Patriots assistant head coach/offensive-line coach Dante Scarnecchia puts the offensive linemen through drills this month at Foxboro.

The Providence Journal / Bob Breidenbach

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Football is one of Dante Scarnecchia’s favorite topics of conversation.

As long, that is, as he’s talking about other people in the game.

“I don’t really want to make this about me,” he said yesterday morning outside the Patriots hotel.

Sorry, Scar, but this is all about you, because you’re as good a story as there is at Super Bowl XLII.

This is the Patriots’ sixth Super Bowl, and Scarnecchia has coached in all them. That’s right — all of them.

He coached the tight ends and special teams on Raymond Berry’s staff in Super Bowl XX. He was a defensive assistant under Bill Parcells at Super Bowl XXXI. And, since Bill Belichick took over the team, in 2000, Scarnecchia’s title has been assistant head coach and offensive line coach.

He also was head coach of the Patriots, in a manner of speaking, for seven games in 1992, stepping in when Dick MacPherson fell ill and asked him to take over.

“That was a 2-14 season,” Scarnecchia said, neglecting to point out that the only two games the Patriots won that year came with him at the helm.

It should also be mentioned that Scarnecchia came to New England with Ron Meyer in 1982, meaning he has been coaching with the Patriots for 24 years (he rejoined Meyer in Indianapolis for the 1989 and ’90 seasons) on the staffs of six coaches.

That’s truly remarkable in a profession in which teams sometimes seem to change coaching staffs as often as a runway-model changes outfits.

“I’ll be 60 years old in two weeks,” he said, “and, to think I’ve been here this long, and have had this kind of run, is extraordinary. Plenty of coaches have come and gone since I’ve been here, a lot of them much better coaches than I am.

“It’s been an unbelievable set of circumstances. It’s been a gift. I can’t explain it.”

Running backs coach Ivan Fears, who’s spent 11 seasons with the Patriots, can explain it.

“What you’re evaluated on,” Fears said yesterday, “is how your guys play. He knows what he’s doing, and he does a great job of conveying that to his players.”

Three of Scarnecchia’s players will be going from the Super Bowl to the Pro Bowl — left tackle Matt Light, left guard Logan Mankins and center Dan Koppen.

“It means a lot to him,” Light said, “when we have success. When we don’t play so well, it means a lot to him to correct our mistakes. Everyone on the offensive line knows what’s expected of them. Everyone knows what to do when they’re called upon. That’s a credit to Dante, and what he does as a coach.

“He’s been coaching in this league a long, long time. It’s hard to find anybody who works harder than he does.”

Scarnecchia usually gets to work at 3 in the morning, having typically slept about four hours.

“The alarm never wakes me up,” he said. “My body clock tells me it’s time to go. It’s quiet in the office at that time. I like the solitude. I get a lot done.”

Scarnecchia has done a remarkable job with an offensive line on which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

“We’ve got some blue-collar guys,” he said. “They’re not terribly big, nor terribly talented, but they have a very good work ethic and they understand the concept of working together, of seeing the game through one set of eyes.”

Scarnecchia is the man who has taught the Patriots offensive linemen what to look for.

“The good news,” he said, “is that they’ve heard one voice for a while — although there may be times when they think that’s unfortunate.”

A quiet man in conversation, Scarnecchia can sound like the Marine sergeant he once was (he spent six years in the active reserve when he was in his 20s) when he’s coaching.

“He can chew his guys out,” Fears said, “and when all’s said and done, they walk away loving him. He can be hard when he wants to be, but his players all know that he genuinely cares about them, on and off the field.”

Scarnecchia was an offensive lineman himself, albeit an undersized one, at 185 pounds.

“I was a ‘watch charm’ guard,” he said. “That’s one who’s so small, you can put him on a charm bracelet. I became an offensive lineman because I wasn’t good enough to play anywhere else.”

Scarnecchia played at California Western University, graduating in 1970. He went right into coaching the following fall, starting at his alma mater, and bounced around the college game for the next 12 years, working at Iowa State, Pacific, Northern Arizona, and, finally, at Southern Methodist, under Meyer.

When Meyer replaced Ron Erhardt as coach of the Patriots in 1982, he brought Scarnecchia along with him to coach tight ends and special teams. With the exception of the 1989 and ’90 seasons, he’s been in New England ever since.

“Coaching is what I always wanted to do,” he said. “Those were the guys I looked up to the most when I was growing up. I never thought I’d become a pro coach. I thought I’d be a high school coach and history teacher.

“My dad worked in a factory all his life. I learned my work ethic from him. Here in New England, I’ve worked for so many great guys, and learned a lot from each of them.

“I love coaching. I love doing what I’m doing. I have no complaints, no regrets. When I do retire, I’m not going to look back and say I wish I’d been able to do this or that.”

What Scarnecchia would regret is if the undefeated Patriots lost Sunday.

“We’ve never been concerned about any ‘quote’ winning streak,” he said. “We just really want to win this game. We want to beat the Giants in the Super Bowl. If we don’t, then anything we’ve done before is for naught. That’s the truth.”

jdonalds@projo.com