Tennessee set to hire Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles for same role

According to On3’s Chris Low, the Tennessee Volunteers are expected to hire Jim Knowles to be the program’s next defensive coordinator. Knowles spent this past season in Happy Valley with Penn State, still working through a buyout process before hitting the open market. But when he does, Knoxville is thought to be the landing spot.

Tennessee recently made the decision to fire Tim Banks, leaving the DC spot open. Knowles checks a couple of boxes on Rocky Top, especially the one where a big splash was needed. Head coach Josh Heupel is looking to get his team back in the College Football Playoff conversation and Knowles certainly has experience there.

Last season saw Tennessee rank in the bottom three of scoring and total yards allowed. While they did not finish dead last in any major category, there are not many positives looking at the stat sheet. Only Vanderbilt gave up more yards through the air, while the Vols finished 12th in run defense.

From a scoring perspective, teams put up nearly 29 points per game on them at 28.8. The number slightly increases to 29.5 when only taking power conference performances into account, getting saved by a nice performance against Florida.

Knowles will come in with big expectations in front of him. An offseason of working the NCAA transfer portal should help, hoping to improve in a big way.

More on Jim Knowles, success over recent years

Knowles has been well-traveled throughout recent years, finding a great deal of success. His biggest accolade is winning the national championship with Ohio State in 2024. A big hire by head coach Ryan Day at the time, Knowles helped bring everything together on the defensive end at the end of a three-year stretch.

Results were quite good at his previous stop as well, Oklahoma State. Four seasons were spent in Stillwater, moving from the 97th-ranked scoring defense in 2018 all the way to No. 9 in 2021. The Cowboys improved on an annual basis under Knowles’ watch.

This past year at Penn State was a different story. There was a bit of a mixed bag when it came to the defensive output, looking great at times, and producing head-scratchers at others. Watching James Franklin get fired after six games likely did not help anyone involved. Now, Knowles makes his way to the SEC, not getting retained by new Nittany Lions head coach Matt Campbell.