Matt Patricia Looks Unrecognizable Without Beard In Old, Fresh-Faced Photo

It appears to be a matter of days before Matt Patricia becomes an NFL head coach, and with that likely move, there’s one burning question that must be answered: Will Patricia keep his beard?

The New England Patriots defensive coordinator has unfinished business with his current team, but he’s also viewed by many as the front-runner for the Detroit Lions’ vacant head coach position.

Patricia’s football acumen is unquestioned, as he’s helped oversee a Super Bowl-winning defense in New England. Some have wondered, however, whether he has the right temperament to be an NFL head coach and most of those question from Patricia’s appearance.

His bushy beard and backward hat are hallmarks at this point, but it’s fair to wonder whether he’ll shave the beard and turn his hat around upon taking a head coaching gig in order to project a little more professionalism. But if Patricia trims the beard and ditches the hat, he’ll be almost unrecognizable, as pointed out by Michael Gray on Twitter.

The photo is a few years old, so Patricia has aged some, too, but without the beard and long hair, he’s an entirely different person.

In fact, he looks almost boyish, and a longtime friend thinks that’s ultimately the reason Patricia grew out the beard, especially considering his career choice.

“He’ll probably kill me, but he’s got dimples,” Travis Krol, a former college teammate told the Detroit Free Press in a surprisingly interesting feature about the history of his beard. “You can’t be a coach of men with dimples, so I think he covers it up with the beard.”

Another ex-teammate, Scott Sasenbury, has a different theory.

“I think it was when he started coaching the offensive line (in 2005) and if you look back at the Patriots offensive line guys, they had beards and I think that’s when it started,” he told the Free Press. “All of my friends would say, ‘What in the world? What’s he doing? Why does he have an ugly beard?’ I’m like, ‘I don’t know. Just probably cause he doesn’t have time to shave.”

As for the future of the beard, former Patriots linebacker Pierre Woods thinks it should stay, no matter where Patricia lands next.

“I hope he don’t cut it, because it’s part of his image,” Woods told the newspaper. “It’s who he is, so I think he’ll shave it down a little bit to make it look respectable and getting a coach’s job and things like that. But the beard is him, man. He’s the beard, so I think his wife is used to it, his kids are used to it. The people of America are used to it.”

That’s right: Keep the beard for America, Matt.