Ohio State Title-Winning DC Admits 'Awkward' Situation Led Him to Penn State

Jim Knowles's 2024 Ohio State defense had a few hiccups during the season, but ultimately finished as an elite unit. The Buckeyes allowed an FBS-best 12.9 points per game, surrendering more than 23 points just once on the season, and allowing opposing offenses to break 300 yards just three times. Ohio State finished the season ranked first in ESPN's SP+, a measure of team efficiency, en route to winning the College Football Playoff national championship.

With Ohio State, a program with as many resources as any other in the sport, coming off of a national championship, one would assume that the program wouldn't let its coordinators get away for anything less than an NFL opportunity or college head coaching job. And yet, Knowles will once again be coaching defenses in 2025... for the Buckeyes' Big Ten rival Penn State. Knowles's contract situation simmered under the surface during Ohio State's run to the national title, and the team's failure to present Knowles with a contract extension offer before the Jan. 20 championship game win over Notre Dame ultimately cost it an opportunity to keep him in the fold.

Knowles admitted, in an interview with ESPN, that he would have stayed in Columbus and "would not have explored or considered other options," had the Buckeyes made him an offer prior to the national championship game.

Ohio State ultimately came through with an extension offer, but for less money than Penn State. Defensive coordinator openings at a couple of the sport's other powerhouses, Oklahoma and Notre Dame, provided some added heat to the situation. As Knowles worked through his options, Ohio State asked Knowles to refrain from attending the program's national championship parade, a request he honored but one that he admits added to the awkwardness of the situation

"Maybe I'll take less because Ohio State's a great place, but then they asked me not to come to the parade," Knowles said. "So then you're like, 'O.K., 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, O.K., now it's gotten awkward."

That awkward feeling ultimately aided in Knowles, a Philadelphia native and childhood Nittany Lions fan, in his decision to leave for Happy Valley. Now, he'll be on the otherside of the field, drawing up how to stop Ryan Day's offense on Nov. 1 when Penn State travels to Ohio Stadium for a date with the Buckeyes team he helped coach to a national title.