Tennessee hires Jim Knowles as Defensive Coordinator

Good hire imo.

Old man needs to wipe the food off his mouth before practice….wait a minute….that’s not food….

Penn State went from 4th in defense in the big ten to 9th this year

Knowles was a pretty huge bust

a la Lou Tepper

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Knowles’ system is complex and requires more than one year to fully implement. It would’ve been interesting to see how Penn State’s defense might have looked in year two

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That's the reoccurring theme that I keep coming across. That it's a complex system that takes a couple years for the guys to really grasp, but once they do, it's extremely hard to play against.

His turn around at Oklahoma St took some time, but was impressive. Even more so considering the offense Gundy was running and the lack of talent they had to work with. Looks like he inherited a terrible defense the year he took over (#112 Total defense) and got them up to the #4 total defense the year before leaving for OSU.

#1 Total Defense / #1 Scoring Defense / National Championship @ OSU in year 3. #3 Total Defense / #2 Scoring defense in year 2.

Last year wasn't great at Penn State, but that was year 1 and that entire program was a disaster with Franklin being fired mid season. That sample size is hard to gauge given how dysfunctional PSU was last season.

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That's the reoccurring theme that I keep coming across. That it's a complex system that takes a couple years for the guys to really grasp, but once they do, it's extremely hard to play against.

His turn around at Oklahoma St took some time, but was impressive. Even more so considering the offense Gundy was running and the lack of talent they had to work with. Looks like he inherited a terrible defense the year he took over (#112 Total defense) and got them up to the #4 total defense the year before leaving for OSU.

#1 Total Defense / #1 Scoring Defense / National Championship @ OSU in year 3. #3 Total Defense / #2 Scoring defense in year 2.

Last year wasn't great at Penn State, but that was year 1 and that entire program was a disaster with Franklin being fired mid season. That sample size is hard to gauge given how dysfunctional PSU was last season.

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Well, said. It is a good hire for your Vols!

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That's the reoccurring theme that I keep coming across. That it's a complex system that takes a couple years for the guys to really grasp, but once they do, it's extremely hard to play against.

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He seems like he knows what he’s doing, but how does this work with the transfer portal and roster turnover now?

If it takes 2-3 years to really grasp his system then plug and play transfers are going to be a problem.

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He seems like he knows what he’s doing, but how does this work with the transfer portal and roster turnover now?

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Hard to say - we'll see how it plays out with how much the landscape has changed. With our offense we don't need an elite defense in year 1. Just an average defense that can make routine tackles & knows where to line up likely has us at 10-2 this season and in the playoff discussion.

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4th school in 6 seasons. That's weird for such a good coach

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What a reach.

He was at Oklahoma St for 4 seasons. Made an upgrade by leaving for Ohio State where he coached for 3. Produced the #1 defense once & Top 5 defense 3 other times in that span. No unbiased person is faulting him for Penn State deciding they wanted to nuke their program in 25 & firing their HC mid season leaving him in limbo.

Always have been a fan of Knowles. Ya'll got a good one there.