"What has he done at the college level?" - CFB insider bluntly questions Ohio State's hiring of Matt Patricia

Matt Patricia will be the new Ohio State defensive coordinator, replacing Jim Knowles who took the same job at the Penn State Nittany Lions. The news broke on Thursday that the three-time Super Bowl-winning coach would join national championship-winning coach Ryan Day's team.

Not everyone was convinced about Patricia being hired to replace Knowles. During Thursday's segment of the "On3" podcast, analyst J. D Pickell shared what made the appointment underwhelming.

"At Ohio State, after you've won a national championship, you have, I think, the potential to have the most certainty on your staff of anywhere else across the country," Pickell said. "Matt Patricia coming from the NFL level with multiple Super Bowls is great, but what has he done at the college level to get me excited about him calling my defense in Columbus?

"What am I point to here that says, 'Hey, this is a home-run?' My issue with this isn't Matt Patricia in himself is a bad hire for Ohio State. He has coached at the highest level in football – he has multiple Super Bowls, [as] I already mentioned. The issue for me is – is he the guy that makes a 10-to-15 percent difference that you need to have on the defensive side to allow you to accomplish your goals and your standards in Columbus, which is [winning] a national championship for the second year in a row."

Matt Patricia hire explained

Ohio State coach Ryan Day took most of the offensive playcalling duties before he hired Chip Kelly to be the offensive coordinator last season, leading the Buckeyes to the national championship.

When Kelly left to be the Las Vegas Raiders offensive coordinator, Day promoted Keenan Bailey and Brian Hartline to be co-offensive coordinators. During Thursday's segment of "Always College Football," ESPN analyst Greg McElroy revealed how the hiring of Matt Patricia frees up Day to be more hands-on in the offensive play-calling department.

“Ryan Day, will he have maybe a little bit more of a hands-on approach to what they’re trying to do offensively? Is he going to be calling short yardage? Is he going to be calling goal line or red zone? I don’t know that… But if he felt like getting involved he can. Why? Because he now hired a guy that’s been a head coach on the defensive side,” Greg McElroy said (3:47).

“He’s hired Matt Patricia to run the defense, so he won’t have to do anything for the defense, but he can oversee some of the youth within the coaching staff on the offensive side,” McElroy added.

Matt Patricia has extensive NFL coaching experience as the defensive and offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots and as the head coach of the Detroit Lions. He will follow his former boss, Bill Belichick in making his first foray into college football.