![\"Matt](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-1185321092-1.jpg\")
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Former Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia wasn’t well liked in the franchise, but he’s found life and success somewhere else.<\/p>\n
The Matt Patricia era of the Detroit Lions<\/a> wasn\u2019t pretty. Under Patricia\u2019s leadership, the Lions had a 13-29-1 record, with a .314 winning percentage, according to NFL research<\/a>, from 2018 to 2020.<\/p>\n So, the team parted ways with Patricia in 2020 and also let general manager Bob Quinn walk<\/a> in a move that has proved to be a good thing for the Detroit Lions. But, that decision may have also been the best thing for Patricia.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a hard decision because they are both terrific people and worked very hard and tirelessly for this organization,\u201d owner Sheila Ford Hamp said in a statement at the time. \u201cIt just clearly wasn\u2019t working. It wasn\u2019t what we had hoped for when we hired them, and so I don\u2019t know if there was an exact moment.\u201d<\/p>\n While Detroit Lions fans almost always grimace when the name \u201cMatt Patricia\u201d comes up, it\u2019s hard not to follow what he\u2019s been doing since leaving Detroit. Now, he\u2019s with a Michigan rival and doing surprisingly well.<\/p>\n Former Detroit Lions Head Coach Matt Patricia Is Staying With Ohio State in 2026 Contract Extension<\/p>\n Earlier this year, following a successful 12-2 season with the Ohio State Buckeyes, Patricia re-signed a three-year contract extension with Ohio State to remain their defensive coordinator. The deal made him the highest-paid assistant in college football, with a $3.75 million salary for the 2026 season, according to CBS Sports<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cPatricia\u2019s now one of four coordinators at the Power Four level who has broken the $3 million threshold, a number previously reserved as a starting number for most head coaches,\u201d Brad Crawford of CBS Sports notes<\/a> in a March 2026 story.<\/p>\n Under Patricia, Ohio State led college football in scoring and total defense for the 2025-26 season. Now, he\u2019s making more than twice as much as Ohio State offensive coordinator Arthur Smith. That\u2019s got to be an uncomfortable relationship, knowing the difference in pay.<\/p>\n Matt Patricia Opens Up About Why He\u2019s Staying With Ohio State<\/p>\n After re-signing, Patricia was asked why he wanted to stay with Ohio State. Frankly, it\u2019s a gig, right? It\u2019s one of the most coveted gigs in college football, so the question is really, why would he not? But, Patricia had a heartfelt answer. He said it had to do with family and the legacy of Ohio State.<\/p>\n \u201cOhio State is such a special place,\u201d Patricia told reporters, according to\u00a0SI\u2019s Brian Schaible<\/a>. \u201cNot only just the history and the tradition, the football program, the school, but the people that are here.\u201d<\/p>\n He added that \u201cthere were opportunities in college, there were opportunities in the league for sure. But we had just moved. The family is a big part of it. It\u2019s hard when you\u2019ve got to move your family around, your kids going to school and all that.\u201d<\/p>\n Patricia also said that he and his family have had an \u201cunbelievable experience settling into Columbus. Everybody\u2019s been so nice and welcoming. It feels like home.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s ironic that Patricia is now succeeding in helping to lead the Buckeyes, a major rival of the University of Michigan, through a successful period of college football. We wish him the best, so long as it\u2019s not against the Wolverines.<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tAnne Erickson<\/strong><\/a> is an award-winning reporter for Heavy Sports covering the NFL, NBA and college football. Anne Erickson has years of experience covering the NFL and additional sports, and her work has been published via ESPN, Fox Sports and more. She has interviewed some of the biggest names in sports, including Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff. Erickson also hosts several podcasts and is a Detroit-based radio host. More about Anne Erickson<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Lions\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Former Detroit Lions head coach Matt Patricia wasn’t well liked in the franchise, but he’s found life…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":735574,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43],"tags":[1318,1317,1315,1316,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-735573","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116422949845475125","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=735573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/735573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/735574"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=735573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=735573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=735573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}