Syracuse Reportedly Will Hire This Rising Patriots Assistant

The New England Patriots will be without a rising assistant next season.

The Syracuse Orange are set to hire Ross Douglas as wide receivers coach, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel. He’s expected to have a “significant role in the offense.”

Douglas was in his second season coaching wide receivers in New England — Bill Belichick opted to drop the “assistant” title he had last season. In 2021, he worked in an NFL coaching fellowship role on the defense following a stint with Richmond as a cornerbacks coach. Before his time as an assistant on the Spiders’ staff, Douglas spent three years at Rutgers from 2018-20.

He also served as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach for the West team in the East-West Shrine Bowl in 2022, where the West team won 12-3.

Patriots players have been vocal about the respect and admiration they have for Douglas, who has been viewed as a potential NFL head-coaching candidate for the past two seasons.

Douglas joins Fran Brown, who was hired as the new Syracuse head coach following his tenure as Georgia’s defensive backs coach.

The Orange went 6-6 this past college football season and will play South Florida in the RoofClaim.com Boca Raton Bowl on Dec. 21.