Jim Knowles has returned to his home state. It took 36 years and stops at six different schools, but Knowles is finally back in Pennsylvania, where he officially took over as Penn State’s defensive coordinator on Monday. Knowles made it a point of emphasis, on his first day in town, to explain his background and connection to the Nittany Lions to his new team.
“We had like three channels on TV. And you got up Sunday morning and you watched the Penn State highlights,” Knowles said in a video posted on social media by Penn State Football. “Because I grew up in Philly — North Philly — the real Philly, for you suburb guys. I mean, the one where you take the subway to school every day.”
Knowles is Philadelphia through and through. He was an All-Catholic and All-City linebacker at St. Joe’s Prep, where he was teammates with former NFL MVP Rich Gannon. Knowles was later coached at Cornell by Philadelphia Eagles Hall of Famer Maxie Baughan, who pried him from Wall Street and into the coaching world as an assistant on his Big Red staff in 1988.
Knowles’ coaching journey started small. It began at Cornell, where he was making just $3,000 a year and living in Baughan’s basement. But 16 years later, after stops at Western Michigan and Ole Miss, Knowles returned to become his alma mater’s head coach — making much more money.
This past season, Knowles was the architect of Ohio State’s national-championship defense. And now, he’s the highest-paid assistant in the history of college football, serving as an integral member of the program he idolized as a child.
“Penn State was everything. It was everything. That’s what we aspired to be. And I couldn’t get there as a player,” Knowles said. “But through a lot of work, a lot of time, a lot of really good players, that allowed me to reach that point in my career where I could really pick wherever I wanted to be. And growing up as a kid, Penn State was everything and this is where I want to be.”
