A former Ohio State football coach is teaching a rival how to beat the Buckeyes
Penn State football Blue-White game, 2025
Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles looks on during the Blue-White game on April 26, 2025.Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.com
By Stephen Means, cleveland.com
LAS VEGAS — If you can’t beat them, join them. Or, at the very least, take something valuable from them that could be to your advantage.
That’s one way you can look at the motivations behind Penn State head coach James Franklin hiring away Jim Knowles from Ohio State to coordinate his 2025 defense.
Is that an oversimplification? Sure. Clearly, more went into that decision on both sides. Franklin lost Tom Allen to Clemson for the same role this offseason, so he had to go find a new defensive coordinator. Knowles spent three years reviving the Buckeyes’ defense and completed that by winning a national championship in 2024. Now it was time to go home and try to do the
same thing.
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