Tennessee’s football team's defensive reset is officially underway after a frustrating 2025 campaign that ended with an ugly home loss to Vanderbilt and renewed questions about whether the Volunteers can actually break through in the SEC.
Tim Banks, a Broyles Award finalist just a year ago, is out as defensive coordinator after a season in which Tennessee repeatedly gave up explosive scoring totals and squandered momentum in Neyland Stadium, forcing Josh Heupel to make a significant change on that side of the ball.
According to On3’s Chris Low, Tennessee is expected to hire Jim Knowles as its next defensive coordinator, with Knoxville widely viewed as his landing spot once he finishes working through a buyout from his lone season at Penn State.
Low reports that Knowles is lined up to take over the Vols’ defense once he officially hits the market, giving Heupel a veteran play-caller with experience coordinating units at both Penn State and Ohio State.
The move signals a clear acknowledgment from Tennessee that last year’s defensive backslide was not acceptable for a program that wants to be more than just “solid” in the SEC.
Banks helped stabilize things early in Heupel’s tenure, but 2025 exposed too many busts, missed tackles, and late-game collapses against teams like Georgia and Vanderbilt.
The expectation around Knowles will be immediate: tighten the structure, reduce explosive plays, and build a defense that can complement Heupel’s high-tempo offense rather than simply hang on.
Heupel himself has not been spared criticism. After the Vanderbilt blowout, he admitted how short of the standard Tennessee fell, saying he was “really disappointed we didn’t play the way we needed to in this stadium this season,” per Wes Rucker.
Those comments, paired with Banks’ exit and Knowles’ expected arrival, paint a picture of a head coach who knows patience is thinning and that 2026 must look different.
For now, Tennessee still has the Music City Bowl against Illinois to close the year, but all eyes are drifting toward what Jim Knowles does the moment he sets foot in Knoxville.
