The national championship is still fresh in the mind of Jim Knowles. The journey, the struggle, the celebration — all of it came just two weeks before he was formally introduced as Penn State’s defensive coordinator on Tuesday. He knows what it takes to win at the highest level of college football. He knows what it feels like to soak in the confetti.
Knowles yearns for the same success he found at Ohio State. It was there that he served as the architect of the nation’s top defense, a unit that overcame woes of years past and claimed a national title in the first year of a 12-team College Football Playoff. He believes the Nittany Lions are “close” to obtaining the same accolades.
“I think I can help. I think I can be of service,” Knowles said. “Once you get past being young and thinking you’re going to be the head coach of the Green Bay Packers. As you move forward in your career, you really start thinking about, how can I be of service? Where can I add to a great team and be a part of a great team? And this is the place because everything here is so close to winning it all. And I’m hopeful that I can help get it there.”
Penn State was merely plays away from a bid to the title game. James Franklin’s program had put an eighth-straight loss to the Buckeyes in the rear view, winning out the regular season en route to a Big Ten Championship appearance and wins in the first two rounds of the College Football Playoff.
The taste of the national championship had formed in the mouths of Franklin and those other Nittany Lions. That was until Drew Allar’s costly interception with a tied score and 33 seconds to play all but set up Notre Dame for a game-winning field goal. The postgame locker room was gloomy and devastated. An opportunity wasted.
But things quickly shifted for Penn State in the days and weeks that followed the semifinal defeat. A handful of star players such as running backs Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen and defensive linemen Dani Dennis-Sutton and Zane Durant, among others, announced their returns.
Everything had suddenly been positioned in favor of the Nittany Lions. A national championship, now more possible than ever before. And the acquisition of Knowles, who replaces Tom Allen and becomes the highest-paid assistant in the country, was the loudest signal that Penn State is going all in on the 2025 season.
“I have one aspiration. I’m at that point in my career where you focus solely on the job at hand, and my aspiration is to help Penn State win the national championship and be the No. 1 defense in the country,” Knowles said. “And that’s really all I’m focused on. And that’s not just talk, that’s the truth. I don’t have any aspirations beyond that.”
The Philadelphia native, who grew up watching the Nittany Lions on cable television, couldn’t resist this opportunity. All of the pieces aligned. The talent was there, the money was there and so was the chance to coach the team he once idolized. But, most of all, was the overwhelming culture of an athletic department beginning to prioritize winning in football at all costs.
The friendly partnership between Franklin and athletic director Pat Kraft has long been publicized, and now the fruits of their companionship are beginning to materialize.
The nation’s most successful defensive coordinator, fresh off a national title with a Big Ten foe, turned down offers from other high-profile programs to join Penn State’s staff. That’s something significant. That tells the story of a program beginning to blossom and, finally, compete among the top schools in the country. At all costs.
“Not a cliche, but you feel the family, you feel the ‘We Are Penn State’ and that means something to everybody,” Knowles said. “They just want to win, and they want to win at the highest level, and they’re committed to doing whatever it takes. And they’ve just been really, really welcoming. It’s been an easy transition.”
Franklin fought for years with the previous administration for an increased pool to spend on support staffers. He, more recently, battled for an edge in the NIL space after his program began behind its competitors. None of that appears to be an issue anymore. Kraft has flashed his wallet with the addition of Knowles, and that’s a bright sign for the Nittany Lions.
Kraft’s presence is felt, even if he’s not in the room. This is an athletic department that has set its sights on winning next season and for years to come. Knowles is just the first significant sign that change has come.
“I just always got the sense that he was in the background, willing to do whatever it takes to make it happen,” Knowles said. “It just always came through Coach Franklin that he has tremendous support from the AD, from the president, in conversations that I had with Coach Franklin.”
