Jim Knowles is finally home at the school of his "boyhood dreams"

First-year Penn State football defensive coordinator Jim Knowles grew up in Philadelphia, Pa. and always dreamed of finding a home with the Nittany Lions.

"Penn State was the school of my boyhood dreams and being an inner city kid, I never got to go to a game and certainly wasn't talented enough to be recruited as a player," Knowles said to Big Ten Network's Dave Revsine.

Knowles attended Cornell University where he played defensive end and eventually started his coaching experience with the Big Red. His first stint at Cornell was as an assistant coach from 1988 to 1996 and he returned to his alma mater from 2004 to 2009 as head coach. In between, he took his first defensive coordinator position at Western Michigan and stayed with it as duke's defensive coordinator after his second Cornell stint.

As he transitioned out of the Ivy's for the second time, he kept his Penn State ties close to him.

"[I] just watched the Sunday morning shows with George Paterno and read all [former Penn State head coach Joe] Paterno's books when I was a young coach coming from the Ivy League like he did," Knowles said.

After four seasons as DC at Oklahoma State then three seasons at Ohio State, Knowles returned home and joined head coach James Franklin's staff. With the Cowboys and Buckeyes the past four seasons, Knowles' total defense ranked No. 1 nationally, second in scoring defense, and third in third down efficiency.

It wasn't an automatic decision for Knowles to take the job at Penn State after the 2024-25 season. Leaving the reigning national champion team came down to Ohio State being late in offering his contract extension. He said, according to ESPN, that other schools wouldn't have been a thought if that extension came in a timely manner.

“Maybe I’ll take less because Ohio State’s a great place, but then they asked me not to come to the parade," Knowles said. "So then you’re like, ‘Okay, honestly the writing is on the wall.’”

In the rush of making decisions, the Nittany Lions made it clear they had interest in the former Buckeye DC. Since landing back in his home state, Knowles has adapted well to the collaborative approach Penn State has in its coaching staff.

"Well, we were able to get his Ohio State game plan and evaluation of us and our personnel that he did before he was in our office and hand it to us," Franklin said. "That was really valuable, to be able to go back and watch the game with him and our offensive staff and Drew [Allar] and all those things. Really valuable."

Allar, especially, has found the new defensive coordinator to be helpful for his game. Entering his senior season and third year as a starter with high expectations ahead, knowing Ohio State's ins and outs will be more than valuable when the Nittany Lions take the road in Week 10.

There's a lot of pressure on Penn State to perform well, even perform the best in the country. Having Knowles is an asset to get to the national title game, and for Knowles, he's finally where he wanted to be all along.

"[Penn State] was just a place that I always admired and hoped to someday end up," Knowles said.