Most coordinators open their first team meeting with a scheme install, a highlight reel, or a get-to-know-you speech. When Matt Patricia walked into his first meeting with the Ohio State defense, he handed out a sheet of paper instead.
Caleb Downs, one of only three returning starters Patricia inherited, laid out the exercise on a recent episode of the "Downs 2 Business" podcast with Cam Newton.
"Hey guys, we're going to hand out this sheet of paper," Downs recalled Patricia telling the room. "I want you to write the best five players on this defense and the worst five players on this defense."
Then Patricia added a catch that got everyone's attention: "If you say yourself and a coach doesn't say you, you're lying."
It served as a blunt way to start a relationship with a new group, and that had to be the point. Patricia wanted an honest and unvarnished read on how the room saw itself, and he also wanted the players to know coaches already had their own list. Downs described it as a turning point, both for the locker room and for his own approach.
Of course, Patricia arrived in Columbus to replace Jim Knowles, who left for the Penn State defensive coordinator job after Ohio State won the 2024 national title. Patricia then had to rebuild almost from scratch. He returned just three starters off that championship defense in Downs, cornerback Davison Igbinosun, and linebacker Sonny Styles, with a long list of contributors gone to the NFL.
Patricia's own résumé gave him the runway for that opening presentation. He spent six seasons as the New England Patriots' defensive coordinator from 2012 to 2017 and called the defense for two Super Bowl wins. He later spent three seasons as head coach of the Detroit Lions from 2018 to 2020, going 13-29-1 before he was fired, then returned to New England in a unique front office and coaching role where he would go on to work with the Patriots offense.
The opportunity with Ryan Day and Ohio State was his move back to the college game.
The results after that shocker of a intro in 2025 backed up the approach. Ohio State finished first nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 9.3 points per game and first in total defense at 219.1 yards per game. While they fell short of repeating as national champs, the Buckeyes became the first team since the 2011 Alabama Crimson Tide to allow fewer points and yards per game than any other FBS defense in a given season and scored a huge coup in getting Patricia to return to Columbus this fall with a new contract after he had a number of opportunities this off season to leave, including opportunities to return to the NFL.
For coaches thinking about how to take over an established room and reset the standard fast, the five best and five worst exercise presents an interesting study. It forces honesty, it strips out ego, and it tells a new staff exactly where everyone stands on day one.
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