Report: Penn State Pursuing Ohio State Defensive Coordinator Jim Knowles
Apparently, with an aggressive monetary offer!
Penn State’s search for a defensive coordinator is in its second week, and it appears the Nittany Lions are doing all they can to poach Jim Knowles, the defensive coordinator for the Ohio State Buckeyes.
According to a report from Football Scoop, Oklahoma, Notre Dame, and Penn State are all in pursuit of Knowles fresh off a championship. The Nittany Lions appear most aggressive, at least monetarily, having reportedly offered Knowles a $3.2 million contract.
Oklahoma has maintained quiet confidence about its chances to hire the architect of the nation’s top total, yards per play and scoring defense. Industry sources told FootballScoop that the Sooners are prepared to offer up to $3 million a year. Meanwhile, multiple sources told FootballScoop that Penn State has offered Knowles a package totaling $3.2 million a year. Notre Dame has shown interest after losing Al Golden to the NFL, sources told FootballScoop.
That is *a lot* of cheddar. For reference, offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki made $1.6 million this past season. For more reference, LSU defensive coordinator Blake Baker was the highest paid assistant coach in college football in 2024 at $2.5 million. So Knowles breaking the $3 million threshold would quite literally be groundbreaking news.
I’m going to link the original article again because it’s probably something you should read for yourself, as there’s so many layers to it that I can’t do it justice to completely summarize. But two main points I should add:
- Ohio State remains “confident” it will keep him, though the article points out that Ohio State might begin to “wonder why it’s fighting so hard to keep Knowles” given all the resources it has provided him.
- Knowles allegedly has a fiancé who currently lives in Oklahoma. One would assume that he met her while he coached at Oklahoma State from 2018-2021, but talk about a wild wrinkle to toss into this one.
We’ll see what happens, but Penn State even offering that type of money shows you what James Franklin and Pat Kraft think about their national title chances in 2025. It’s clear they think the Nittany Lions are close, and if stealing the defensive coordinator from the boogeyman is what it’ll take, they are giving *everything* they have. Hopefully, it works out.
