Dante Scarnecchia traveling with Patriots to NFL combine

Despite announcing his retirement in January, former New England Patriots O-line coach Dante Scarnecchia is headed to the NFL combine with the team.

Dante Scarnecchia just turned 72 years of age on Valentine’s Day a couple weeks ago.

He also just retired from the NFL — for the second time — about a month ago.

And yet here we are at the end of February and at the start of a new NFL calendar year, and sure enough, Dante Scarnecchia is still doing things that no 72-year-old retiree should be doing.

The longtime offensive line coach reportedly boarded a plane destined for Indianapolis and the NFL combine on Monday, along with numerous other New England Patriots coaches, staffers, and media members.

CBS Boston was one of several local Boston-area reporting circuits to break the news.

While “Coach Scar” did not address the media before boarding the plane, it’s clear that he’s up to his old tricks again. Overzealous Patriots fans should pump the brakes — this doesn’t mean he’s once again had a change of heart and is returning to the sideline. But what it does mean is that Scarnecchia’s involvement with the team seems not to have ended when he sent his retirement papers.

This actually isn’t the first time Scarnecchia has continued working for New England after retiring. He originally called it quits back in 2013, but still continued to evaluate talent for the Patriots as needed. He even held a couple private workouts and coaching sessions with several of the Pats’ younger linemen back in the day, despite being retired.

Scarnecchia was eventually recruited back into coaching and ending his retirement in 2016. He picked up right where he left off, coaching the O-line for another four seasons before once again announcing his decision to step down last January.

We’ll see if this retirement sticks. For the time being, though, New England should be grateful that he’s still as motivated and interested in helping the team stay successful as he appears to be, considering he no longer has any formal or official vested interest in the franchise.