The Ohio State Buckeyes’ defense suffered a massive hit this offseason when legendary defensive coordinator Jim Knowles left the program to take the same job at Penn State. However, head coach Ryan Day quickly hired longtime NFL defensive coordinator Matt Patricia as a replacement.
Patricia accepted the role without hesitation and has since been tasked with reproducing the same championship-caliber unit that helped the Buckeyes clinch the 2024 national title. Recently, Patricia explained why “moving down” to college football was such an appealing opportunity.
Matt Patricia Breaks Down His Decision to Become Ohio State’s DC
Patricia brings decades of coaching experience at both the college and NFL levels. He began his career as a graduate assistant at RPI in 1996, where he also played offensive guard from 1992 to 1995, before making his way to the NFL.
Patricia worked under the legendary Bill Belichick as a position coach from 2006 to 2011, then served as the Patriots’ defensive coordinator until the 2017 season. He became the Detroit Lions head coach in 2018 and returned to the Patriots as a senior football advisor in 2021.
After taking a year off from coaching in 2024, Patricia was offered the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator job and accepted immediately. In a recent interview with the Big Ten Network, Patricia explained why the decision was an easy one.
“But just really wanted to get back to the roots of my coaching,” Patricia said. “That was really teaching and mentoring young men, and that’s one of the reasons I left engineering to get into coaching was to have that positive influence on college-age football players.”
Patricia played football and studied engineering at RPI, one of the top colleges for the major in the country. Their football team is even called the “Engineers.”
Instead of pursuing a career in engineering, he chose to get into coaching, working at the college level with RPI, Syracuse, and Amherst before moving to the NFL.
It’s clear that Patricia enjoys helping college football players grow and develop both as men and as athletes, which made the opportunity at Ohio State especially attractive. While the chance to return to college coaching was a big factor for Patricia, the opportunity to work for a prestigious program like Ohio State and to coach under Day also played a major role in his decision.
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“Certainly Ohio State, I mean, there’s no better place in the country than Ohio State,” Patricia said. “Coach Day and I have a great relationship; it goes back a long time. So when he called with the opportunity, it was really kind of a no-brainer.”
Patricia has big shoes to fill. Last year, Knowles led the Ohio State defense to the No. 1-ranked unit in the country, allowing the fewest yards and points on the way to a national title.
If Patricia can come close to matching his predecessor’s performance, the Buckeyes will have a real shot at winning the national championship again in 2025. He’ll get his first chance on Saturday, August 30, when the Buckeyes host the new starting QB Arch Manning and the Texas Longhorns.
