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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…
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Author : Brandon Marcello
Publish date : 2025-01-19 22:44:00
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