The coaching carousel continues to turn inside the Patriots offices at Gillette Stadium, and the latest assistant on his way out of Fort Foxborough is tight ends coach Pete Mangurian.
An NFL source confirmed that Mangurian, who has been the Patriots' tight ends coach since 2005, will not be back with the team in 2009.
Mangurian is the fourth member of coach Bill Belichick's staff to part ways with the team this year, joining offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Josh McDaniels, who left to become head coach of the Denver Broncos, special teams coach Brad Seely, and special assistant/secondary coach Dom Capers.
Like Seely, who landed in Cleveland as assistant head coach/special teams coordinator, and Capers, who was named the Green Bay Packers' defensive coordinator this week, Mangurian, 53, is expected to hook on with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, joining the staff of new Buccaneers coach Raheem Morris.
Morris coached under Mangurian at Cornell, where Mangurian was head coach from 1998 to 2000. In 1999, Morris coached defensive backs for the Ivy League school.
Mangurian, who has 17 seasons of experience as an NFL assistant, was out of coaching in 2004.
He replaced Jeff Davidson as the Patriots' tight ends coach following the 2004 season, which was the last time the Patriots had this much turnover on their staff.
Mangurian's departure makes it a virtual certainty the Patriots will add at least one coach from outside the organization. The team already has promoted wide receivers coach Bill O'Brien to quarterbacks coach, leaving coaching vacancies at wide receiver, secondary, special teams, and now tight ends.
The Patriots are believed to have interest in former Broncos special teams coach Scott O'Brien, who was special teams coach when Belichick was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns.
It's possible that a factor in Mangurian's departure was the decision to elevate Bill O'Brien, who will have some play-calling duties. With his experience in the system and as an NFL play-caller, Mangurian was considered to be a candidate to replace McDaniels.
Belichick instead decided to try to groom O'Brien, who only joined the team in 2007, serving as a coaching assistant. O'Brien was the Patriots' wide receivers coach in 2008.
