Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is finalizing a three-year deal to become the new defensive coordinator at Penn State. It averages $3.1 million over three years. The former Cornell Football Head Coach now becomes the highest paid defensive coordinator in the country.
Cornell University, the new Cradle of Coaches.
Step aside, Miami of The Ohio.
Quote from: Ken711Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is finalizing a three-year deal to become the new defensive coordinator at Penn State. It averages $3.1 million over three years. The former Cornell Football Head Coach now becomes the highest paid defensive coordinator in the country.
Interesting article from the Athletic, February 17:
What Drove Jim Knowles from Ohio State to Penn StateSTATE COLLEGE, Pa. — When Jim Knowles and David Cutcliffe navigated the Northeast, there was no telling how wide-ranging their conversations would be. Time spent in the car on recruiting trips for Cutcliffe, then Duke's head coach and Knowles, his defensive coordinator, wasn't only about football.
"We'd take some long rides in the car and kind of see some history all the way back from the revolutionary time," Cutcliffe said. "Jim's so smart, he'd know all of that history."
There were plenty of personal anecdotes weaved in along the way. In Boston, Knowles was miserable working in finance in his early 20s. Fresh out of Cornell, he thought that was his next step. His high school buddies sensed his unhappiness when they visited. Cutcliffe felt it too as they approached New York City years later and Knowles mentioned what his life might've been like had he stayed away from football.
"He could've made a boatload of money in finance," said Rich Gannon, the former NFL quarterback who was Knowles' high school teammate at Philadelphia's St. Joe's Prep (he's still one of Knowles' best friends). "He's a bright guy, but it just wasn't in his heart. He wasn't passionate about it. He figured it out pretty quick."
Within decades, the college football industry would come to know the 59-year-old as one of the most coveted coordinators in the sport. Knowles is one part Ivy League smarts and two parts Philadelphia straight shooter. He's the keeps-to-himself man who holes up in his office on Sundays game-planning, but come Saturdays, he'll shoulder the blame if the scribbles on the whiteboard and pages of notes weren't good enough for his players.
"He watches so much tape and he understands not just football, but he understands the individual athlete and how they function, and he puts them in really good spots," said Jason Babin who starred in Knowles' defense at Western Michigan. "He really dives deep into the individual athlete. ... It's a unique trait."
Jim Knowles spent three seasons at Ohio State, winning a national title with the Buckeyes this past season. (Brett Davis / Imagn Images)
Penn State hopes Knowles can keep the Nittany Lions on course to win a national championship. They made it clear last month that they don't intend to go backward by making him the highest-paid coordinator in the country. After reaching the semifinals and tasting College Football Playoff success, this offseason is about erasing the small margins that separate the Nittany Lions from playing for a national title.
"Everything here is so close to winning it all, and I'm hopeful that I can help get it there," Knowles said this month during his introduction.
Knowles is Penn State's third defensive coordinator in as many years. Whether it was Manny Diaz, Tom Allen or Brent Pry years before that, Penn State found ways to field great defenses. Tapping into Knowles' brilliance could be the difference between a top-10 unit and one that pushes to be the country's best.
"Jim's strength is game day," said Oklahoma State's Mike Gundy, who hired Knowles in 2018. "His ability to understand what offenses are doing and how to attack them and how to stop them. ... Rah-Rah is not him. His strength is, 'OK guys, this is the plan. This is what we're gonna do. If you guys do this, we're gonna have success.'"
Lately, his scheme has been on fire. That's why Ohio State outbid Oklahoma State for Knowles in 2021. It's precisely why James Franklin and Penn State swooped in last month, just days after Ohio State won a national title with the nation's top-ranked defense and extended an offer worth an average of $3.1 million per year, making Knowles the highest-paid coordinator in the country.
"We spoke a couple years back when the position was open, so that helped. We already had pretty good familiarity with each other," Franklin said. "We were able to start conversations after the national championship game, obviously, and it went quickly. ... I know there's a ton of excitement from our players, there's a ton of excitement from the fans, there's a ton of excitement from our supporters and alumni and lettermen, and all those things matter."
Knowles plans to mesh some of what has made Penn State's defenses successful in the past with what has worked for him. Being at Penn State, at a place that at times felt a world away instead of 3-1/2 hours from his native Philadelphia, was part of the lure.
"I knew he'd be courted, but Jim's not chasing money. Jim's chasing happiness, which I love," Cutcliffe said. "Being at Penn State somewhere along the way was probably a dream for him. That's just the reality."
Jack Branka waved from the stands in Knowles' direction last month during pregame warmups at the national championship game. "Knowlesy," as Branka's wife used to call him, made sure his former high school football coach was on hand for the Ohio State-Notre Dame showdown.
It was a far cry from the days when Branka and his wife used to drive to Ithaca, N.Y., a couple of times per year when Knowles was the head coach at Cornell from 2004-2009. They would take 100 Philadelphia soft pretzels for his players to enjoy at their Friday practice.
with his best friends, Gannon and Clayton Carlin. The three former St. Joe's Prep teammates who carved out football careers, clear their schedules and fly in from Minnesota and Texas to golf and share a meal with their former high school coach. Branka is tickled that after all these years they still think of him.
"He's never forgotten where he's come from," Gannon said. "He's a blue-collar kid, his dad was a detective, and he came from a working-class family. He's had to work at everything and create his own opportunities. ... He's genuine."
Little did any of them know at the national title game that within days of the confetti clearing and after a celebratory cigar, Knowles and his agent would field offers from suitors and alter the trajectory of several Playoff-contending teams. None of those close to him are surprised he chose Penn State.
Ever since the Sunday morning highlight show flashed across TV sets in the 1970s and 1980s in Philadelphia, Knowles had an interest in the place. Gannon remembered former Penn State assistant Dick Anderson coming to their school his senior year, but neither was a Penn State-caliber recruit. Knowles recalls the Linebacker-U legacy but quickly realized his family didn't have the financial resources to ever go to a game during his childhood.
"We both had these dreams and aspirations of playing at Penn State," Gannon said. "For Jimmy, this is full circle. He would've loved to have played at Penn State. We all would have. Growing up in Philadelphia it wasn't like we wanted to go to North Carolina or USC. No, we wanted to go to Penn State."
Many of them, Branka included, plan to be in Beaver Stadium supporting Knowles this fall.
"Based on his career, he had a chance to pick where he wanted to go, and this is where he wanted to be," Branka said. "That means a lot."
Staff meetings at Duke often began with David Cutcliffe giving Knowles the floor. The head coach started meetings with a thought of the day, but much like their car rides, there was no telling what fact or tidbit of inspiration Knowles would hit on.
"You could go from hearing something very novelistic, some made-up story to make a point, or it could be grasping something from history," Cutcliffe said. "Jim was the guy we called the mad scientist. He could get on a board, and he didn't even know anybody else was in the room. We'd all be sitting there, myself and the defensive coaches, and it was just magic."
Gundy described Knowles as a "brainiac" whose desire to shut the office door and isolate himself for game-planning shouldn't be mistaken for a coach who isn't thoughtful or engaging. During the interview process at Oklahoma State, Gundy brought in Knowles and a half dozen other candidates to interview in front of the staff. Gundy was blown away by the statistical success Knowles had at Duke, especially with points given up per drive attempt. He quickly realized this was the coach to hire.
"When we got him out of Duke, he wasn't a prized recruit, wasn't making a ton of money for someone in our profession, and we were able to identify him and get him in here," Gundy said. "I'm thrilled that Jim's been able to earn everything he's gotten."
Knowles had to find creative solutions to problems when working at Duke. He would joke that the team would need to beat teams with its future doctors and lawyers. One offseason when Cutcliffe tasked Knowles and the defensive staff with coming up with ways to respond to up-tempo offenses, they all were in stitches when Knowles revealed the names of the various blitzes they'd use next season. Many were named after Cutcliffe's grandchildren.
"One blitz was just Cut. It just made us all laugh," Cutcliffe said. "That's Jim. He's a football guy, but he's a people guy."
As Oklahoma State chased a Playoff bid, Knowles insisted he wouldn't yell at anyone one day at practice. Instead, he went drill to drill holding a coffee mug that read, "That ain't it, bro."
Through gritted teeth, he sipped it after every miscue.
"He has the ability to know when he needs to do something different, when he needs to change it up a little bit," Gundy said. "He's very to himself, mad scientist, but he has a way of relating to the players where they trust his ability to know what to do and when to do it."
Babin still laughs, thinking about one shovel pass he missed in a game at Western Michigan during his freshman year. Knowles made sure to run shovel passes during practice periods for the rest of Babin's career.
"Looking back on my NFL career, I never missed a shovel pass in 12 years," Babin said. "Jim has those traits that make you a great coach: The details, he actually cares, it's not about him."
Establishing that trust with Penn State's players will take time this offseason. Knowles already cautioned that he won't be overly expressive when he is calling games this fall. That calm comes from all the hours spent in the office, scheming and adjusting and trusting that he hasn't put too much on his players.
After all, Knowles' process works.
"He's the best defensive coordinator in college football," Gannon said. "If you watch his body of work and what he does situationally, how he utilizes personnel, you look at red zone defense, you look at third-down defense, some of his packages, his pressure schemes, how he attacks protections, he's really good. ... The kids at Penn State are gonna get somebody who also cares about them as people."
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