The Ohio State University Buckeyes are expected to hire former Lions head coach Matt Patricia as their next defensive coordinator, per ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Patricia was in Columbus on Monday to discuss the job, per CBS Sports’ Matt Zenitz. He will replace Jim Knowles, who left the Buckeyes in January to take the defensive coordinator job at Penn State.
Patricia was a longtime assistant under Bill Belichick in New England. He worked his way up to defensive coordinator in 2012, a post he held until 2018, when he was hired as the Lions’ head coach. Patricia’s time in Detroit was disastrous on and off the field, marked by a 13-29-1 record and several instances of conflict with players. He was fired 11 games into the 2020 season after a 4-7 start and quickly found himself back on Belichick’s staff in New England in 2021. Patricia served as a senior advisor for the next two seasons, which included a stint as offensive play-caller in 2022.
In 2023, the Eagles hired Patricia as a senior defensive assistant. He took over as defensive play-caller by the end of the season, but he was not retained after a lack of improvement from Philadelphia’s defense.
Like his mentor Belichick, Patricia spent the 2024 season away from coaching before taking a job in the college ranks. He will join the Buckeyes as they attempt to weather the loss of several starting defenders – including defensive linemen Jack Sawyer, J.T. Tuimoloau, and Tyleik Williams – and defend their national championship title.
This guys like a recipe you clipped out of a newspaper, made it and loved it then lost the recipe and unable to ever duplicate it
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Go Blue
This has to be some sort of experiment. Ohio State believes it has so much talent on defense that even the most incompetent coach in the sport of football couldn’t screw it up. Somebody is about to lose a bet.
Imagining this as a Trading Places scenario made me smile.