Lions Failed to Notice Sexual Assault Case Against New Head Coach

Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia has barely been in charge for a few months and is already dealing with a massive controversy. The former New England Patriots defensive coordinator had to know this was coming. Either that or it was a gross oversight on the part of both him and the Lions organization. Especially given the potent climate around sexual and domestic crimes these days. It seems that Patricia was hiding a rather questionable part of his background. Either that or he informed Detroit during their interviews together and they saw it as a non-issue. Either way, it's a big problem because it turns out 22 years ago in 1996, Patricia was indicted for aggravated sexual assault according to The Detroit News.

"On the evening of March 15, 1996, the woman told police that two men burst into the upscale hotel room where she was sleeping and took turns violently sexually assaulting her, according to court records and a news account at the time. They were arrested, charged and later indicted by a grand jury on one count of aggravated sexual assault — but they never stood trial and were not convicted. One of the indicted men was 21-year-old Matt Patricia, who was hired as the head coach of the National Football League’s Detroit Lions in February. The other, his friend and captain of RPI’s football team, Greg Dietrich, 22."

Detroit Lions horribly mismanaged the Patricia hire from the start

Apparently, the Lions had no idea about the charges. Their background check only involved criminal convictions, which is a gross miscalculation that is now coming back to haunt them. This, in turn, begs an interesting question that fellow SM columnist Dhruv Koul brought up.

"Maybe Bears did? Perhaps why they never interviewed him."

GM Ryan Pace is notorious for having a deep attention to detail. He talked to 25-30 references for every potential head coach he planned to interview back in January. It was interesting that Patricia, given all his success in New England, didn't even make the list. This revelation would explain so much. Patricia has since come out stating that the incident was quickly dismissed. He was falsely accused and remains innocent. Patricia shouldn't blame the media for this. It was only a matter of time before this surfaced. Such things happen when men step to the forefront of an organization. It's the same for head coaches and quarterbacks in the NFL. Blame instead falls on the Lions. The fact they didn't know about it in the first place is a testament to how bad their interview process was. Also, it speaks to their inability to get out in front of a potentially damaging situation. The fact it took Deadspin less than a minute to find this doesn't reflect well on the organization. It also brings a sense of satisfaction that an almighty Patriots guy was running this entire show and it basically blew up in his face. A firm reminder that the aura tends to wear off when it's not under the Belichick umbrella.