Josh Heupel brought in Jim Knowles to serve as the University of Tennessee’s next defensive coordinator for the upcoming season. Knowles steps in to replace Tim Banks, and his addition has ignited renewed optimism and excitement around the Volunteers’ defense.
Tennessee Sees Early Returns as Josh Heupel Praises Jim Knowles’ Influence
Heupel joined Josh Pate on the latest edition of the “Pate State Speaker Series” this week, where he said that clear communication during the hiring process helped ensure a smoother transition once Knowles arrived on campus.
“Having been a coordinator, having gone different places, understand when you’re a coordinator, you step into that unit staff room, having to get everybody on the same page,” Heupel said (6:00). “At the end of the day, we’re here to become as good as we can as fast as we can. Through that process, I’ve gone through communication with Coach Knowles as we were going through the interview process. His coming to campus, I felt like it was important that he had somebody at every level of the defense that had some familiarity with what he had done, and that was for a lot of different reasons.
“One to expedite getting it to our players as fast as we can for them to grow as quickly as possible. The second thing is in the teaching patterns, when you have a group that’s been with you and had to install it in different ways, subtle tweaks to what you’re doing to make it as efficient for those guys to grasp onto it. I think that was a huge part of the growth that we’ve had from winter through spring ball and ultimately getting us to where we need to be when we kick off in training camp.”
Knowles was a part of James Franklin’s Penn State staff in 2025, but new Nittany Lions head coach Matt Campbell did not retain him. His addition is viewed as a significant boost for Tennessee due to his reputation for building aggressive, high-level defenses, a reputation that was evident during the 2024 College Football Playoff. His unit at Ohio State dominated the Volunteers in a 42-17 first-round win, limiting them to just 256 total yards.
Knowles faces the challenge of turning around a Tennessee defense that struggled last season, finishing No. 92 nationally in scoring defense. The task will be challenging, as popular analyst Brandon Marcello made bold predictions this week for each SEC team, expressing some lackluster feelings about Tennessee in 2026.
“The defense, particularly the secondary, was praised in the spring, but let’s remember the defense was a mess last season. And newly hired defensive coordinator Jim Knowles is an elite coach, but it usually takes two years for his system to take root in a program. Perhaps Tennessee’s offense is sliding? The vibes just seem off in Knoxville.”
Knowles previously became the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football when Penn State hired him away from Ohio State at $3.1 million annually. He now holds a three-year contract with Tennessee worth $6.6 million, plus incentives, running through January 31, 2029, according to Knox News. His salary is structured to increase each year, starting at $2 million in 2026, rising to $2.2 million in 2027, and reaching $2.4 million in 2028.
