According to a report from The Athletic’s Nicole Auerbach, Ohio State defense coordinator Jim Knowles is among the candidates that met with Duke on Wednesday about the Blue Devils’ open head coaching position. Penn State defensive coordinator Manny Diaz and NC State defense coordinator Tony Gibson also reportedly spoke with Duke about the job.
Knowles, in his second season at Ohio State, was at Duke as an assistant coach under David Cutcliffe from 2010-17, serving as a defensive coordinator, safeties coach and linebackers coach. Cutcliffe and Duke parted ways following the 2021 season, and his replacement, Mike Elko, was named head coach at Texas A&M on Monday.
Knowles also has prior head coaching experience, leading Cornell from 2004-09 and posting a 26-34 record over six seasons. He has also served as an assistant coach at Western Michigan, Ole Miss and Oklahoma State in his coaching career that dates back to 1988.
In two seasons with the Buckeyes, Knowles has engineered a complete turnaround for Ohio State’s defense. After ranking outside of the top 30 in scoring and total defense in 2021, the Buckeyes were top 25 in both categories last season. This year, Ohio State finished the regular season second in scoring defense at 11.0 points per game and third in total defense at 260.0 yards per game, though the Buckeyes did allow a season-high 30 points and 338 yards of offense in their loss to Michigan last weekend.
