My brother is a lifelong Raiders fan; he started watching them when he was 12 years old. He knows every detail of just about every facet of his team. He thinks that Josh McDaniels can be a brilliant play-caller at times, but that he is simply not a head coach.
Some people do not have strong leadership abilities; both McDaniels and Patricia seem like those types to me. They need the security of a stronger personality to work under, and they probably feel more secure handling a finite amount of details.
I work with people like that. They see the trees and the leaves and the bugs; but they can't see the forest.