STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — On Jan. 22, two days after the 2024 season had officially ended with Ohio State beating Notre Dame to win the College Football Playoff national championship, Penn State coach James Franklin was in Philadelphia recruiting. His cell phone rang.
It was 5:06 a.m. Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles was calling about Penn State’s open DC job.
“To be honest with you,” Franklin said, “I didn’t know how serious it was, but it went pretty quickly from that point on.”
Franklin hasn’t claimed many wins over Ohio State, a program that is 12-1 against the Nittany Lions since 2012, but luring Knowles away from Columbus — not to mention a handful of other blue-blooded programs — was a big one.
Knowles, 60, is widely regarded as one of the top defensive coordinators in the country. His defense at Ohio State last year ranked No. 1 in points allowed per game (12.9), yards allowed per game (255), yards allowed per play (4.2) and red zone touchdown percentage (42%). Which is why his move is one of the most stunning of the offseason. The veteran coordinator who had just won a national title at one of the nation’s wealthiest and most storied programs is moving to a rival Big Ten school.
“First thing I thought was, ‘How did we get him?'” Penn State defensive tackle Zane Durant said.
Knowles, in a recent interview in his new office, was candid about why he left Ohio State, and told ESPN it boiled down to the timing of Ohio State’s contract extension offer. He was hoping to get a deal done before the Buckeyes went to the national championship game. Had Ohio State offered him one before they faced Notre Dame, Knowles said he “would not have explored or considered other options.”
“I did not want to put anyone, including myself, in a position to have to deal with it immediately following the national championship game,” he said. “And that’s the way it happened.”
It created a situation, he said, that eventually turned “awkward.”
“Season’s over, everything coming to a head again quickly,” Knowles said. “Ohio State hasn’t come forward with a deal, and it’s like, OK, if I’m going to act on this or at least explore it, I have got to make the call.
ON JAN. 26, the Ohio State Buckeyes and about 30,000 fans celebrated the first team in the sport’s history to win four straight playoff games, culminating in a championship following the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff.
What created a stir, though, was who wasn’t in Ohio Stadium.
“I was asked not to go to the parade, and I respect that,” Knowles told ESPN during an April interview in his office at Penn State’s Lasch Football Building. “I’m not trying to be a secretive guy. Here’s this offer, there were a couple others that were every bit as much money, and then there was Ohio State’s offer, which was still great money, but not as much, so then you have to sit with it.”
Penn State offered Knowles a $3.1 million annual salary that would make him the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football. He’s also from Philadelphia, where he went to St. Joe’s Prep, and grew up a Penn State fan forced to watch the Sunday recap show with George Paterno because he couldn’t find the games on any of the three channels he got at home. Knowles also had known Franklin for years and spoken to him about the job before. Knowles flew to Oklahoma to see his fiancée for a few days and consider his options.
“Maybe I’ll take less because Ohio State’s a great place,” he said, “but then they asked me not to come to the parade. So then you’re like, ‘OK, honestly, the writing is on the wall.’ Now it becomes something. It’s always something on the outside world, but now it’s become something here, too. I hadn’t made any decisions, but you just kind of feel like — I wouldn’t say I’m not wanted here — but you just feel like, OK, now it’s gotten awkward.”
Meanwhile, at the national championship celebration, Ohio State coach Ryan Day was at the podium praising Knowles as “the defensive coordinator of the best defense in the country that was completely dominant in the playoff
