparently felt he just couldn’t comfortably commit to the time needed to coach the Pats.
It’s only the second shortest tenure of Schiano’s career, as he was hired briefly to be the head coach at the University of Tennessee before backlash led to the Vols changing course and hiring Jeremy Pruitt instead.
