Earlier this offseason, former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick shocked the sports world by leaving the NFL for the college game and accepting a job as the head coach at the University of North Carolina.
Now, another one of New England’s old coaches is following in Belichick’s footsteps. On Wednesday, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that the national champion Ohio State Buckeyes are hiring Matt Patricia as their new defensive coordinator.
Patricia, 50, began his NFL coaching career with the Patriots in 2004 as an assistant offensive line coach. He moved to the defensive side of the ball in 2006, taking over as linebackers coach. In 2011, he moved to safeties and took over as New England’s defensive coordinator from 2012-17.
The Detroit Lions hired Patricia to be their head coach in 2018, but after three seasons, he was out and retuned to New England as a senior advisor. In 2022, he served as de facto offensive coordinator despite not coaching on that size of the ball in over 15 years.
Patricia served as a senior defensive assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023 and was out of football last season.
Now, he’s making the jump to the college game, which will offer more challenges, but he’s in a great spot, leading the defense of the defending champions.
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