“We’re starting from a clean slate,” new Tennessee defensive coordinator Jim Knowles said, meeting with Tennessee local media for the first time.
The former Penn State and Ohio State defensive coordinator was brought on to Josh Heupel’s staff in early December, replacing the fired Tim Banks.
Knowles was the guru behind Ohio State’s dominant defense that achieved championship success in 2024 and will enter his 38th year of coaching, this fall with the Volunteers.
Along with championship pedigree and nearly four decades of experience, Knowles brought the cavalry with him to Knoxville, adding several assistant coaches to his 2026 staff who were part of previous ventures at PSU and OSU.
In addition to the familiar coaches, Knowles recruited four former Nittany Lions to transfer over and join him at Tennessee for the 2026 season.
Speaking on the speed in which he can implement a new defensive system at Tennessee, Knowles expressed the significance of having experienced assistants and players from his previous teams leading the way.
“We can go faster than other situations that I've been in because of the fact that we have a lot of coaches who have worked with me before… and we have a few players… that have been in the system at all levels of the defense,” Knowles said.
The coach explained his defensive philosophy and the increments in which he implements different parts of his system over time.
“We do try to throw a lot at them early," Knowles said. "We put in a lot, shrink it way down to see what they know and then take it step by step to build it back up.”
Addressing the effectiveness of his former defenses and the high expectations for his Volunteers defense, Knowles was insistent on the importance of preparation and having answers for different opposing offenses.
“That is the most critical thing, having answers. Because you're always going to get into situations in a game where you have to have an answer for how they're hurting you or how they're attacking you,” the coach said.
“That's my job. That's why it's worked and why our stop rate has been so good, is because we're going to have answers to anything an offense can do to us.”
Tennessee was an 8-5 team that gave up 397 yards a game, 245 of which was through the air. The Vols gave up third-down conversions 41% of the time.