Report: Ohio State Completion Agreement with Ex-Lions coach Matt Patricia to run Buckeyes’ defense

Ohio State has found that a former NFL head coach is its next defensive coordinator.

According to ESPNThe school ends an agreement with former Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia to replace Jim Knowles after his national title line season. Knowles, a native from Pennsylvania, left Ohio State to take the same position in the Penn State and become the highest paid defensive coordinator in college football.

Patricia recently served as a defensive assistant at Philadelphia Eagles in 2023. He was the head coach of Lions from 2018-20, and the team went 13-29 in his tenure. He was fired 11 games in the 2020 season when Lions were 4-7.

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Patricia was fired with General Manager Bob Quinn. The move came after Patricia’s early time with the team was defined by the way he acted to others, including a case where he refused to answer a reporter’s question until the reporter had a better attitude.

Before he was hired by Lions, Patricia had served as a defensive assistant to New England Patriots since 2004 and had been the team’s defensive coordinator since 2012. The patriots won three Super Bowls in Patricia’s time as defensive coordinator, and 2016 patriots gave up only 250 points during the regular season.

Patricia returned to the Patriots in 2021 as an advisor and moved into an offensive role in 2022, when he bizarre served as the team’s playing on that side of the ball. The New England violation took a big step back in Mac Jones’ second season as Jones threw 14 TDs and 11 interceptions in 14 games. That season ended up being the penultimate year of Bill Belichick in New England as the team parted with the six-time Super Bowl winner in 2023.

One season ago, Patricia took over when the Eagles’ defensive play-caller late in the season after Sean Desai had been closed down. Eagles went 11-6 in 2023 after a 14-3 season in 2022 and replaced both coordinators in front of a season 2024, culminating with a Super Bowl win over Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

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Ohio State Job will be Patricia’s first job in college football since serving as a candidate for Syracuse from 2001-03. He worked on the offensive side of the ball with orange after coaching the defensive line on Amherst for two seasons.

Patricia’s rent means that Ohio State has both of its new coordinators in place in front of the 2025 season. Buckeye’s stranger the former broad recipient Brian Hartline to the offensive play-caller after Chip Kelly left to become the offensive coordinator of Las Vegas Raiders. Hartline had served as Ohio State’s OC in 2023, but coach Ryan Day called the offensive plays.

Day hired Kelly from UCLA ahead of the 2024 season after giving up play-calling. Buckeyes’ regular season ended with a fourth straight loss to Michigan, but Ohio State took Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame down to win the first 12-team college football end game.