Family’s Love of Columbus Kept Matt Patricia at Ohio State Over Return to NFL: “Ohio State is Such a Special Place”

In his first interview session since the end of last season, Patricia confirmed that he received calls from NFL teams and that he listened to their pitches to return to the league. But Patricia never had a desire to leave Ohio State, and he ultimately decided that staying in Columbus would be the best plan for his family.

“Ohio State is such a special place. Not only just the history and the tradition, the football program, the school, but just the people that are here and the kids that are here and Coach Day. And having a chance to kind of have a little stability with my family; it's hard when you got to move your family around, your kids and going to school and all that, and we’ve just had an unbelievable experience settling into Columbus,” Patricia said. “Everybody's been so nice and welcoming and it feels like home. So it's a big deal. It's a big deal for us to be in a place where everybody's happy. It's really important.”

Matt Patricia loves being a Buckeye https://t.co/pCHhduF9lw pic.twitter.com/rXJb5eUHgG

— Eleven Warriors (@11W) March 26, 2026

Ohio State gave Patricia $3.75 million reasons to stay in Columbus, making him the highest-paid assistant coach in college football on a new three-year contract signed in February. But Patricia, who coached in the NFL for 20 years before joining the Buckeyes last year, still felt like he should consider all the options that came his way. In the end, though, Patricia decided he was already exactly where he belonged.

“I think you look at all of it,” Patricia said when asked how seriously considered NFL offers. “Look, I'm very blessed. I was very lucky. There was opportunities in college. There was opportunities in the league, for sure. But we had just moved, and family is a big part of it. And we’ve got great kids here (on the team). Coach Day's got a great staff, great culture. So it wasn't something where it was like you necessarily are looking to leave, but you do have to listen to those things that do come up and I'm just glad that we were able to just kind of get everything worked out.”

“Everybody's been so nice and welcoming and it feels like home. ... It's a big deal for us to be in a place where everybody's happy.”– Matt Patricia on his family’s love for Columbus

Asked if his first year at Ohio State exceeded his expectations, Patricia said he didn’t know the answer to that because he hadn’t set specific expectations going into the job, but he’s certainly happy he chose to join the Buckeyes a year ago.

“I don't know if I like set maybe expectations or not, or just kind of go in with the idea of like, ‘Hey, let's just try to do as much as we can to impact in the biggest way possible.’ So for me, that part of it's been amazing, to go in and have a lot of joy to be around these kids and watch them work and grow and learn,” Patricia said. “And certainly going through the process this year with the draft and watching everybody get ready to go, and so excited for those guys and what's next and for bright futures for them. And to get a new group in this year and kind of try to do the same thing, you just, that's what it's all about, right? Trying to help and do whatever you can to make, hopefully, lives better for guys.”

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From an on-the-field standpoint, Patricia’s first year as Ohio State’s defensive coordinator went about as well as anyone could have expected. The Buckeyes led the nation with only 9.3 points allowed and 219.1 yards allowed per game, the best marks of any FBS defense since Alabama in 2011, even though they had to replace eight NFL draft picks from the previous year’s defense.

Now, Patricia has to rebuild his defense all over again after losing another eight starters from last season, including four projected first-round picks in Caleb Downs, Sonny Styles, Arvell Reese and Kayden McDonald. And while he had the advantage last year of working with a full starting lineup of players who had already been at Ohio State for at least a year, he’ll be relying more heavily on transfer additions to fill some of the gaps in the lineup this year.

“Replaced a bunch of guys last year, but at least the guys were kind of in-house, so it was like they waited their opportunity, stepped up. And I think when that happens, certainly when you look at it from a team standpoint, culture and the way you do things and kind of the standard, all that stuff is set. We’re just picking it up with the next group,” Patricia said. “With guys coming into the program for the first time, not only are you trying to catch them up on all the football scheme and all the rest of it, but you're also trying to catch them up on everything else. ‘This is how we work. This is how we do things. This is the standard that we're looking for. This is how we practice. This is how we prepare. This is what we do when we go to school.’ Like all of that now has to be also taught. So it becomes a lot, but that's why you bring in the right guys that have that mental makeup that can do all that.”

That said, Patricia understands the expectation at Ohio State is to have the best defense in the country every year – especially now that he’s college football’s highest-paid defensive coordinator – and he’s embracing the challenge of rebuilding the defense once again this spring.

“One of the best compliments I've had in the last couple days just talking with my NFL guys that I know that have come back watching our tape here recently, they just keep saying that ‘The tape is so clean, it's so clean,’” Patricia said. “That means you're operating at a high level on the field, and I think if you do that, you give yourself a chance to win.”