Mike Pellegrino grew up in Oakdale and graduated from Connetquot in 2012, where he played football and lacrosse proceeded by lacrosse at John Hopkins University, then played lacrosse professionally for the New York Lizards and Boston Cannons. He was also a coaching assistant for the New England Patriots from 2015 to 2018, enjoying much success as the Patriots went to three Super Bowls, winning two of them, defeating the Atlanta Falcons in 2016 and the Los Angeles Rams in 2018. In 2019, Pellegrino was promoted as the Patriots’ cornerbacks coach and is entering his ninth season with New England.

QUESTION AND ANSWER

SCN: Talk about growing up in Oakdale and playing football and lacrosse at Connetquot High School.

Pellegrino: Growing up in Oakdale, small town. Idle Hour specifically is great. I loved it. Oakdale and Idle Hour have a real soft place in my heart. I love going back there. Really just have a ton of good memories because you grow up you ride your bike everywhere to go hangout with your friends. It’s that small-town vibe growing up like Sayville. But as you get older, you go into OBJ and then Connetquot and the school district just gets massive, so that was great just to meet different people. Playing football for Connetquot was great and I got brought up to varsity as a sophomore. I played for varsity for Hansen, Coach K. That was a tremendous experience. I got to play with my brother as a sophomore; we won the Long Island Championship, which was great! It was a great experience doing that with my brother and winning it with all his friends and being a young guy on that team. Then junior year I started to play a lot more running the football, playing corner, which kind of set me up for my next year where I won the Hansen Award with all my best friends, which was great. We still joke all the time that we’re still The Boys of Fall. That was a life-changing experience, all of us being together that year. That was a great year and then just talking about Coach K and Hansen. They gave me every opportunity to be successful, which was great.     

SCN: You played lacrosse for the New York Lizards at Hofstra. Talk about that experience playing for your hometown on Long Island.

Pellegrino: Playing for the Lizards was super cool. When I found out I was going to the Lizards, I was super pumped because I couldn’t imagine doing that as a kid. I used to go to all of those games, I was like, man I wanna be one of those guys! That’s so cool! And the defenseman Nicky Polanco, so I grew up with a poster of Nicky Polanco on my wall and then I get there and he’s on the team and I was like, this is awesome! So that was cool, but being able to play with them first but being able to go play there was amazing having my whole family come to the games, it was a great experience. With me working in New England and playing there at the same time, it caused a lot of stress because I had to be there for Thursday practice and be in New England for OTAs, so I had to eventually try a different team that my schedule worked a little bit better for, but playing for the Lizards, the kid in me was super excited. I was so fired up; it was a super cool experience playing at Hofstra.

SCN: I know Bill Belichick has recruited lacrosse players for a long time. How did you first meet Bill Belichick?

Pellegrino: At Johns Hopkins, my coach, Dave Pietramala, is really kind of responsible for me getting my foot in the door. My junior year, Bill would come around. I tried not to bother him. I’d just go, Hey how you doing? Just continue on my way. Going into my senior year, I needed an internship, and Bill was like, ‘Well what do you want to do?’ And I said, ‘Well I don’t really see myself sitting around at a 9 to 5 job. I’ll do anything for anyone, and I will work as hard as I can.’ And he hooked me up with an internship with the Patriots. I was doing football operations, I was driving golf carts, getting coffee, really anything anybody needed me to do and that’s how I got that to work here, which is great, and when I got here, I did whatever was needed. I tried to be the first and last out. Honestly, I wasn’t beating the coaches; those guys were working crazy hours, but I tried to be here as soon as I could and leave as late as I could. The guys were great when I was working here that summer. When I got here, I was doing the same thing for a little bit and helped defensive coaches and I never really left. Then they taught me how to break down tape and that was it. I did a variety of things, from breaking down tape to running the scout team, to day-to-day work around the office. When you’re not coaching a position, you’re helping the coaches out with whatever they need. The film breakdown is really important, getting all that right, grinding it out late nights. [In] 2018 I was helping with the defensive backs more, a little bit more defensive back specific. I was a little bit more involved in that aspect. Those guys were great. So, it was good that year and the following year I stepped in as cornerbacks coach. It was different going from an assistant to a coach because you’re not really doing a ton of actual coaching, you’re kind of just waiting for your opportunity.

SCN: Your first Super Bowl. Falcons leading 28-3 in the third quarter, then the Patriots win in overtime, 34-28. One of the greatest comebacks in the history of sports! Can you describe the mentality on the sidelines throughout the comeback?

Pellegrino: I’d say from a coaching perspective, I was not a position coach at the time. I was a coaching assistant. I’d say it was relatively calm. You just got to not give up big plays and we just got to get the ball back to our offense. There was a good bit of bad plays from us and we just had to do a better job, let our offense go because they weren’t doing well. Hightower strip sack was a huge momentum changer; no doubt that was a huge play and just and trying to contain those guys like Matt Ryan and Julio Jones and the running backs at that time. Simply put, we just had to do our jobs and we’ll be alright.

Mike Pellegrino was also a coaching assistant for the New England Patriots from 2015 to 2018, enjoying much success as the Patriots went to three Super Bowls, winning two of them.