Once Jim Knowles left the Ohio State football program for Penn State, the Buckeyes took a while to make a decision on who they were going to get to replace him. Ryan Day took his time in his search for a new defensive coordinator and ultimately ended up picking Matt Patricia.
Patricia is most known as the defensive coordinator for Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. He was also the former head coach of the Detroit Lions, where he was much less successful. Ohio State was confident that he could still coordinate a defense despite not having done so for quite a while.
So far, the reviews are good. The Buckeyes seem to love what Patricia has brought to the team. It seems like they have made the right choice in the hire, although no games have been played yet. Patricia has been better than expected on the recruiting trail, too.
The Ohio State football team seems to love Matt Patricia already
Patricia has always been known as a guy who loves talking football. It seems that the guys on defense love that about it. He has the trust of the defense after just one Spring, which is great to see. The guys seem to be bought in with how he wants to run the defense.
What kind of defense Patricia wants to run is still a bit of a mystery. He liked to run multiple defenses when he was in New England, but the personnel with Ohio State is much different. What he trotted out during the Spring Game was very vanilla, so fans can't take anything from that.
Returns have been good early for Patricia, but no games have been played yet. He will get judged more on how the defense plays once the team actually starts to have some opponents in front of them.