FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — A few days after the New England Patriots won the Super Bowl in February 2015, Brian Flores returned home to New York for a day. He showed up unannounced at the childhood homes on Staten Island of his three best friends from high school, even though his buddies hadn’t lived there in years. He even dropped by one of their grandfather’s houses.

Just days after his greatest professional achievement as a Patriots assistant coach, he executed a spree of house calls to thank a few of the folks who helped get him there. It was as unexpected as it was touching to the families of his buddies – Mike Miller, Will Karczewski and Dave Hayes.

“My mom called, and her voice was cracking,” said Miller, a former teammate at Poly Prep Country Day School who is now an NYPD detective. “She said, ‘He wanted to thank us for everything.’ ”

This weekend offers the most daunting task of Flores’ coaching career. He’s New England’s first-year defensive play caller, and he will match wits with Andy Reid and attempt to stop Patrick Mahomes and the electric Kansas City offense. It will begin a flurry of high-profile activity for the low-key Flores, 37, who will either advance to the Super Bowl or head down to South Florida where he’s expected to be named the Miami Dolphins’ next head coach.

To those who’ve seen Flores’ ascent through the three elite institutions where he has spent the past quarter century – Brooklyn’s tony Poly Prep, Boston College and the Patriots – what’s remarkable is how few people are surprised by his steady rise. The kid who showed up to his first high school football workout in a “No Fear” shirt has lived life that way ever since.

That includes his most daring call, which came on spring break in Acapulco during college when he pointed out a girl on the balcony of the bar to Miller.

“You going to talk to her?” Miller asked.

“Talk to her?” Flores replied. “That’s the girl I’m going to marry.”

The story was a hit at Flores’ wedding back in the summer of 2009, as Brian and Jennifer recently celebrated their ninth anniversary and have three kids.

He adapted that linear mindset in rising from decorated recruit to college star and navigating his way from scouting department peon to Bill Belichick’s inner circle.

“That’s the thing about Brian,” said Karczewski, one of Flores’ crew from Staten Island. “There’s no secret sauce. He just kind of outworked everyone.”

Another high school friend, Lance Bennett, calls Flores “a rose out of the concrete,” the son of Honduran immigrants who bloomed from one of Brooklyn’s most notorious neighborhoods to the cusp of one of the most glamorous jobs in America. Last year, Bennett recalled his brother calling him the day news broke that Flores interviewed for the Arizona Cardinals job. Bennett’s brother drove over to the Brownsville housing project where Flores grew up, parked outside and called with a message: “Bro, Brian made it out of here, and he made it big.”

View photos Brian Flores started his career with the Patriots in 2004 as a scouting assistant. He’s expected to be named the next head coach of the Miami Dolphins when the Patriots finish their season. (AP) More

Opportunity knocks

When former Poly Prep coach Dino Mangiero met Brian Flores for the first time, he was struck by the intensity of the eye contact. It was vice-grip strong, unwaveringly focused directly on what was ahead of him.

He proceeded through his decorated career the same way, appreciative of the scholarship at the posh Brooklyn prep school. “He always had a certain seriousness to him,” Hayes said. “You could feel a strong presence there. There’s a dignity to his presence.”

Flores clicked immediately with a trio of teammates from Staten Island also at Poly Prep on scholarship: Miller, Karczewski and Hayes. They shared ties from T.J. Maxx, Hilfiger knockoffs amid a sea of Lord & Taylor originals. The Staten Island trio came from a working-class background and bonded with someone similarly unaccustomed to a parking lot full of $50,000 cars, a duck pond and meals eaten off glass plates.

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