After a disappointing season on defense in 2026, Josh Heupel made a critical change to that side of the ball. For the first time leading Tennessee football, he fired a position coach or coordinator, letting go of defensive coordinator and safeties coach Tim Banks.
In response, Heupel went out and landed one of the top available names. With Penn State undergoing a coaching change, Jim Knowles was available after just one year in Happy Valley. Now, he’s joining UT.
Just how good of a pickup was Knowles, though? While time will tell, and it’s tough to gauge expectations heading into his first year, Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports placed him in the top half of the conference during an appearance on That SEC Podcast. Knowles clocked in at No. 8 in the SEC.
Ahead of Knowles are Oklahoma’s Brent Venables and Todd Bates, Texas A&M’s Mike Elko and Lyle Hemphill, Texas’ Will Muschamp, LSU’s Blake Baker, Georgia’s Glenn Schumann, Auburn’s DJ Durkin and Alabama’s Kane Wommack.
SEC Defensive Coordinators Rankings by @AthlonSteven
#1 Brent Venables: “We saw how much better OU’s defense got last year with BV calling the defense.”
#2 Mike Elko: “A&M’s defense is going to be really good again.”
#3 Will Muschamp: “Based on track record & history, he’s… pic.twitter.com/b7K4SflK2b
— SEC Mike (@MichaelWBratton) July 1, 2026
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Now, Knowles is looking to teach a new scheme and verbiage within the defense ahead of 2026. He brings multiple players and assistants from Penn State with him to help with the transition, though.
“We do try to throw a lot at them early,” Knowles said after taking the job. “It’s a whole, part, whole philosophy. You know, kind of start out, throw a lot at them, see what they can take, shrink it down. Once you figure out their strengths and weaknesses and how they learn, it’s really important how they learn. And then hopefully build it back up to whole on the other end. But how you get to the other end is really based on the players and how they pick it up.”
Prior to Penn State, Knowles was at Ohio State, conducting one of the top defenses in the country en route to a national title. He was also extremely successful as a defensive coordinator at Oklahoma State and Duke following a six-year stint as Cornell’s head coach.
