For most college football coordinators, the job ends when the season does. Players enter the draft process, hire agents, and begin training with private coaches at facilities across the country. The coordinator moves on to spring recruiting, roster evaluation, and scheme installation for next year.
Matt Patricia hasn’t followed that script.
Even after Ohio State’s 2025 season concluded with a Cotton Bowl loss to Miami, Patricia continued mentoring his departing defenders through the NFL Draft preparation process. Zoom calls. Mock interviews. Scheme breakdowns. The coaching didn’t stop just because the jerseys came off.
Preparing for the Interview Room
At the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, linebacker Sonny Styles described how Matt Patricia went above and beyond to get his players ready for one of the most scrutinized evaluation periods of their careers.
“Coach Patricia’s a huge help,” Styles said. “The way he taught the defense, a lot of these rooms I go in, it’s similar terminology, so they understand what I’m saying. Even in this process of training for this moment, the combine, him hopping on Zoom calls with all of us, taking us through what a meeting’s going to look like, he’s been such a great help.”
That last detail is significant. Patricia didn’t just wish his players well and send them off. He actively simulated the Combine experience for them, using his own NFL background to walk them through exactly what to expect when they sat down with team scouts and front office personnel.
Defensive end Caden Curry elaborated on what that preparation looked like in practice.
“He’s the guy that can do mock interviews with us because he’s been there before,” Curry said. “He knows how to do everything the right way.”
Patricia spent over 20 years in the NFL, including time as both a coordinator and head coach. He’s been on the other side of those interview tables. He knows what teams are looking for, what questions they ask, and how to help young players present themselves with confidence. That firsthand knowledge is something most college coordinators simply can’t offer.
Teaching That Translates
The draft preparation went beyond interview coaching. Several players noted that Matt Patricia’s defensive system itself gave them an advantage in NFL meetings because the concepts and terminology aligned closely with what professional teams use.
Styles was particularly specific about this benefit.
“The way he taught the defense, a lot of these rooms I go in, it’s similar terminology, so they understand what I’m saying,” Styles said.
Arvell Reese took it a step further, explaining that Patricia’s teaching gave him the ability to understand the entire defensive structure, not just his own assignment.
“With Coach Patricia’s defense, I’m able to explain all 11 positions with like 80, 90% of the calls,” Reese said.
That kind of comprehensive schematic knowledge is exactly what NFL teams want to hear from a draft prospect. It signals football intelligence, coachability, and the ability to handle complex defensive systems at the next level. And it’s a direct product of how Matt Patricia taught his defense at Ohio State.
More Than a Coordinator
On The Pat McAfee Show during Combine week, Matt Patricia was asked if his defense gave Ohio State players a real advantage transitioning to the NFL.
“I mean, I really hope so,” Patricia said. “That’s the whole goal. I say it all the time… You’re gonna get in there. But how do you stay in the NFL, right? So my whole thing to them was we’re just gonna teach a little bit differently. We’re gonna teach more conceptually. We’re gonna learn the bigger picture.”
That philosophy, teaching the “bigger picture” rather than just assignments, is what separates Matt Patricia’s approach from many college coordinators. He wasn’t just preparing players to execute on Saturdays. He was preparing them for careers.
The Zoom calls, the mock interviews, the conceptual teaching. None of it was required. All of it was Matt Patricia choosing to invest in his players long after his contractual obligation to coach them had ended.
That’s not just good coaching. That’s the kind of commitment that builds a program’s reputation with recruits, agents, and NFL front offices for years to come.