Matt Patricia was officially introduced as the new head coach of the Detroit Lions on Wednesday, and the former defensive coordinator has cleaned up his look a bit for the newest chapter in his career.
During his tenure with the New England Patriots, Patricia became known for his long, scraggly beard and often disheveled look. Now that he is the face of the Lions, Patricia decided his face should be a little less bushy.
Matt Patricia: Last Week vs This Week pic.twitter.com/3vZkfF1pn1
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) February 7, 2018
But don’t worry, Patricia isn’t retiring all of his signature looks. At one point during the press conference, he popped a pencil over his right ear, which was another token of his during his time with the Pats.
New Lions coach Matt Patricia just added a pencil to complete his look. Just because. pic.twitter.com/AJf4YYRVt6
— Dov Kleiman (@NFL_DovKleiman) February 7, 2018
A lot more responsibility comes with being a head coach, so we probably won’t see Patricia wearing anymore shirts mocking Roger Goodell in the near future.
All joking aside, the reason Patricia gave recently for always rocking a beard is pretty cool.
“The quick story on the beard is, honestly, 2011 I believe it was, I have a lot of buddies who are in the military, that have gone overseas, were overseas that year,” Patricia said last month, per Justin Rogers of The Detroit News. “I got to see a couple of them before they left and the were usually in full beard, obviously doing great things to protect our country and just great Americans. It’s kind of just one of those deals where I said, ‘Well, I’m not shaving till you get back. So when you get to see us on TV, or see me on TV, know that I’m thinking about you,’
“That’s where it started and it kind of rolled into year in and year out. There are a lot of guys that get deployed and our guys tend to do different things each year to keep us occupied while we’re working, so it was just on my mind, making sure I remember all those great people who are out there helping us and protecting us.”
It’s tough to argue with that.
