Could Jim Knowles leave Penn State for Oklahoma State after the season?
Per at least one major national reporter, it’s something at least worth thinking about.
Almost immediately after news broke that Oklahoma State had fired Mike Gundy, Pete Nakos of On3Sports published a Hot Board of potential options to replace Gundy.
Knowles was one of seven names on the board, with the other six either being college head coaches or NFL coordinators. It shouldn’t be a suprise that Knowles would be linked to the job.
After all, he ran Oklahoma State’s defense once upon a time, doing so from 2018-21.
WHAT NAKOS WROTE
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Here’s what Nakos wrote about the possibility of Knowles becoming Oklahoma State’s coach.
“Knowles was in Stillwater for three seasons under Mike Gundy, leading the Cowboys to one of their best defenses,” Nakos wrote. “For the 2021 season, Knowles’ defense finished top ten in areas such as opponent points per play, opponent points per game, opponent yards per play and opponent yards per game, among others. He left for the Ohio State defensive coordinator job and won a national title. He’s now in Year 1 as Penn State’s defensive coordinator and was previously the head coach at Cornell.”
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So is it realistic for Knowles to leave Penn State after just one season for Oklahoma State? It’s hard to say. For one, there’s a lot of season left, so we won’t know for a while who Oklahoma State’s next boss is. It’s also hard to say if Knowles would be open to being a head coach because he hasn’t done it in a long time.
Knowles’ only head coaching stop has been at Cornell, where he ran the show from 2004-2009. At that point in his career, Knowles had only been a defensive coordinator for two seasons (Western Michigan 2001-02), so his name wasn’t nearly as well known as it is two decades later.
Knowles was asked about the possibility of becoming a head coach at his introductory press conference in Happy Valley in February.
He didn’t reveal much.
“I have one aspiration,” he said. “I’m at that point in my career where you focus solely on the job at hand. My aspiration is to help Penn State win the national championship and be the No. 1 defense in the country. That’s really all I’m focused on, and that’s not just talk. That’s the truth. I don’t have any aspirations beyond that.”
