Before he was an NFL coach, Patricia wanted to be a rocket scientist. Like, for real. He majored in aeronautical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. He gave up football for two years to work in the private sector, including selling and designing projects for multistage centrifugal blowers. He was eventually offered a $100,000 salary to maintain nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers, which he wound up declining to coach the defensive line at Amherst. Starting salary: $10,000. Two decades later, he'll be the 27th head coach in Detroit Lions history.
Patricia's educational pursuits paint him as the erudite type.