After Penn State ended the 2024 season in the College Football Playoff semifinal, the program went all in on getting those last two wins this season. That included a few key transfer portal additions, but the biggest move was on James Franklin’s coaching staff, hiring defensive coordinator Jim Knowles away from the national champions, Ohio State, once Tom Allen left for Clemson.
Penn State had to spend up to pry Knowles out of Columbus, though rumors of friction between him and Ryan Day may have prompted him to look for an escape hatch. Knowles got a three-year deal worth an average base salary of $3.1 million that was laden with incentives to potentially top out at $4 million a year.
The contract made Knowles easily the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football, a title he still holds heading into 2026. However, with two years left on the deal, new Penn State head coach Matt Campbell could be looking to part ways with the 60-year-old Knowles, who returned to his home state, presumably, to finish out his career.
Matt Campbell bringing Jon Heacock from Iowa State
Matt Campbell isn’t leaving Ames empty handed. He’s bringing many of the important pieces to his success at Iowa State with him to Happy Valley, and that reportedly includes 65-year-old defensive coordinator Jon Heacock.
According to On3’s Pete Nakos, Heacock is leaving Iowa State with Campbell, but it’s not yet determined whether he’ll take over as defensive coordinator at Penn State. It’s understandable to speculate that Heacock, who has been Campbell’s defensive coordinator since he arrived at Iowa State in 2016, will take over that role in Happy Valley, but that would force Penn State to find a way out of Knowles’s high-priced contract.
Could Heacock, who also served as the safeties coach in Ames, take a diminished role on Campbell’s new staff with Knowles remaining as defensive coordinator, it’s possible, but it will be a complicated thing for Campbell to solve in his first days as the head coach of the Nittany Lions.
Campbell is set to have his introductory press conference at Penn State on Monday, December 8, at Noon.
As for the potential schematic match between Heacock and Knowles, it could actually work. It remains to be seen whether Campbell will transition Penn State to a 3-3-5 defense or continue to play with Penn State’s traditional four-down front. Heacock and Campbell have long been a 3-3-5 team, and though Knowles has run a four-down front at his most recent two stops, Ohio State and Penn State, he ran a three-down front prior to his arrival in Columbus.
If Knowles does stay, we could see a melding of Knowles and Heacock’s systems, but that has the potential to create a complicated power dynamic, on top of the fact that interim head coach Terry Smith, who had strong support in the locker room, is remaining on Campbell’s staff as the highest-paid non-coordinator in the sport.