Penn State to hire Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles to same position, per sources
Penn State is set to hire its new defensive coordinator — and he’s coming off a national championship win.
The Nittany Lions are set to hire Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles for the same position, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation. He has yet to officially sign a contract with PSU.
Knowles is one of the best defensive coordinators in the country and has been for several years, employing a 4-2-5 defense that Penn State head coach James Franklin’s coordinators have leaned into in recent years.
He led the Ohio State defense to being the No. 1 group in the country, according to ESPN analyst Bill Connelly’s SP+, a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. Penn State finished No. 4 in the metric under former defensive coordinator Tom Allen.
Allen left the Nittany Lions to join Clemson as its defensive coordinator in early January.
Knowles is an ideal target because of his experience, scheme and local ties. He has also been a Franklin target before, with his name popping up when the head coach ultimately hired Manny Diaz and Knowles left Oklahoma State for Ohio State in 2021.
He is 59 years old and is originally from Philadelphia, where he went to St. Joseph’s Prep for high school. Prior to his time at Oklahoma State he was the defensive coordinator at Duke from 2010-2017 and the head coach at Cornell, his alma mater, from 2004-2009.
He had one prior stint as the defensive coordinator prior to that time, leading the Western Michigan defense in 2001 and 2002.
The Penn State board of trustees’ equity and human resources committee, which reviews and approves compensation for any employee whose total compensation at any point of their contract exceeds the president’s, has a meeting scheduled for 8 a.m. Monday. A series of previously scheduled meetings were canceled.
This story was originally published January 26, 2025 at 1:47 PM.
