A veteran of 16 years in the NFL, Scottie Patton enters his eighth season with the Saints as head athletic trainer. In his position, Patton coordinates the medical care and injury rehabilitation for the team and sets athletic training policies as the leader of the club’s athletic training staff. Only the third head athletic trainer in club history, Patton arrived in New Orleans in 2000 after serving as an assistant athletic trainer with the Philadelphia Eagles from 1996-99 and an assistant athletic trainer for the San Francisco 49ers for the previous five years.
Patton was on the staff of the Super Bowl XXIX Champion 49ers. He has also served three times as an athletic trainer for the NFC squad at the Pro Bowl, including last year with the Saints. In 2006, they were honored as the Athletic Training Staff of the Year by both the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society and the National Football League Physician’s Society. Recently, Patton and his staff were honored as the 2007 Athletic Training Staff of the Year by the Southeastern Athletic Trainers Association.
Patton earned a bachelor’s degree in Sports Medicine/Exercise Science from Appalachian State University in 1990. After enrolling in graduate school at the University of South Carolina, Patton completed his master’s in Sports Medicine at San Jose State in 1996. A certified athletic trainer, he is a member of the National Athletic Trainers Association (NATA) and the Professional Football Athletic Trainers Society.
During his final two years with the Eagles, Patton created the Football/Athletic Training Clinic, a non-profit venture in the off season that provided instruction in athletic training and football skills in his hometown of Gastonia, N.C.