Before the season started, the Ohio State football program had to hire two new coordinators. Chip Kelly decided to leave for the Las Vegas Raiders, and Jim Knowles headed for Penn State. Ryan Day settled on Brian Hartline to lead the offense and Matt Patricia to do the same for the defense.
The Patricia hire didn't come without some questions. Patricia hadn't been in football for an entire year and hadn't been a defensive coordinator for about seven years without also having other jobs. Patricia had an allegation that made some Buckeye fans uncomfortable, as well.
Now that the Ohio State Buckeyes are preparing for the College Football Playoff, it's pretty clear that they made the right hire. Day has been completely vindicated with his decision to bring Patricia in by almost every possible metric that you can look at.
Ryan Day vindicated for the Ohio State football team hiring Matt Patricia
Patricia's influence on the field has been felt at a high level. Ohio State leads the country in points allowed per game, passing yards per game, and total yards per game. Simply put, the Buckeyes are the best defense in the country, largely thanks to Patricia's influence.
The defense has been so good that Patricia has been named a finalist for the Broyles Award, which is given to the best assistant coach in the country. There's a good shot that he ends up winning that award, too. Things have gone much better for Patricia than they have for Jim Knowles.
Day has clearly earned the benefit of he doubt when it comes to hiring the right coordinators. Perhaps Day will hit another home run with his next offensive coordinator hire. He likely has someone in mind for that job. Once Ohio State's run in the CFP is over, he will go after that person.
The good news is that it looks like the Buckeyes will be holding on to Patricia for the next couple of weeks.