DALLAS – The first time Scott Pioli met Mike Borgonzi, it was by chance.
In was 20 years ago, when Pioli was helping build a dynasty as vice president of player personnel for the New England Patriots. Borgonzi, recently hired as the new general manager of the Tennessee Titans, wasn't even involved in football at the time.
The two just happened to be at a 2005 banquet where Pioli – and Borgonzi's high school football coach in the Boston area – were being inducted into the New England chapter of the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame.
Then, a few years later, they'd meet again.
This time Borgonzi, who played football at Brown University and later served as tight ends coach at Amherst College, was back in football after spending some time in the business world in mutual fund accounting and sales.
He'd been hired as assistant recruiting coordinator at Boston College, where he was also the pro liaison for NFL scouts.
The two began cultivating a relationship during Pioli's visits to the school in 2007 and 2008, and during that time Pioli discovered Borgonzi's passion to be involved in scouting, and personnel.
So, when Pioli was hired as general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs in 2009, Borgonzi was one of the first people he hired.
When Borgonzi was officially introduced as general manager of the Titans on Wednesday, he thanked mentor, and friend.
"To Scott Pioli, who believed in me and gave me my first opportunity to work in the National Football League," Borgonzi said, "my family and I will always be indebted to you, Scott."
This week, the two are in Dallas, site of the East-West Shrine Bowl.
Borgonzi arrived in town Thursday evening as he begins his efforts to identify future Titans in the process leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft. Pioli has spent the week visiting with players, scouts and coaches for interviews and mentoring. He heads to Mobile, Ala., on Friday to start the same process leading up to the Senior Bowl.
"I don't know if proud is the right word, because being proud of someone that you mentored and stuff is too self-serving, right? It takes the focus off that person, and I don't want any focus off of Mike," Pioli said from Dallas. "But I am so happy for him and his wife, Jill, and his family. Just genuinely happy for them.
"I am more happy for him than anything, because he's such a good person, and he worked so hard for this. He is someone I have enormous respect for."
Pioli served as general manager of the Chiefs from 2009-2012 before later serving as assistant general manager of the Atlanta Falcons from 2014-2019.
After getting the opportunity from Pioli, Borgonzi remained with the Chiefs for 16 years, including the past four seasons as Kansas City's Assistant General Manager, before being hired as GM of the Titans. Prior to his promotion to Assistant General Manager, Borgonzi served as Director of Football Operations (2018-20), Director of Player Personnel (2017), Co-Director of Player Personnel (2015-16), Assistant Director of Pro Scouting (2013-14), Pro Personnel Scout (2011-12) and Manager of Football Operations (2010).
Borgonzi joined the Chiefs in 2009 as the club's College Scouting Administrator.
On some days, he was responsible for "airport pickups" for players, or responsible for running errands.
But he quickly worked his way up, into bigger roles.
Pioli chuckled a bit when he talked about how Borgonzi "negotiated" his salary before accepting the job, and it allowed him to make more money than he'd initially been offered.
"Mike was smart in every way, and hard-working," Pioli said. "Everyone I talked to about him talked about how hard he worked, and he did.
"He listened more than he talked, and when he talked, he had strong opinions without being overbearing. He definitely had strong opinions. And for Mike, there was no job that was too big, and there was no job too small.
"I remember Mike was a film-watcher, he was a student of the game," Pioli added. "He was a grinder, and he knew how to study film, he knew what to look for. He knew the game, so he knew what he was looking at, and evaluating. He was looking at defensive backs and he knew the difference between Cover 2 and Cover 3 and what the responsibilities were. He knew the game, so he was a good evaluator."
Borgonzi said he watched, and he learned, from Pioli along the way.
Pioli was named NFL Executive of the Year five times and the NFL Executive of the Decade for 2000-10. Pioli's NFL career spans over 27 years, including five trips to the Super Bowl, three Super Bowl championships, four AFC championships, six AFC East titles, and an NFC Championship. He has held multiple executive positions, including General Manager, Assistant General Manager, and Vice President Personnel in various organizations, including the New England Patriots, Kansas City Chiefs and Atlanta Falcons.
"I learned a lot from Scott," Borgonzi said. "He was a very detailed person, his processes, his structure, the way they did things. As a young person coming up in the business, that's what I try and teach all our guys now, just to be detailed in everything that you do. A lot of that, Scott taught me. Of course he taught me a lot about evaluation of the players, too."
During Borgonzi's time in Kansas City, he contributed to 12 playoff seasons and three Super Bowl championships (2019, 2022-23).
In Tennessee, he takes over a team coming off a 3-14 season, with a 9-25 mark over the past two seasons.
So, how does Pioli think his long-time friend will do?
"If they allow him to do what he is capable of, and if he is in a job and in a role to do what he is capable of," Pioli said, "he will be very successful.
"He has the qualities, he has the work ethic, the knowledge and the integrity. And he knows that talent is very important, but he also understands team building is more important than talent collecting."
