Tennessee has officially hired Jim Knowles, a longtime and well-respected assistant coach in college football, as its next defensive coordinator. It’s a massive splash hire from Josh Heupel and the UT football program in the wake of parting ways with Tim Banks on Monday afternoon. All reports suggested that Tennessee wanted to work quickly with the hire, and has done so with the addition of Knowles.
The Philadelphia, PA, native played collegiate ball at Cornell as a defensive end from 1983 to 1986. He graduated from Cornell in 1987, and his career quickly went in the direction of coaching soon after.
From 1988 to 1996, he served as an assistant coach on both sides of the ball at Cornell. He was the defensive line coach in 1988, the running backs coach from 1989 to 1994, and the linebackers coach from 1995 to 1996. After some assistant coaching positions with Western Michigan and Ole Miss from 1997 to 2003, he returned to his alma mater of Cornell as the head coach from 2004 to 2009.
Knowles compiled a 26-34 overall record with the Big Red, with a tenure-best 6-4 season in 2005. He also had back-to-back 5-5 seasons in 2006 and 2007.
In late 2009, Knowles was hired as the defensive coordinator for David Cutcliffe’s Duke Blue Devils. The two had previously crossed paths at Ole Miss in 2003. Knowles was Duke’s defensive coordinator from 2010 to 2017, and also served as the safeties coach and the inside linebackers coach at various points during that stretch.
More From RTI: What Josh Heupel Said About Hiring Jim Knowles as Next Tennessee Defensive Coordinator
After his time with Duke, Knowles joined Mike Gundy’s staff at Oklahoma State as the Cowboys’ defensive coordinator from 2018 to 2021, seeing growth in each year. During that span, Knowles helped the Cowboys improve to the No. 1 defense in the Big 12 in 2021, only allowing an average of 18.1 points per game.
Knowles was then hired by Ryan Day and the Ohio State Buckeyes in December 2021 as the team’s next defensive coordinator. He spent three seasons with Ohio State from 2022 to 2024 and helped the Buckeyes win the 2024 National Championship, complete with a beatdown of Tennessee in the first round of the playoffs last season. Knowles’ defense only allowed the Volunteers to muster 256 total yards in a 42-17 blowout.
In 2024, the Buckeyes’ defense was first in the Big Ten in total yards (254.6 YPG) and scoring (12.9 PPG), and second in passing yards allowed (167.0 PYPG) and rushing yards allowed (87.6 RYPG).
Coming off the championship-winning season, Knowles joined James Franklin’s staff at Penn State. The Nittany Lions didn’t put together a stellar defensive season, but it was also a year that was marred by an ugly early-season stretch and the shocking mid-season firing of James Franklin. Knowles will now join a Tennessee coaching staff that has more stability than his previous stop with Penn State in 2025.
At the end of the day, Knowles is a massive splash hire for Josh Heupel and the Tennessee program. He brings with him a wealth of experience and has a proven track record. After finding success in the ACC, the Big 12, and the Big Ten, Knowles will now be taking his shot at being a defensive coordinator in the SEC.
Here are some of the statistics that Penn State Football has about Knowles on his biography on the Nittany Lions’ website:
- “Over the last four seasons (Ohio State and Oklahoma State), defenses coordinated by Knowles rank first nationally in total defense (284.8), second in scoring defense (15.7) and third down efficiency (30.5%).”
- “Knowles led Ohio State’s defense the last three seasons, winning a National Championship with the Buckeyes this past season where his defense ranked first nationally in scoring defense, total defense, yards allowed per play, touchdowns allowed per play and opponents touchdowns scored in the red zone.”
- “During his first season with the Buckeyes in 2022, the defense improved in all four major defensive categories from 2021, including total defense (45-spot improvement in the national rankings), scoring defense (14-spot improvement), passing defense (70-spot improvement) and rushing defense (2-spot improvement).”
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more information on Jim Knowles’ hiring on Rocky Top.
