Ned Burke is a former American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 coaching assistant for the New England Patriots

New England Patriots

The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...

 of the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

.

Playing career

After graduating from Wayland High School

Wayland High School

Wayland High School is a secondary school located at 264 Old Connecticut Path in Wayland, Massachusetts. Its principal is Patrick Tutwiler. The style of the high school was inspired by college campuses: there are 8 separate buildings, each dedicated to one or more general areas of study. ...

 in 1990, Burke spent one year at Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy

Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...

. Burke then attended Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

 where he played lacrosse and football as a quarterback and running back from 1991 to 1995.

Coaching career

Following his playing career at Cornell, Burke played semi-pro football in Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

 before returning to become the offensive coordinator

Offensive coordinator

An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of a gridiron football team who is in charge of the offense. Generally, along with his defensive counterpart, he represents the second level of command structure after the head coach...

 for the Salisbury School

Salisbury School

Salisbury School is an all-boys, private college-preparatory boarding school founded in 1901 and located in Salisbury, Connecticut. Its school newspaper is The Cupola. Its mascot is the Crimson Knight. The School's motto is Esse quam videri, which translates to To be rather than to seem to...

 in Salisbury, Connecticut

Salisbury, Connecticut

Salisbury is a town in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. The town is the northwest-most in the State of Connecticut. The MA-NY-CT Tri-State Marker is located just on the border of Salisbury...

 in 1997 and 1998. While at the Belmont Stakes

Belmont Stakes

The Belmont Stakes is an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held every June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is a 1.5-mile horse race, open to three year old Thoroughbreds. Colts and geldings carry a weight of 126 pounds ; fillies carry 121 pounds...

 in 1999, Burke met then-New York Jets

New York Jets

The New York Jets are a professional football team headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, representing the New York metropolitan area. The team is a member of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 assistant head coach Bill Belichick

Bill Belichick

William Stephen "Bill" Belichick is an American football head coach for the New England Patriots of the National Football League. After spending his first 15 seasons in the league as an assistant coach, Belichick got his first head coaching job with the Cleveland Browns in 1991...

, also a Phillips Academy alumnus, who later hired Burke to an entry-level position with the Jets' coaching staff. When Belichick became head coach of the Patriots in 2000

2000 New England Patriots season

The 2000 New England Patriots season was the 31st season for the team in the National Football League and 41st season overall. They finished with a 5–11 record and in last place in the division....

, Burke followed Belichick to New England as an offensive coaching assistant. When Patriots quarterbacks coach Dick Rehbein

Dick Rehbein

Dick Rehbein was a former American football coach in the National Football League.-Playing career:Rehbein attended Ripon College, where he was a Division II All-American center...

 died in summer 2001

2001 New England Patriots season

The 2001 New England Patriots season was the 32nd season for the team in the National Football League and 42nd season overall. They finished with an 11–5 record and a division title before advancing to and winning Super Bowl XXXVI....

, offensive coordinator Charlie Weis

Charlie Weis

Charles Joseph "Charlie" Weis is an American football coach. He currently serves as offensive coordinator for the Florida Gators. For five years, from December 2004 through 2009, he was the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame...

 gave the then-29-year old Burke the added responsibility of coaching the team's running back

Running back

A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...

s as Weis took over quarterback coaching duties for the team's Super Bowl XXXVI

Super Bowl XXXVI

Super Bowl XXXVI was an American football game played on February 3, 2002 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana to decide the National Football League champion following the 2001 regular season. The American Football Conference champion New England Patriots won their first Super...

-winning season.