Throughout my writing career, really any endeavor I have had, I always try not to miss the big opportunities because you aren’t guaranteed they will come up again.
I was on assignment covering the 2025 College Football Playoff Quarterfinal at the Rose Bowl for another outlet, it was Oregon and Ohio State.
My goal during the Rose Bowl Media Day was to to talk with then Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles.
Knowles’ career had always been on my radar. Considered by many to be a football genius. When Knowles broke out was in 2021 as defensive coordinator for Oklahoma State.
Knowles architected a 4-2-5 base defense for the Cowboys that helped get them to the program’s second 12-win season, had a scoring defense that finished ninth nationally (18.1 points per game), and the fifth-best rush defense (87.6 rushing yards per game).
During the Rose Bowl Media Day, I got everyone from the Oregon side and felt good about getting Knowles during the Ohio State session.
If Ohio State’s beat isn’t the largest in the nation, it has to be real close, and it became tough to get time with Knowles.
I feel it would be illegitimate to claim then that I sensed disarray amongst the rank and file of the Ohio State staff. I had heard rumors but didn’t feel it was my place to press on those issues since my assignment didn’t consist of me digging for that sort of content.
As the time went down, I wasn’t able to get to Knowles.
I wanted to get a feel what lured him to Ohio State from Oklahoma State. From a Penn State perspective, I wanted to get a glimpse inside a program from a subject that talented from Knowles how that goes down because we had never seen it.
Fast forward a few weeks, we all know the disarray that happened at Ohio State the led to Knowles making a phone call to James Franklin.
Franklin realized the opportunity that was presented to him.
He has had excellent defensive coordinators before him. Men like Brent Pry (Virginia Tech), Manny Diaz (Duke, Miami), and Tom Allen (Indiana) all either held or left for Power Four jobs and in their own right were all elite coordinators.
When Allen decided to be closer to family and take the unilateral position at Clemson to be their defensive coordinator, the Knowles situation at Ohio State, the phone call made, the timing couldn’t be any better.
If you subscribe to ESPN analyst Bill Connelly’s SP index, the Knowles addition is a major impact one.
According to Connelly, Knowles architected “Oklahoma State’s best defense in 15 years, Ohio State’s best in 25 and Duke’s best in 60-plus.”
While the achievements at Duke and Oklahoma State might not move the needle for you, the fact Knowles was a major influence for the best Ohio State defense in a quarter-century speaks volumes when you consider the success that program has had throughout the 21st Century.
As Knowles began to field questions, the question surrounding the complexity of his system and the time it takes to install was asked.
Knowles had a sublime response, “Yes to both.”
Like a “Jedi Master,” Knowles paused strategically for effect, but recognizing the magnitude of expectations this program always has, especially this year, Knowles framed an answer that addressed those concerns.
“I think in today’s game of football, it needs to be somewhat complicated… Offenses don’t run the same things in college,” he said. “You better have all different kinds of answers. For teaching an installing, I’ve gotten better at it, I’ve had to particularly when you come into a situation like this. Our charge is to be great now. If it’s too complicated, or if I can’t get it installed quickly, that’s my fault. I think I’ve developed a process that help move it along at a more rapid pace.”
As Media Day moved to Holuba Hall, I saw Knowles was available and he was reflecting on what Penn State means to him.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.“You know, I grew up a Penn State fan,” Knowles, a Philadelphia native, said. “You know, from my earliest youth coaches. And it was always the place as a kid and moving through high school, where only the elite in the state made it to Penn State. I never got to see a game. It was always kind of a career-long goal.”
The luxury Penn State has is having both Knowles and Andy Kotelnicki as its coordinators.
Kotelnicki is revered nationally for his creativity, using the full 53.3 yards wide and using a variety of different schemes and looks to throw off defenses.
The last two times a Kotelnicki offense was held out of the end zone both came against a Knowles defense – last season against Ohio State and in 2021 when Knowles was at Oklahoma State and Kotelnicki was at Kansas.
Knowles isn’t new to having to match wits on a daily basis with an offensive mastermind.
Last season, Knowles had to match wits daily with Chip Kelly. Kelly is one of college football’s offensive innovators. His work at Oregon with tempo guided them to heights they were never at as a program and then during his time at UCLA he slowed down and found ways with different lines and use of the running back to win.
I asked Knowles to compare Kelly and Kotelnicki.
“Yeah, well, they’re both, they’re both going to challenge you, right?” he said. “And I feel like that’s what great offensive coordinators do. They’re going to challenge you with Andy, probably more with all the shifts in motions and varieties of formations. Chip Kelly was just great schematically. Like every defense has a weakness. So he was great at, you know, finding your weakness or taking advantage of things, but they both challenge you every day, which makes you a better defensive coordinator.”
As Penn State continues to evolve defensively, one of the things Franklin brought up is the subtle differences that his defenses historically were more of an attack front where Knowles emphasizes more strategic matchups and exploiting gaps.
Knowles is continuing a trend where the base defense in Happy Valley will be a 4-2-5 once again.
While Knowles assured me there would be three linebacker sets that will be used, I posed this question him: what is the role of the linebacker in his scheme at the school dubbed “Linebacker U?”
“I think that’s something that we’re going to grow and expand here because of quality and the tradition, you know,” he said. “So I think that’s important… I think the tradition of Penn State linebackers do everything, you know, they do everything. And you know, that’s what you’ll see here. You know, make all the tackles blitz cover. You know, it’s, it’s a place that historically develops linebackers and guys get to shine. So we’ll do, we’ll do more of the same.”
