The Ohio State football program has had its defensive coordinator position vacant for a few weeks now. A week after the Buckeyes won the national championship, Jim Knowles bolted for Penn State. Since then, the Buckeyes have lost their offensive coordinator and offensive line coach and rehired both positions.
For whatever reason, the Buckeyes took forever to decide who they wanted as the new DC. After multiple rumors about who they were going to bring in as the DC, they have finally settled on someone. It's an outside hire who didn't even work in football last year.
Ryan Day has hired Matt Patricia as their defensive coordinator. Patricia was the defensive coordinator for the Patriots from 2012-2017 before leaving to be the head coach of the Lions from 2018-2020. That Lions tenure didn't end well, and neither did any of his jobs after that.
Ryan Day hires Matt Patricia as the defensive coordinator of the Ohio State football team
This is a baffling decision by Day. Patricia has been fired from each of his last three jobs with the Lions, Patriots, and Eagles. He wasn't even able to land a job this past season. Patricia is not someone who is going to succeed on the recruiting trail, and he might not even be able to coordinate defenses anymore.
Day had a lot of other options that would have been better for the Buckeyes. Randy Bates from Pitt would have been better. Matt Cullen from the Chiefs would have been better. Heck, an internal promotion of Matt Guerrieri would have been better than this hire.
Tim Walton is also getting promoted as co-defensive coordinator, but he will not be calling the plays. Patricia will certainly be getting the reins to the entire defense. This has the potential to be an absolute disaster. This could be Day's first really bad hire.
The Buckeyes are losing a ton of talent on defense this season. Patricia already has a low approval rating after he failed in the NFL once he was away from Bill Belichick. He also has some off-the-field baggage that has been resurfacing.
Day could have done so much better with this hire. In his final year with the Patriots in 2017, his defense was the fourth worst defense in the league. 2025 could be a frustrating year on defense.