Midway through Tuesday morning’s teleconference call with reporters, Lions coach Matt Patricia pulled up a ukulele. Joking that “I may call them songs, you would call them noise,” he declined to play a tune. But the coach did smile and admit he really enjoys playing with Barbie dolls with his 4-year-old daughter.
Wait, what?
It was a lighthearted moment that produced laughter from all 30-something of us on the call. It was a moment that would never have happened earlier in Patricia’s coaching career in Detroit.
Coach Patricia has eliminated some of the deliberate distancing he created with anyone not directly involved in coaching the team. It’s been a work in progress, one that was noticeable even during training camp last season, his second summer in charge of the Lions.
“I would hope, being a head coach, my goal is certainly to get better every year,” Patricia said on the teleconference call. “I really hope I’m a better head coach than I was two years ago because that’s the goal. I hope I try to get better every week.”
One of the ways Coach Patricia has evolved is to let Matt Patricia, the talkative Italian family man with a subversive sense of humor, show more. The cold stares and curt interactions are now replaced with warm smiles and professional respect for one another.
He’s been more outgoing, more engaging and personable during media interactions at the Senior Bowl and NFL Scouting Combine. Patricia even posed for pictures with myself and a colleague with Hooters waitresses after a radio spot down in Mobile in January.
It’s true with his players too, as noted by MLive’s Kyle Meinke:
That relationship became a lot better last year, and players tell me they saw the same on their end. Patricia made mistakes in Year 1, and has grown a lot since. Gotta win though, and gotta win fast. He knows that, too. https://t.co/A7l4qJvxSB
— kyle meinke (@kmeinke) May 5, 2020
It’s a definite change for the better in terms of a working environment for both the players and the media covering the team. Patricia’s self-awareness to change what wasn’t working for him or the team is a good sign for the Lions. He might not be ready to play the ukulele for us just yet, but the willingness to laugh at himself and go off-script is an indication of Patricia’s confidence in his own coaching ability.
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