Jim Knowles Brings Full-Circle Moment to Tennessee: A Career, a Family Wish, and a Defensive Mindset Decades in the Making
For new Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Knowles, landing in Knoxville wasn’t just a professional move - it was personal. And for a coach with nearly four decades of experience under his belt, that’s saying something.
Knowles has been around the block. From his early days at Cornell to building elite defenses at Oklahoma State and Ohio State, he’s seen just about everything college football has to offer. But when he sat down with Tennessee head coach Josh Heupel in December, something felt different.
“Getting to know Coach Heupel and spending time with him and his wife when I came down with my fiancée - it was the best experience I’ve ever had in terms of interviewing and looking at a job,” Knowles said during a recent appearance on The Mike Keith Show. “He’s very down-to-earth, yet serious at the same time. I’ve always been impressed by his leadership from afar, but sitting down and talking football with him, hearing his philosophy on how to win - that definitely sold me.”
That meeting sealed the deal. But the roots of this move go back much further - and a little closer to home.
Knowles’ daughter, Halle, is a Tennessee alum. She’s 30 now and married, but her love for the Volunteers never faded - and neither did her hope that one day her dad would join the program.
“Her and I kind of had a silent pact or hope that someday I would coach here,” Knowles said. “As it all started to come together, she was sending me Rocky Top videos.
She was just over-the-top excited. So I felt like that was something in the stars.”
That family connection is just one piece of the puzzle. Truth is, Tennessee has been orbiting Knowles’ coaching journey for years. Some of the most influential figures in his career have deep ties to the Vols.
Back in the early ’90s, Knowles got his start under Jim Hofher at Cornell. Hofher had previously coached quarterbacks at Tennessee, and his stories about the program stuck with the young assistant.
“Coach Hofher was a young head coach at Cornell, and I was a young assistant. So I really tried to emulate him,” Knowles recalled.
“His experience at Tennessee was fantastic. You know Tennessee has been in the background of my entire coaching career.”
That early influence set the tone. After Cornell, Knowles moved on to Western Michigan, where he worked under Gary Darnell - a former Tennessee Tech head coach. Together, they helped pioneer the 4-2-5 defensive scheme that’s now a staple across college football.
“Together we really created this whole 4-2-5 defense when it was just coming into play,” Knowles said. “(Darnell) had ties to Gary Patterson, so we got to spend a lot of time with him. We formulated our (defense) off of what Coach Patterson did.”
But perhaps no coach has shaped Knowles more than David Cutcliffe - a Tennessee legend in his own right. Cutcliffe, of course, was the offensive coordinator during Peyton Manning’s rise and the Vols’ 1998 national title run. Knowles worked under him at Ole Miss in 2003 and again at Duke, where he served as defensive coordinator from 2010 to 2017.
“Coach Cutcliffe is like a father to me,” Knowles said. “His relationship with Tennessee and Peyton Manning was always talked about, and he loved it here.
I heard all about how great all the people are, all the way down to the fantastic equipment people and the people in the background. Coach Cut always spoke so highly of that.”
Cutcliffe’s influence runs deep. Knowles still carries his mentor’s sayings with him - phrases that have shaped how he coaches and leads.
“‘Leave a place better than you found it.’ ‘A good carpenter doesn’t complain about his tools.’
I have all these David Cutcliffe sayings that run through my mind all the time,” Knowles said. “He’s been a big supporter of my career.”
That mentorship paid off. After Duke, Knowles took the reins at Oklahoma State and turned the Cowboys into a defensive powerhouse.
In 2021, they finished ninth in the nation in scoring defense. Then came Ohio State, where Knowles’ 2024 unit led the country in both scoring defense (12.9 points per game) and total defense (254.6 yards per game) - a dominant showing that helped the Buckeyes secure a national championship.
He spent the 2025 season at Penn State before making the move to Tennessee.
And even though Cutcliffe was always an offensive guy, Knowles credits him for helping refine his defensive philosophy. “Even though he was an offensive guy, he and I sat down during my time at Duke and really continued to work on what I did defensively,” Knowles said. “I got a lot of input from Coach Cut.”
Now, Knowles brings that wealth of experience - and a few decades’ worth of Tennessee ties - to a Vols program looking to take the next step. His hiring marks one of the most significant defensive additions of the offseason, and with his track record, expectations will be high.
But for Knowles, this isn’t just about schemes or stats. It’s about legacy, connection, and coming full circle - with a little help from his daughter, a few coaching mentors, and a lifelong pull toward Rocky Top.