ALLEN PARK, Mich. -- Detroit Lions general manager Bob Quinn, addressing 20-plus-year-old sexual assault allegations against head coach Matt Patricia for the first time since they surfaced in May, said he believes the team did a thorough background check when hiring Patricia.

Quinn, like team president Rod Wood before, said nothing came up about the 1996 sexual assault indictment in South Padre Island, Texas, when they did the check. In May, Wood said the Lions followed the law when handling Patricia's background check.

On Friday, when asked how he couldn’t have known about this since others had found it, Quinn said he wasn’t the one doing the check.

“Listen, I’m not paid to do extensive background checks,” Quinn said. “I’m here to select the head coach, and I’m very comfortable with Matt Patricia as our head coach.”

Quinn, who has known Patricia for years, dating back to their early days with the Patriots, said he first learned of the allegations after Patricia told him a couple of days before a Detroit News story ran that detailed the allegations and the indictment in May.

Patricia, then a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, was on spring break when the alleged sexual assault occurred. The case never went to trial. The woman who made the accusation declined to testify and said then that she “does not feel she can face the pressures or stress of a trial,” according to court records. The case was dismissed.

Patricia denied the accusation in a news conference soon after the allegations surfaced.

“I was accused of something that I did not do,” Patricia said in the May news conference. “I went through the process, and the case was dismissed.”

Attorneys who worked the case and were contacted by ESPN had no recollection of it. The South Padre Island police department also had limited records available from the night of the incident.

Quinn said that after he spoke with Wood, team owner Martha Ford and Patricia, following learning of the allegations, there was no thought of firing Patricia. Quinn also said they investigated the incident but declined to give details of what they learned or how long they spent trying to figure out what happened on the night in question.

“We did extensive research. I’m not getting into what we did,” Quinn said. “But we did extensive research, externally as well, and with our conversations with Matt.”

Quinn said he doesn’t believe the allegations had an effect on the locker room or on a disappointing season for the Lions, who finished 6-10 and in last place in the NFC North. The allegations surfaced while the team was in the midst of organized team activity workouts.

“I think our players were very supportive of Matt after that happened,” Quinn said. “And quickly we were into OTAs and we kind of moved on to football. I don’t think it did.”