Ohio State fumbles decision on new defensive coordinator

After climbing to the top of the college football mountain, Ohio State made it exponentially more challenging to do it again in 2025 with a confounding coaching hire.

On Wednesday, ESPN college football insider Pete Thamel shared that the Buckeyes are set to hire Matt Patricia as their defensive coordinator following Jim Knowles' departure for Penn State earlier this offseason.

The same Matt Patricia with more bottom-10 defenses in yards allowed than top-10 units as Patriots defensive coordinator. The same Matt Patricia who backup Eagles quarterback Nick Foles torched in Super Bowl LII. The same Matt Patricia who went 13-29-1 as head coach of the Detroit Lions and was most recently fired in 2023 after one season as a Philadelphia Eagles senior defensive assistant.

If head coach Ryan Day wants to be able to say, "Nobody believed in us!" after a big win with a straight face, mission accomplished. Other than that, it's impossible to justify the hire.

Patricia has rarely been successful as a coach, including a disastrous stint sharing offensive play-calling duties with Joe Judge with the Patriots in 2022.

Ohio State was expected to experience growing pains in 2025, with several upperclassmen leaving for the NFL Draft. With Patricia at the helm, a significant regression is much more likely.

The longtime Patriots assistant rode the coattails of the Bill Belichick-Tom Brady dynasty to numerous other jobs, and by remaining a viable coaching candidate, Patricia reveals the impressive half-life that comes with winning a championship.

Without those three Super Bowl wins (2004, 2014, 2016) on his resume, Patricia would look much less remarkable.

Few college football hirings this offseason are as uninspired as Ohio State's decision to make Patricia its defensive coordinator.

It might have confirmed that college football will have a different national champion in 2026.