Cassel’s father passes away
Greg Cassel, the father of Patriots quarterback Matt Cassel, died Monday night. He was 57.
“Our thoughts are with him and his family during this time,” Patriots coach Bill Belichick said during his afternoon press conference at San Jose State, where the team began preparations today for Sunday’s game at Oakland.
Belichick confirmed the quarterback has left the team to return home. Cassel is a native of Northridge, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles.
“Right now we’re just taking it day to day,” said Belichick, who said he was not sure when Cassel would return. “He’s going to take care of what he has to do.”
Belichick, whose father, Steve, passed away during the 2005 season, sympathized with Cassel’s situation.
“It’s bigger than football,” Belichick said. “I’ve been through that during the season as well, a personal situation you just have to deal with, and as I said, our thoughts and prayers are with him.”
Belichick did not give any indication whether he expected Cassel to play Sunday.
“From a football standpoint, we’ll just handle [preparations] with the other guys, just like we normally would do in any other situation,” Belichick said.
In a profile of Matt Cassel by the Globe’s Bob Hohler in September, Greg Cassel was described as “longtime Hollywood script writer who never hit it big but kept trying, even after he launched a second career as a horse trainer.”
Greg and Barbara Cassel divorced in 1996, and Matt and his three siblings were raised by his mother, though, according to Hohler’s article, Greg Cassel remained influential in his kids’ lives and was “instrumental in coaching and raising the children before the divorce.”
A league source told the Globe that Greg Cassel had been ill for some time.
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