American football coach (born )
American football player
Matthew Edward Patricia (born September 13, ) is an American football coach who has served with several teams in the National Football League (NFL). He served 15 non-consecutive seasons as an assistant coach with the New England Patriots, including six seasons as the defensive coordinator from to During Patricia's tenure as defensive coordinator, the Patriots won two Super Bowls and allowed the fewest points in Patricia also served as the Patriots' offensive playcaller in Outside of New England, Patricia was the head coach of the Detroit Lions from to He last served as a senior defensive assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles in , holding defensive playcalling duties near the end of the season.
Patricia played at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), where he was a four-year letterman as a center and guard with the Engineers football team from to [1]
Patricia remained at RPI to begin his coaching career as a graduate assistant in [2] He spent the next two years as an application engineer with Hoffman Air & Filtration Systems in East Syracuse, New York.[3] After graduating, Patricia received an offer to maintain nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers with the Westinghouse Electric Company,[4] but decided to return to football as the defensive line coach for Amherst College from to In , he moved to Syracuse University as an offensive graduate assistant for the team, a position he held for three seasons.[5]
Patricia joined the Patriots under head coach Bill Belichick as an offensive coaching assistant in , the same year the team won its 3rd Super Bowl in Super Bowl XXXIX. In , upon the departure of assistant offensive line/tight ends coach Jeff Davidson, Patricia was reassigned as the Patriots' assistant offensive line coach. Then-linebackers coach Dean Pees was promoted to defensive coordinator after the season, prompting another reassignment for Patricia, this time to linebackers coach for the season. Patricia was named the team's safeties coach in In , he was promoted to the title of defensive coordinator, though he had been calling the plays on defense since the departure of Pees following the season. In January , the Patriots gave permission for Patricia to interview for the head-coaching position of the Cleveland Browns, but Patricia would remain with the Patriots as defensive coordinator going into the season. The Patriots won three Super Bowls with Patricia: Super Bowl XXXIX at the end of the season, Super Bowl XLIX at the end of the season, and Super Bowl LI at the end of the season.[6][7][8] On January 1, (NFL Black Monday), it was revealed that Patricia was the subject of the Detroit Lions' and New York Giants' head coaching searches.[9] Patricia was the last defensive playcaller under Belichick to hold the title of defensive coordinator.
On February 5, , Patricia was named the head coach of the Detroit Lions.[10] He lost his first two games of the season, the first against the New York Jets, 48–17, on Monday Night Football on September 10, and the following week against the San Francisco 49ers, 30–27, on September [11] His first win as a head coach came on September 23, , a 26–10 victory against his previous team, the New England Patriots, with Patricia beating his old mentor, Bill Belichick, in the process.[11] It was also the Lions' first win over the Patriots since , which was Belichick's first year coaching the Patriots.[11]
Under Patricia, the Lions posted a 6–10 record in and had a dismal 3–12–1 season in Both marked a regression from Patricia's predecessor Jim Caldwell, who posted a 9–7 record in before he was fired in favor of Patricia.[12] Despite the record and decline, team owner Martha Firestone Ford and her soon-to-be successor Sheila Ford Hamp announced after the season that they would give Patricia a chance to show improvement in the season.[13]
On November 28, , Patricia and general manager Bob Quinn were both fired by the Lions. This came after much criticism about Patricia's abilities. The firing happened after the 4–5 Lions suffered back-to-back lopsided losses to drop to 4–7: a 20–0 loss to the Carolina Panthers on November 22 (the first time the Lions had been shut out since ) and a 41–25 loss to the Houston Texans during the Lions' annual Thanksgiving Day game on November Patricia finished his tenure in Detroit with a 13–29–1 () record in two and a half seasons.[14][15] The Lions finished last in the NFC North division in both of Patricia's full seasons and were in last place at the time of his firing.
On January 22, , it was reported that Patricia would be returning to the Patriots "in a variety of roles". The exact roles were not specified, but it was reported that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick and Patricia were working out a role similar to what Mike Lombardi had in New England, though it was still a work in progress. In addition, Patricia was expected to work on projects as well as be a resource to Belichick.[16][17] On July 21, , the Patriots announced that Patricia would be senior football advisor and offensive line coach.[18] Throughout the season, Patricia served as the offensive play caller.[19] Patricia was relieved of his duties as offensive playcaller after the season where the offense regressed to an average of points per game, though he was retained as a football advisor.[20]
On April 20, , Patricia was hired as a senior defensive assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles.[21] On December 17, head coach Nick Sirianni announced that Patricia would replace Sean Desai as defensive playcaller following consecutive losses in which the team's defense surrendered 42 and 33 points.[22] According to The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Eagles' defense displayed "little to no improvement" under Patricia, and the team lost three of its four remaining regular season games following his appointment as defensive playcaller, culminating in a 32–9 loss in the wild card round of the playoffs.[23][24][25] Patricia's contract with the Eagles expired at the end of the team's season.[26]
| Team | Year | Regular season | Postseason | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Won | Lost | Ties | Win&#;% | Finish | Won | Lost | Win&#;% | Result | ||
| DET | 6 | 10 | 0 | 4th in NFC North | — | — | — | — | ||
| DET | 3 | 12 | 1 | 4th in NFC North | — | — | — | — | ||
| DET | 4 | 7 | 0 | Fired | — | — | — | — | ||
| Total | 13 | 29 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |||||
Patricia married his wife, Raina, in [1] The couple have three children together.[27]
On September 5, , Patricia was featured in the first episode the new football podcast Coach with Bill Belichick.[28]
In March 15, , a year-old woman told police two men had burst into her hotel room and taken turns violently sexually assaulting her.[29] Patricia and Greg Dietrich were arrested that same night, charged, and released on bond.[29] A Texas grand jury indicted Patricia on one count of aggravated sexual assault, a felony which can receive a maximum sentence of up to life in prison. The trial began in January , but the prosecutors were granted their request to dismiss the case after the victim found herself unable "to face the pressures or stress of a trial".[29]
In May , the Detroit Lions' decision to hire Patricia as head coach received public scrutiny when reporters discovered his sexual assault indictment.[30] In response, Lions team president Rod Wood initially stated, "I don't know anything about this," but a few hours later said, "I am very comfortable with the process of interviewing and employing Matt. I will tell you with 1,percent certainty that everything I've learned confirmed what I already knew about the man and would have no way changed our decision to make him our head coach."[31][29]