New England coach Scott O’Brien will retire after 24 seasons in the NFL, including the last six seasons as the special teams coach for the Patriots. Former special teams assistant Joe Judge has been named the team’s new special teams coach.

“I have never worked with a coach better than Scott O’Brien,” said Patriots head coach Bill Belichick. “Scott is second to none at preparation, strategy, teaching, techniques, fundamentals, scouting and virtually any other aspect of teambuilding, game planning or player development that exists in football.

O’Brien is slated to remain with the organization.

“While we will miss his contributions in coaching, we look forward to continuing to work with him in other capacities,” Belichick said.

Judge originally joined New England as the assistant special teams coach in May of 2012. He came to the Patriots after a three-year stint at the University of Alabama as a football analyst/special teams assistant under Nick Saban.