USF Assistant Kevin Patrick Long Driven By Challenges, Desire To Learn

Whether it was as an All-American defensive end at Miami where he roomed with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, a young professional building a business or a coach imploring young men to be the best version of themselves, two things have long driven Kevin Patrick: a desire to be challenged and a thirst for learning.

There have been plenty of professional challenges and learning experiences of late for the 52-year-old Patrick. When he joined coach Alex Golesh’s staff in December to be a defensive line coach at the University of South Florida, his third stint at the school, he became part of a program that has struggled in recent years.

“Everybody loves winners and beginners,” he said. “We’re definitely at the beginning stage of a new era here. These guys are following a process. They are not thinking ahead. They are trying to be where their feet are. We are going to hit some bumps and hurdles and these guys are learning how to do the things a winner does and do it the right way.”

Patrick was a winner at Miami under coach Dennis Erickson. He was member of the 1991 national champion Hurricanes, battled through injuries to earn All-Big East recognition in 1992 and recorded a team-high 10 sacks in 1993 when he was named First-Team All-American by the Associated Press.

Patrick’s teammates in Coral Gables included Johnson, Gino Torretta, Warren Sapp, Jessie Armstead, Leon Searcy and current Miami head coach Mario Cristobal.

“I talk to Gino Torretta and I talk to Warren Sapp a lot,” he said. “They are my brothers and we love each other. None of us is perfect, but when it comes down to it, we sacrificed a lot for each other. It’s a bond that’s unique.”

When asked how Johnson was as a roommate, Patrick said, “He was clean, very neat. ‘Dewey’ is still a good friend. He’s a good human being.”

Patrick has taken a unique path to get to this point. He broke into coaching following an injury-riddled attempt at an NFL career, though coaching was not something he considered.

“I never thought about being a football coach,” he said. “I got a phone call out of the blue. It was Jim Leavitt asking me if I wanted to coach. I said, ‘sure.’ I showed up and started coaching.”

That was 1996 when Patrick showed up in Tampa to coach defensive ends and help Leavitt launch the program at USF, which had its inaugural season the following year. Patrick, who received his degree from Miami in business administration, remained with the Bulls until 1998. That was when he sought opportunities that led him away from football.

Patrick joined forces with former Hurricanes’ teammates Rusty Medearis and Jason Marucci in running a West Palm Beach-based medical billing company.

“It was the best thing I ever did because I had done nothing but go to school and play football,” he said. “I challenged myself and wanted to do something different. I had a lot of success and there were also a couple of bumps here and there.”

Through the ups and downs, Patrick was always learning, always asking questions as he was building the company, building himself.

“I can remember talking to doctors who started their own orthopedic clinics and talking to them about their organization methods, just like in coaching,” he recalled. “To this day, I learn from my players, I learn from high school coaches. I steal ideas.”

The coaching ideas began to flow once again in 2008 when he returned to USF to rejoin Leavitt, and then work under Skip Holtz. He coached defensive linemen through 2012 before taking similar positions at North Texas, Texas Tech, North Carolina State and FAU, where he spent the past three seasons coaching outside linebackers under Willie Taggart.

The first year of his stint in Boca Raton was with Leavitt, the Owls’ defensive coordinator in 2020. The last two years were working with Todd Orlando, who took over for Leavitt as the DC. Orlando assumed the same role under Golesh at USF, which was the connection that brought Patrick to Tampa a third time.

“I wanted to return to USF and I let everybody know it,” he said, noting how his great uncle, who passed away earlier this year and was the key male figure in his life growing up, and several cousins made their way to Raymond James Stadium to tailgate during Patrick’s first two stints at USF.

Since returning to Tampa, Patrick has been letting his linemen know that while they can aspire to be like Sapp or Jason Pierre-Paul, who he coached at USF in 2009, they must live in the present while bettering themselves for tomorrow. That is an underlined part of a larger message resonating through a program that has lost 33 of its last 37 games dating to the end of the 2019 season.

“Let’s be the best version of ourselves and really get back to how the culture was before when we would step across that line and play with anybody,” said Patrick, whose intensity and desire to make his players better is unmistakable and unwavering. “That’s what we have to get back to.”

Playing with anybody, and defeating most everybody, is what Patrick and his Miami teammates did so well.

“People always looked at us as thugs and I was like, ‘Do I look like a thug to you?’’ he said. “We were just different, and we had some great human beings. We have some great human beings here (at USF) as well. Guys that I just enjoy being around and would have loved to play with.”