As a student, Matt Patricia (Delta/RPI 1996) majored in aeronautical engineering and played as an offensive lineman for the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) football team from 1992-96. After graduation, he began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at RPI for one year.
Patricia took two years off from coaching to work as an engineer before returning as a defensive line coach at Amherst College from 1999-2000. While at Amherst, he took classes toward his master’s degree in education while coaching and breaking down the games on the new video equipment the Amherst coaching staff had acquired. After that season, Amherst beat their rival for the first time in 12 years, and Patricia was considering a graduate assistant position at Syracuse.
Brother Patricia spent three seasons coaching at Syracuse. He spent countless hours on the computer with the playbook, printing scripts, drawing scout-team cards and breaking down opponents’ film – tedious work that took hours to do.
In 2004, an unexpected opportunity with the Patriots presented itself, and Patricia jumped at the opportunity. Since being at New England, Patricia has moved through the coaching ranks from coaching assistant to his current position as Patriots defensive coordinator where he seems to have had a significant impact on the Patriots’ defensive game – not bad for an aeronautical engineer!
You can read more about Brother Patricia in an article published by The Boston Globe. Click here to access the article.