In his introductory press conference at Penn State, former Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles talked about how big of an advantage it is to join a staff with so many experienced assistants already entrenched into their roles. James Franklin has been able to keep cornerbacks coach Terry Smith, safeties coach Anthony Poindexter, and defensive line coach Deion Barnes in place while transitioning from Manny Diaz to Tom Allen last offseason and then from Allen to Knowles this time around.
“It makes my life a lot easier,” Knowles told reporters on Tuesday, “It makes the whole process a lot easier working with these guys that Coach Franklin has here and how much they love the school and they love the program. They just want to do what’s best.”
However, just prior to his official introduction in Happy Valley, Knowles lost a member of his new staff to a play-calling role in the Big Ten. As ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported on Tuesday morning, Rutgers has hired Penn State analyst Robb Smith as its co-defensive coordinator and defensive play caller.
Sources: Rutgers is set to hire Robb Smith as the school’s co-defense coordinator and defensive play caller. This will be his third stop as a defensive coordinator at Rutgers, and third time overall at the school. He’s been the DC at Arkansas, Minnesota and Duke. pic.twitter.com/7AadUQQslz
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 4, 2025
Smith has a significant track record in the sport and with Rutgers head coach Gregg Schiano. He worked under Schiano in Piscataway from 2009 to 2011, then stayed on staff under Kyle Flood in 2012. Then, Smith rejoined Schiano in 2020-21 as his DC, then took the same position at Duke under Mike Elko in 2022 before spending the past two years in Happy Valley as an analyst on Franklin’s staff.
Despite the loss of Allen and the continual turnover at defensive coordinator under Franklin, from Pry leaving for the head coaching job at Virginia Tech, to Diaz taking the same position at Duke, to Allen fleeing for a payday at Clemson, Penn State hasn’t experienced a significant brain-drain on that side of the ball. The cupboard is still stocked with excellent assistant coaches who Knowles will inherit as he tries to accomplish his goals of building the No. 1 defense in the country and winning (another) national championship.