New Detriot Lions head coach Matt Patricia had recently found himself in the middle of a potentially controversial situation involving a past sexual assault case. This has put him under the scrutiny of the NFL from possibly being put under investigation to look further into the matter.
Per ESPN, the league has decided to not put forth any disciplinary actions toward the Lions or Patricia regarding the matter as NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy pointed out that Detriot was not at fault for not knowing about that incident or the 43-year-old did not make a mistake by informing the team of his previous arrest.
“Our office reviewed the matter with the Lions and Mr. Patricia, and ensured the club engaged in appropriate and thorough hiring practices and that the Coach did not mislead the team during the interview process,” McCarthy said in his statement. “We determined that the Lions handled the interview process in a thoughtful and comprehensive manner and fully and appropriately complied with all applicable employment laws. As we learned from both Mr. Patricia and the Lions, the matter was not part of his employment interview process for job opportunities outside of or within the NFL.”
It is a situation that the Lions and Patricia can now put behind them moving forward into the offseason in preparation for the 2018 campaign. This could have been a serious matter that could have put the franchise under fire for the hiring of a coach that has a previous serious arrest.
This stems from an alleged situation that occurred during spring break in 1996 that saw the victim push for aggravated assault charges. He was indicted but the case never made it to court, as the accuser was unable to give an appropriate time to testify that led to the case being closed.
With the league closing the door on any further investigation in the matter should be a clear signal for teams around the league in future head coach searches to make more thorough background checks into their possible candidates for hire.
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