College Scarnecchia began his coaching career in
1970 with his alma mater California Western University as their offensive line coach, a position he held through
1972. From
1973 to
1974, Scarnecchia was the assistant offensive line and assistant defensive backfield coach for
Iowa State University. In
1975, he began a two-year stint with
Southern Methodist University, first as a graduate assistant before being promoted to offensive line coach upon the hiring of head coach
Ron Meyer in
1976. From
1977 through
1978, Scarnecchia served as offensive line coach for the
University of the Pacific before spending a year at
Northern Arizona University in the same capacity. He returned to Southern Methodist in
1980 as offensive line coach, spending two seasons there before following head coach Ron Meyer to the Patriots.
NFL Scarnecchia joined the Patriots in
1982 as a
special teams and
tight end coach. From 1989 to 1990, he served on Meyer's
Indianapolis Colts' staff as their offensive line coach. Scarnecchia returned to the Patriots in
1991, where he spent two seasons under
Dick MacPherson again as a special teams and offensive line coach. In
1992, Scarnecchia held the responsibilities of head coach while MacPherson was ill for the final eight games of the season. Under head coach
Bill Parcells in
1993 and
1994, Scarnecchia was reassigned as a special assistant. In
1995, Scarnecchia was again reassigned, this time to a defensive assistant. Once Parcells left the team after the
1996 New England Patriots season, and
Pete Carroll was hired as head coach, Scarnecchia became the team's special teams coach again. In Carroll's final season with the Patriots, Scarnecchia was reassigned to offensive line coach. New head coach
Bill Belichick additionally appointed Scarnecchia as the team's assistant head coach in
2000. Scarnecchia retired after the 2013 season, and was replaced by
Dave DeGuglielmo. After retiring as a coach, Scarnecchia continued working with the Patriots as a consultant; he had private workouts with the two offensive linemen the Patriots drafted in 2014,
Bryan Stork and
Cameron Fleming. After the Patriots fired DeGuglielmo after the 2015 season, the Patriots and Scarnecchia expressed mutual interest in having Scarnecchia return to coach the offensive line in 2016. Scarnecchia subsequently rejoined the Patriots staff prior to the 2016 season, overseeing a resurgent offensive line that only allowed 16 sacks. On February 5, 2017, Scarnecchia was part of the Patriots coaching staff that won
Super Bowl LI. In the game, the Patriots defeated the
Atlanta Falcons by a score of 34–28 in overtime. Scarnecchia won his fifth Super Bowl title when the Patriots defeated the Los Angeles Rams in
Super Bowl LIII. Scarnecchia retired in 2020. On April 6, 2023,
Robert Kraft announced that Scarnecchia would be inducted into the
Patriots Hall of Fame. ==Personal life==