FOXBOROUGH, Mass – “Fits good.”

These were the first words uttered by Dante Scarnecchia after he put on the red jacket on Friday. It was a moment that the former Patriots offensive line coach will never forget. 

"You just don't think anything like this will ever happen to you," Scarnecchia said. "Still trying to get a hand on it and looking forward to tomorrow because it's such a big thing for our family. 

Scarnecchia will be surrounded by family and members of the Patriots organization on Saturday when he alongside Mike Vrabel are inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame at Gillette Stadium. And Friday was just a little precursor to the main event, with Scarnecchia standing in The Hall for his official jacket fitting. 

And when asked if this felt like it was really happening, Scarnecchia's answer was simple: "It really doesn’t."

The Patriots were the first team to give him a chance in the National Football League, but his path to getting there was certainly a long one. And with that he gained a lot of experience. 

“I thought I would be a high school football coach. I never coached one day of high school. I got a degree, a teaching credential, a masters, but they weren’t hiring anybody in California. So got out and coached in college,” Scarnecchia said. “Never thought about being in the NFL."

Yet there was one story he told the media that truly proved how much work he was willing to put in to get to where he eventually ended up. 

In 1973, Scarnecchia joined the staff at Iowa State as the assistant offensive line coach and assistant defensive backfield coach. And while he was able to coach the sport he loved, there was one minor problem: he was only making $300 for the entire season. 

Prior to him leaving with his partner, who would later become his wife, her father came up to him and was excited about the opportunity Scarnecchia had. But he couldn't help himself, asking how much the young coach was set to make. And when Scarnecchia told him, he thought that meant $300 a week. But when he found out, he was shocked. 

"He started crying," Scarnecchia said. "This is his daughter, who I'm taking her to Iowa in my Volkswagen and we're making 300 bucks."

So when they got there, the two both got jobs at the Holiday Inn – Susan as a waitress and Scarnecchia as a janitor. 

And because of that experience, he took advantage of each and every day he was coaching at Iowa State. 

"Go in every day, get in early, go home late, shut your mouth, and listen," he explained. "Listening is a great, great trait. Listen and put it all together. And don't let anybody put limitations on you. And especially don't put them on yourself."

Scarnecchia started with the Patriots in 1982 as the special teams coach and tight ends coach, but moved to the Indianapolis Colts in 1989. However, it appears he missed New England, returning in 1991 and remained until initially retiring in 2013. He came out of retirement in 2016 (wonder if this is where Tom Brady got the idea) and remained with the team until officially retiring (for the second time) in 2020. 

With that, there were two questions Scarnecchia wondered after joining the Patriots staff: What would it be like to go to the Super Bowl and what would it be like to win the Super Bowl?

He found out the answer to his first question two times, explaining that it “didn’t go very well,” but he was able to find out what it was like to win five times. 

And when asked what his favorite memory was, he reflected back to the 2001-02 season. 

“Big on the list has got to be the first Super Bowl we won. The way those guys played. Way they carried themselves,” Scarnecchia said. “We go to the Super Bowl, and they were told they couldn’t do that. But they did it anyway. And that was a special moment to stand there and see them come out and remind a whole couple of generations of TV viewers this was the quintessential team game and that’s what our team is supposed to look like. That game, they played like a team, played great, played a great game. So that was our first Super Bowl win and I guess that’ll always have a special place in my heart.” 

Scarnecchia's impact on the Patriots organization is hard to truly put into words and this honor is something that many of his former players and coaches he worked with say is well deserved. But for him, the biggest prize was getting to coach the sport he loved. 

“When you do what you want to do, you’ve been blessed already. This is all icing on the cake."