Livescore
ATLANTA — Jim Knowles is at his most comfortable hiding in an office, door closed, with a cup of coffee as he dissects plays and draws up game plans. He’s not a mystery in the Ohio State football facility, but when that door is closed, there’s plenty of intrigue outside the defensive coordinator’s office.
“I always called him Batman,” Buckeyes defensive end J.T. Tuimoloau said. “He is in his cave, and he comes out and you never know what he has in store, but you’ve got to get to know him. Once you get to know him, that’s one guy you’ll have on your side. To be able to play for him as a DC, it’s a blessing.”
Ohio State (13-2) has certainly benefited from Knowles’ arrival in Columbus three years ago. He took over a defense that ranked in the bottom half of the Big Ten and transformed it into the nation’s No. 1 unit. The play-caller has Ohio State in position to win its first national championship in 10 years on Monday night against Notre Dame (14-1).
“I don’t know what it was like before I got there,” said Knowles, whose shaved head and short, well-kept gray beard evoke a veteran who has seen his fair share of ups and downs as a coach. “You know, I really don’t. I didn’t spend much time on that. I just knew from the time I arrived this is what we were going to be, and that’s how I drove it.”
Knowles, 59, is an Ivy League graduate, a Cornell man, who led that program as its football coach for six years in a career spanning 36 seasons and six stops, mostly as an assistant coach at several mid-tier programs. He turned around Duke alongside head coach David Cutcliffe and pushed Oklahoma State from 112th in total defense to the nation’s top five, leading the nation in sacks in the process.
He recruited and developed underdogs his entire life until landing at Ohio State in 2022. From Cornell and Western Michigan to the ACC and the Big 12, one would never mistake his trek as a trail littered with blue chips.
“I’m a guy that worked my way up, and all of a sudden you are dealing with four- and five-star athletes, so you really have no idea how they are going to handle my style of coaching,” Knowles said. “But they are really good people, and they want to be coached, and they’ve done everything I asked them to do.”
Knowles’ style? Well, it’s aggressive and intense, just like that rugged voice of his that cracks in between sips of coffee at his press conferences. The roots trace back to his hometown, Philadelphia.
“Raised by a Philly cop, so there’s an intensity that goes with that,” he said. “You spend time around them, and you know, it’s my job to be hard on them in practice. Be detailed and on top of my game, and have all the answers, and find what motivates them, because on game day, that’s the time for them to play. My job during the week is to be the bad cop and let all the other guys be the good cop.”
That style has proven to be the perfect fit for the famed silver bullets at Ohio State.
“He’s extremely smart,” Ohio State linebackers coach James Laurinaitis said. “He’s got this ability to always think about unleashing the best players and getting creative. What looks have we shown? What are they going to expect? And then, how do we use that against them? He has a knack for calling the right thing in the right situation. Like, it’s incredible.”
Consider the decisions he made late in the Cotton Bowl semifinal game against Texas. The Longhorns had a first-and-goal, but three plays later, defensive end Jack Sawyer broke through the trenches and strip-sacked quarterback Quinn Ewers on fourth down. He recovered the ball and rumbled 83 yards down the field for a touchdown, securing a 28-14 win and clinching a spot in the national championship game.
On the third play, Knowles called a red-zone coverage the Buckeyes had practiced that week but had never utilized in a game. On fourth down, he stayed in the same look and Sawyer, who also had pressure on third down, streaked into Ohio State lore.
“One of his big things is disguises,” safety Caleb Downs said. “Just how he disguises the field and how he changes up the run fits, I feel like that creates a lot of indecision for the opposing teams.”
Ohio State enters the national championship leading the nation in scoring defense (12.2 points per game), total defense (251.1 yards per game) and pass defense (161.1). The Buckeyes are also second in red-zone defense (61.1%).
“Jim Knowles is the best defensive coordinator in the country,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “I think what he’s done this season and how he’s built it over the years has been tremendous, and I think he deserves all the credit in the world for building that because we’ve come a long way on defense in the last couple years.”
Knowles’ consistent development of players, along with finding a way for players — some now highly paid superstars — is the key. After years toiling away in his offices at smaller programs, the question of whether his process could work at a blue-blood school like Ohio State has been answered as emphatically as Sawyer smacking a quarterback in the backfield.
He transitioned from 4-2-5 defenses to three-man looks. When Big 12 offenses were scoring at historically high rates, he adjusted again and transformed Oklahoma State into the most dominant defense in the conference in only three years.
“He allows us to play free,” Tuimoloau said. “Before every game he tells us all the mistakes are on him and the plays are on us. … I mean, you can’t ask for more than that. We’re locked in for life.”
Success usually leads to more attention. That’s why Ohio State, which too often relied on its nation-leading offense to cover up its porous defense in Day’s early years leading the program, sought to become a more physical team. Day hired Knowles after the 2021 season, and the team began to hit more often in practices, particularly in pads (twice a week throughout the season).
Notoriety also attracts rumors, particularly on the job market. Knowles’ name this week is tied to the defensive coordinator position on Brent Venables’ staff at Oklahoma. He didn’t deny those rumors or potential interest when asked by CBS Sports.
“Beat Notre Dame, that’s all I’m focused on,” he said Saturday, two days before kickoff in the national championship game. “These things happen, I guess, when you have success, players are making plays. My job is to put them in the best position. These things come up when you do well.”
All you need to know about Knowles is on the field. Off the field, he’s usually working, behind closed doors and on the practice field. When he gets time, he puffs on a cigar and, if he has time to indulge, he’ll munch on sushi. No one would ever say the man is not eclectic.
On Monday, he’ll coach in his first national championship game. Knowles still hasn’t picked out a victory cigar.
“I don’t pick them out,” he said. “I just let it happen.”
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