Ohio State has found a former NFL head coach to be its next defensive coordinator.

According to ESPN, the school is finalizing a deal with former Detroit Lions coach Matt Patricia to replace Jim Knowles after its national title-winning season. Knowles, a Pennsylvania native, left Ohio State to take the same position at Penn State and become the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football.

Patricia most recently served as a defensive assistant with the Philadelphia Eagles in 2023. He was the head coach of the Lions from 2018-20 and the team went 13-29 in his tenure. He was fired 11 games into the 2020 season as the Lions were 4-7.

Patricia was fired along with general manager Bob Quinn. The move came after Patricia’s early time with the team was defined by the way he acted toward others, including an instance when he refused to answer a reporter’s question until the reporter had better posture.

Before he was hired by the Lions, Patricia had served as a defensive assistant for the New England Patriots since 2004 and had been the team’s defensive coordinator since 2012. The Patriots won three Super Bowls during Patricia’s time as defensive coordinator, and the 2016 Patriots gave up just 250 points during the regular season.

Patricia returned to the Patriots in 2021 as an adviser and moved into an offensive role in 2022 when he bizarrely served as the team’s play-caller on that side of the ball. The New England offense took a major step back in Mac Jones’ second season as Jones threw 14 TDs and 11 interceptions in 14 games. That season ended up being the penultimate year for Bill Belichick in New England as the team parted ways with the six-time Super Bowl winner in 2023.

A season ago, Patricia took over as the Eagles’ defensive play-caller late in the season after Sean Desai had been demoted. The Eagles went 11-6 in 2023 after a 14-3 season in 2022 and replaced both coordinators ahead of a 2024 season that culminated in a Super Bowl win over the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

The Ohio State job will be Patricia’s first job in college football since serving as a graduate assistant for Syracuse from 2001-03. He worked on the offensive side of the ball with the Orange after he coached the defensive line at Amherst for two seasons.

Patricia’s hire means Ohio State has both its new coordinators in place ahead of the 2025 season. The Buckeyes promoted former wide receiver Brian Hartline to offensive play-caller after Chip Kelly left to become the offensive coordinator for the Las Vegas Raiders. Hartline had served as Ohio State’s OC in 2023, but coach Ryan Day called the offensive plays.

Day hired Kelly from UCLA ahead of the 2024 season after he relinquished play-calling. The Buckeyes’ regular season ended with a fourth straight loss to Michigan, but Ohio State took down Tennessee, Oregon, Texas and Notre Dame to win the first 12-team College Football Playoff.