All but announced as the next head coach of the Detroit Lions, New England Patriots defensive coordinator Matt Patricia has two challenges in front of him. One, win Super Bowl LII in nine days with his current team; and two, assemble a coaching staff to take his new team to the next Super Bowl.

While the next few days will be devoted to prepping New England's defense against Nick Foles and the Philadelphia Eagles, there is no reason some progress can't be made in his free time on his second goal.

It was recently reported that Patricia was already letting go of some Lions assistant coaches, especially those of the defensive persuasion. While offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter is expected to be retained, Patricia, a defensive specialist himself, is sure the clean house on defense. To that end, the first candidate for defensive coordinator was reported by Ian Rapoport of NFL Network:

Currently the defensive line coach for Boston College, Pasqualoni, 68,  is mostly known for being the head coach of Syracuse University (Orangemen at the time). His two stints at coordinator level in the NFL were with the Miami Dolphins (2008-2009) and Dallas Cowboys (2010).

Matt Patricia's relationship with Paul Pasqualoni began when Patricia was hired by Pasqualoni as a graduate assistant at Syracuse between 2001-2003. While not young by today's head coaching standards, Patricia is a first-time head coach and he could benefit from an experienced coach in Pasqualoni alongside him.

If not hired as defensive coordinator or if Matt Patricia decides to hold that title himself, Pasqualoni could still come on board as defensive line coach, a job he held in the pros as well with the Chicago Bears (2014) and the Houston Texans (2015).

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. There is still the matter of getting Belichick his sixth Super Bowl ring first.