Pats Pulpit
Notes and thoughts on the Patriots’ interim defensive coordinator, Michael Onwenu, OTA attendance, and more.
The New England Patriots have checked off the latest box of their offseason program as they wrapped up organized team activities this past week. The final box will then come with a three day mandatory minicamp from June 9-11.
As for other stories, thoughts and takeaways from the last few days, here is our weekly notebook clean-up operation. Welcome to the latest edition of the Pats Pulpit Sunday Patriots Notes.
As a fifth grader at Crown Point Elementary in Jacksonville, Florida, Zak Kuhr tutored a fourth-grader who was restricted do to not speaking English very well.
Their work over the next few weeks together eventually resulted in the student landing an ‘A’ on a test, which started Kuhr on his long path into coaching.
“He got an ‘A’ on a test and I remember him hugging [me] and crying and I was like, ‘This is what I want to do – help people,’” Kuhr recalled.
Fast forward many years later and Kuhr’s coaching career has now landed him with the New England Patriots. But after being hired as the team’s inside linebacker coach, his responsibilities have quickly grown in recent months as defensive coordinator Terrell Williams has been sidelined with a medical condition.
While Williams has remained involved back home in Detroit on Zoom, Kuhr is doing his part to echo his message as he has held the reigns over New England’s defense this spring.
“I’m just an extension of T and Vrabes and echoing that message to the unit,” Kuhr said. “T and I meet every single day. We talk every single day with Zoom, so we’re always on the same page. It’s really my voice is the one doing it. Yeah, there’s a little extra stuff with how practice goes. For the most part, I’m just an extension of him.”
Kuhr has experience working under both Williams and Mike Vrabel from their time together in Tennessee, where he spent four seasons (three as an assistant inside linebackers coach). His connection to the staff dates back even further, however, as he served as an intern at Ohio State in 2011.
From there, Kuhr went on to work for five different collegiate programs — including his first full-time coaching position at James Madison in 2014-15, a job which Patriots vice president of football operations and strategy John “Stretch” Streicher helped him land. It was there he served as a co-offensive coordintor before holding the offensive coordinator at Texas State several years later.
“I’ve been a coordinator before,” Kuhr said. “I know it was at the college level, but I’ve been in front of a unit before and ran unit meetings. I did that for a couple of years, so I wouldn’t say it’s anything too new.”
While Williams will eventually return to his coordinator role and relegate Kuhr back to inside linebackers, his timeline is not yet known. As he’s away from...
