Patriots' Mayo Interviews First Candidate For Defensive Coordinator

The New England Patriots are beginning the process of replacing legendary Bill Belichick, with new head coach Jerod Mayo interviewing Carolina Panthers' linebackers coach Tem Lukabu as defensive coordinator.

In the wake of "parting ways" with the ubiquitous Bill Belichick, the New England Patriots needed to find a replacement at head coach, general manager and defensive coordinator.

Last week they hired Jerod Mayo and gave strong hints about their plan to promote from within for a multi-voiced GM. On Monday, they began the process of finding a successor to one of the greatest defensive masterminds in the history of the NFL.

According to NFL Network, Mayo - who will be formally introduced as head coach Wednesday in Foxboro - is beginning to shape his staff of assistants by interviewing Carolina Panthers outside linebackers coach Tem Lukabu as the Pats' defensive coordinator.

Through the years, the Patriots had input from defensive assistants such as Romeo Crennel (2001-04), Dean Pees (2006-09), Matt Patricia (2012-17) and last season from Mayo. But, make no mistake, the de facto defensive coordinator has always been Belichick.

Despite their league-worst offense and major injuries to Matthew Judon and Christian Gonzalez, the Patriots were competitive in almost every game during their 4-13 disaster thanks to their defense.

Lukabu, 42, has coached for five seasons in the NFL, also spending time with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2012-13), San Francisco 49ers (2016-17) and Cincinnati Bengals (2019). He coached collegiately at Rhode Island and Rutgers and most recently was Boston College's defensive coordinator 2020-22.

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As a player, Lukaba was a three-year starting linebacker at Colgate and the Patriot League's Defensive Player of the Year in 2002-03. He was born in Kinshasa, the capital and largest city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in central Africa.

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