BLOOMINGTON – James Patton, Indiana's new recruiting coordinator, special teams coordinator and assistant defensive line coach, is happy to be closer to where he grew up.

Patton played at Miami (Ohio), where he also began his coaching career. The new Indiana assistant coach met with the media before the No. 1 Hoosiers' home game against Nebraska on Wednesday.

"Just the chance to get back in this Big Ten environment, I grew up in Ohio, my wife (Nichole), who played volleyball at Homestead and Miami (Ohio) grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, just getting back up in this environment professionally I think it is a great situation" said Patton, who was an assistant at Northwestern before taking over as offensive line coach at Oklahoma in 2006.

"Being an offensive coach in my background, getting the chance to coach defense, assisting (defensive line coach Jon Fabris) with the defensive line with (co-defensive coordinator Mike Ekeler, cornerbacks coach Brandon Shelby and co-defensive coordinator Doug Mallory), giving them kind of an offensive prospective on schemes, different things, protections, whatever it is and applying it to defense."