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We’re still a few hours away from the Detroit Lions introducing Matt Patricia as their next head coach, but the team has already announced a few official coaching staff hires to accommodate Patricia.
The #Lions announce several updates to the coaching staff: https://t.co/P9t6XGolsg pic.twitter.com/SwfcHJKT8p
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) February 7, 2018
As previously reported a couple times now, Boston College defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni has been hired by the team. The Lions confirmed on Wednesday that he will be the next defensive coordinator. This will be his third time holding that position in the NFL, having brief stints with both the Cowboys and Dolphins.
In addition to Pasqualoni, the Lions confirmed the hire of Brian Stewart as the defensive backs coach, George Godsey as the quarterbacks coach and Jeff Davidson as the offensive line coach.
However, the Lions also hired a few new names out there that we haven’t heard before. Chris White is the new tight ends coach, taking over Al Golden’s job—who has been moved to linebackers coach. White worked alongside Patricia back in his Syracuse days, and has since been working various duties with UConn. He also spent four years with the Vikings as an assistant special teams coach.
As for Al Golden, he has coached linebackers before. Back in 1997, he coached Boston College linebackers, before taking stints as defensive coordinator and head coach for over a decade.
Finally, the Lions announced that Dave Corrao has been hired as the team’s director of football research. He, too, has connections with Patricia from his time at Syracuse, where Corrao served as an assistant coach. He was most recently the defensive coordinator at Northern Michigan, but he also coached the Miami Dolphins linebackers for eight years.
So to recap, here are all the new changes:
- OL coach: Jeff Davidson
- QB coach: George Godsey
- TE coach: Chris White
- Defensive coordinator: Paul Pasqualoni
- Al Golden moves from TE coach to LB coach
- DB coach: Brian Stewart
- Director of football research: David Corrao
That still leaves a few positions left unfilled. Detroit still doesn’t have a defensive line coach, and it’s unclear if they’re going to have separate coaches for cornerbacks and safeties like they did last year.
We’re also not sure of what these new roles will look like, specifically with Pasqualoni. Will he be given play-calling duties, or will Patricia take on that role considering his defensive background? Hopefully we’ll get some clarification during Patricia’s press conference Wednesday afternoon.