The saga to find the next Ohio State defensive coordinator has finally reached its resolution. With Jim Knowles heading to Penn State after coaching the National Championship-winning Buckeye defense, Ryan Day had to find a coach to continue the elite play from the last three seasons. With very little information leaking, most within Buckeye Nation were guessing who would take up the mantle. After over three weeks with a vacancy, Day has found his guy: three-time Super Bowl-winning coach, Matt Patricia.
Tim Walton, the current secondary coach will remain on the staff as the co-defensive coordinator
Ohio State’s New Defensive Coordinator: Super Bowl Champion, Matt Patricia
Coaching An NFL Dynasty
If the name is familiar, there’s good reason. Patricia was the architect of one of the more dominant stretches in NFL history.
He got his start as a graduate assistant for RPI (Division III) in 1996 before landing the defensive line coach job with Amherst (Division III) for the 1999 and 2000 seasons. He made the jump to the FBS/I-A level to be an offensive graduate assistant for Syracuse for three seasons.
Then, in 2004, Patricia’s time with the New England Patriots began. For two years, he was an assistant offensive line coach. New England won Super Bowl 39 in his first season. From 2006 through 2010, he was the linebackers coach. In 2011, Patricia was given the safeties coach role before earning the defensive coordinator job. He was the Patriots’ defensive coordinator for six seasons which resulted in six AFC Championship Game appearances, three Super Bowl bids, and two Super Bowl titles.
After the 2017 season, Patricia was hired to be the Detroit Lions‘ head coach. Unfortunately, his time in Detroit was not nearly as successful. He only lasted 43 games as the head coach and managed a disappointing 13-29-1 record and was fired after seven games in 2020.
Since then, Patricia has served as an advisor for the Patriots for two seasons and his last bit of experience was as a senior defense assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023.
A Better Coordinator than Head Coach?
Remember last year when Day hired Chip Kelly to lead the offense despite flaming out as the head coach for the Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, and UCLA Bruins? Perhaps Patricia will be similar, despite not being a current head coach taking a perceived demotion.
Patricia’s defenses in New England were some of the best units in the NFL. In his six seasons as defensive coordinator, the Patriots finished no worse than 10th in the league in scoring. Over his final two seasons, his units were the best in 2016 and fifth-best in 2017.
In total, it was very much a bend-don’t-break defense. New England finished in the top half of the NFL in total defense three times. In those three other seasons, the Patriots were 25th or worse. In the run game, New England managed just one top-16 unit (2017).
Overall, his defenses were notable for being disciplined and situationally sound. In that 2017 season, Patricia showed an ability to adjust and improve midseason. New England started 2-2 after allowing 42, 20, 33, and 33 points, respectively. After that, the Patriots won eight in a row and held each opponent to 17 or fewer points en route to a Super Bowl appearance.
Patricia is looking to get his career back on track after that stint in Detriot. It will be interesting to watch how long he plans to be in Columbus if he has the same kind of success as Knowles and Kelly did in their respective roles.
Main Photo: Brian Fluharty-USA TODAY Sports
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