Subscribe
Follow Us
Shortly after the Ohio State football team became the kings of college football, defensive coordinator Jim Knowles made a surprising move. He took the defensive coordinator job at Penn State. Knowles didn't move into a higher position, and he went to a conference rival. It was surprising to see, but it didn't surprise the Buckeyes coaching staff after what went down with Knowles and head coach Ryan Day this season.
Ohio State defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau came up with a nickname for Jim Knowles: Batman. Tuimoloau settled on Batman because of the way that Knowles keeps to himself as he gets ready for a big game.
“I always called him Batman,” J.T. Tuimoloau said before the national championship, according to an article from CBS Sports. “He is in his cave, and he comes out and you never know what he has in store, but you've got to get to know him. Once you get to know him, that's one guy you'll have on your side. To be able to play for him as a DC, it's a blessing.”
That's just the way Knowles is. He likes to work independently, so when Ryan Day started getting more involved with the defense after Ohio State lost to Oregon this year, it got under Knowles' skin.
“The coordinator reached his limit after three years at Ohio State, where he successfully revamped and revitalized a struggling unit into a championship caliber group in short order — but not without interference and pressures from head coach Ryan Day, who inserted himself in defensive meetings more often this season and asked for changes to be made midway through the season,” the article continued.
Day let offensive coordinator Chip Kelly run the show on offense despite Day's experience working with Ohio State on that side of the ball. He was the offensive coordinator before becoming the head coach of the Buckeyes, but he decided to spend more time focusing on the defense.
Another thing that Jim Knowles had to adjust to with Ohio State was a new scheme. While coaching at Duke and Oklahoma State, Knowles liked to go with three-man front schemes, but in Columbus, the four-man front is more common. Day commented on that back in October.
“When he was at Oklahoma State, they didn't have four down D-linemen, and then certainly no depth behind it,” Day said. “So, he had to be creative about what he was doing there. Decision was made a long time ago that we have the D-linemen here at Ohio State that can play with four down linemen.”
Knowles is now heading to Penn State, where he should have more freedom to run the type of scheme that he wants. He is also the highest-paid assistant coach in college football with a deal averaging $3.1 million, and that number can be even higher when incentives come into play. Jim Knowles leaving for Penn State now makes a lot more sense.
