Are "Friend Hires" Becoming a Problem for the Lions?
When an organization struggles to achieve consistent success in the NFL, everything should be questioned.
The Lions have the second-longest playoff victory drought in the NFL, behind only the Cincinnati Bengals.
It was 28 years ago when Detroit defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 28-6, in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs for its only postseason win in the Super Bowl era.
Since, the sentiment has increasingly become that once Lions ownership discovers that a mistake has been made in the hiring process, a change is not made for many years.
The Ford family is loyal to a fault with its employees, and consistently fails to be proactive.
Speaking of loyalty, the current version of the Lions appears to be following a similar path.
Detroit general manager Bob Quinn
Trevor Ruszkowski-USA TODAY Sports
It all starts up top with general manager Bob Quinn, who has often relied too heavily on "friend hires" instead of hiring the most qualified people for the franchise's coaching vacancies.
Example A: After the overall positive four-year tenure of Jim Caldwell in Detroit, Quinn tapped his friend Matt Patricia -- who had zero experience as a head coach of a football team -- to be the organization's next head man.
Fast-forward two years, and Patricia has been forced to overhaul a good portion of his coaching staff due to the team's lack of success over the past two seasons.
Granted, hiring friends isn't a practice that's solely been implemented by Detroit. It is commonplace in the coaching landscape at every level of football.
But for an organization synonymous with losing like the Lions, it's even more of a disturbing trend.
Patricia was brought in to instill strong defensive principles, yet the defense was the team's biggest weakness all of 2019.
A mentor and friend
Paul Pasqualoni is not known as a defensive "guru," by any stretch of the imagination.
He's a solid coach, but has failed to find a high level of success coaching in the NFL.
Yet, Patricia named Pasqualoni as his defensive coordinator when he took over the Lions' head coaching gig in 2018.
Everyone is aware that a large amount of the defensive coaching responsibilities fall upon Patricia. However, the coordinator can provide guidance and make play calls when needed.
That didn't happen nearly enough with Pasqualoni in his two years on the job.
As the 2019 campaign progressed, Detroit fans became accustomed to witnessing blown leads on a regular basis, largely as a result of Pasqualoni & Co. failing to effectively adjust coming out of halftime.
And to make matters worse, Detroit was frequently outscored by a wide margin in the second half of games.
It led to constant questions about whether it was Patricia or Pasqualoni making the defensive calls -- something that was all but confirmed to be Patricia late in the season.
The new defensive coordinator
On Monday morning, it was reported that Eagles defensive backs coach Cory Undlin is slated to be the Lions' next defensive coordinator.
While he has been a defensive coach for many years and has achieved success, he has limited experience being a defensive coordinator.
In fact, his last stint as a defensive coordinator was in 2001 with Division III school California Lutheran. Not exactly a hotbed for college football.
Yet, he will be tasked -- along with Patricia -- with overhauling a defense that performed near the bottom of the league in several defensive metrics.
From Dave Birkett of the Detroit Free Press:
"The Lions beat the Eagles for one of their three wins this season, and before the game, Patricia referenced his friendship with Undlin and the mix of coverages they use in the secondary.
'They’ve had a couple moving parts back there, and I think those guys are just trying to understand the techniques that they’re teaching,' Patricia said. 'Cory Undlin, who actually coaches the secondary, is a good friend of mine, and I know he’s got those guys working really hard.'"
It begs the question: Is it time for the organization to consider overhauling its hiring process if Quinn and Patricia do not pan out?
Sure, friendships can play a role, and often do when it comes to making hires.
However, for the next regime, it should be time for previous coaching success in the NFL to play a bigger role.
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