For Dont'a Hightower, it was either golf or coach. Patriots' Jerod Mayo made the decision easy (2024)

FOXBORO, Mass. — As far back as 2012, Dont’a Hightower thought about the idea of coaching alongside Jerod Mayo.

Back then, they were linebackers with the New England Patriots, and the rookie Hightower was taking the veterans’ lunch order before making a sushi run to Skipjacks. Mayo, who always knew coaching was in his future, was picking out his future coordinators with teammates Devin McCourty and Vince Wilfork when Hightower walked up.

“(Mayo) was like, ‘You can be my special teams coach,’” Hightower recalled last month in a conversation with The Athletic. “I was like, ‘Damn, bro, special teams?’ It was all fun and games. Whenever I think about it, that’s the first event that pops up. It’s really surreal how it’s unfolded.”

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There’s usually a hint of truth inside a joke, and that was no doubt the case that day. Mayo and Hightower were two of the smartest and most respected leaders to ever suit up for former Patriots coach Bill Belichick, so it was apparent coaching would be their calling when they finished playing.

Mayo, who joined Belichick’s staff in 2019, kept the bug in Hightower’s ear as his career was winding down. And in January, when Mayo was chosen to succeed Belichick as coach, he solicited one of his closest friends to lead the inside linebackers group.

It was an easy decision for Hightower, who had been retired for two years.

“It was something I was kind of looking forward to,” Hightower said of coaching. “I enjoyed my time off with my family, but I think it was kind of getting to the point where my wife (Morgan) was like, ‘You either need to concentrate on golf, or you need to go coach.’ I feel like it all happened pretty good and at the right time.”

Hightower needed the time away to mentally recharge with his family back at home in Tennessee. Whether it was gardening with his wife or making breakfast with his son, who turns 4 in July, Hightower took advantage of time that wasn’t necessarily available during his decorated playing career with the Patriots.

But with every lost Titleist ProV1 golf ball — about four dozen in his first week alone — and every holler at the TV during a game, Hightower knew he was a step closer to the sideline. Morgan Hightower was fully onboard, too, probably because she didn’t want to hear any more about the differences between coverage shells, and she knew the itch was there from all the in-game texts he’d send former teammates like Kyle Van Noy to congratulate them for big plays or get on them for missing assignments.

But as Hightower envisioned his future, he just wasn’t sure if he wanted to take on a positional role or become an adviser or strength coach. It just so happened that one of his closest confidants came calling. Mayo, a first-time head coach after five years as an assistant, was in elite company on Hightower’s short list.

“It was really honestly like if (former Alabama coach) Nick (Saban) or Mayo would have called me, those were the only two people I would have wanted to get with,” Hightower said. “Other than that, I probably would have just stayed at home and worked on my golf game.

“The transition has been great. Some days you wake up, and it doesn’t even feel like work. Sometimes when I was playing football, I was going in and my knees hurt. My shoulders hurt. Surgeries, all this other stuff. Now it’s just me talking football, spreading my knowledge, being able to relate to these guys. It’s really awesome to be back in the world of football, just to talk about it and be around it.”

Hightower, a three-time Super Bowl champion dubbed “Mr. February” by Belichick for his penchant for making huge plays, was a pseudo-coach during his career, but he acknowledged this is much different. Appropriate for someone who grew up under Saban and Belichick, Hightower isn’t trying to overcomplicate anything simply because of his past accomplishments.

Rather, the 34-year-old is just trying to teach and lead and find his strengths on a brand new staff.

“Honestly, there are players you play with that you’re thinking this guy is just on it,” Mayo said. “His knowledge of the scheme, how the offense was trying to attack us and what we needed to do as far as adjustments, he was one of those players.

“He has a chance to be a very special coach. And he has that instant credibility because he did it at a high level.”

Mayo referred to Hightower as “a rookie.” He’s still learning, including how to teach and relay messages to players who have come from different systems in which a new defense is like learning a new language.

There are also more subtle responsibilities. He’s never had to write up a scouting report or evaluate someone’s job from the perspective of someone who’s higher in command. But for de facto general manager Eliot Wolf, who had limited prior exposure to Hightower, the work ethic has come as advertised.

“He was really inquisitive, wanted to sit down and ask a ton of questions to not only me but guys on the staff,” Wolf said. “He’s got an eye for it, so that obviously made it easier. Really just his presence and his ability, sometimes you run into former players who really just still want to be around it but they don’t want to work. That hasn’t been the case with him.”

Hightower isn’t just in this for a quick football fix. He acknowledged he’d like to someday work his way into a position where he could become a head coach, although that’s a long time from now.

“I mean,” Hightower laughed, “I’ve been doing this for two months.”

It really is like starting over. He was a star at Alabama and a first-round draft pick but still faced a tangible learning curve early in his Patriots career, and there have been similar adjustments with this coaching role.

He’s leaned heavily on Mayo, just as he did as a player.

“I want to be a good coach, so I want to be a good teacher,” Hightower said. “I want to be a guy they’re comfortable talking to. I don’t want anybody to look at whatever success I had. I’m trying to share what knowledge I have and share it to be used across the board.

“I just want to be able to help develop and empower those guys to continue to be good players, continue to develop and grow as great young men.”

(Top photo of Dont’a Hightower: Dale Zanine / USA Today)

Jeff Howe is the NFL National Insider for The Athletic. A native of Lowell, Mass., and a UMass graduate, he previously covered the New England Patriots from 2009-21. Howe, who has been with The Athletic since 2018, is the author of “If These Walls Could Talk: New England Patriots.” Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeffphowe