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Why did Jim Knowles leave Ohio State for Penn State? Here's his explanation

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•about 9 hours•

GregPickel

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Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. (Pickel/BWI)

STATE COLLEGE — Penn State officially introduced Jim Knowles as its new defensive coordinator on Tuesday. The 59-year-old Philadelphia native left Ohio State days after it won the College Football Playoff championship to take the same job with the Nittany Lions. Money was certainly part of the reason why. According to CBS Sports, some in-fighting among the Buckeyes staff likely played a role, too. Asked Tuesday at his first news conference here why he left, Knowles hit on a number of reasons beyond the two listed above.

“You reach a point in your career where you’re given opportunities based on past performance,” Knowles said. “And as I said, Penn State, for me, growing up in inner-city Philly was the epitome of football when I was a kid. It’s really where I want to be to continue my career and bring any expertise that I can to the organization.”

Knowles is the Lions’ fourth defensive coordinator in five seasons. He follows Tom Allen, who left for Clemson. Manny Diaz preceded him. And, Brent Pry held the role on James Franklin’s staff before that. Knowles has long been familiar with Franklin and vice versa. The former visited the latter as a member of the Duke staff in the mid-2010s. But, the two have never worked together before now.

Watch: Knowles press conference

“I see it as so close, so close, right, and I think I can help,” Knowles said. “I think I can be of service. Once you get past maybe being young and think you’re going to be the head coach of the Packers, as you move forward, you start thinking about how can I be of service to a great team and be part of great team? And, this is the place. Becasue, everything here is so close to winning it all. And I’m hopeful that I can help get it there.”

More from new Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles

Here are a few other initial quotes from his first news conference. It was held in the media room at the Pegula Ice Arena.

On the what people will think when they see his defense:

“I would think the first thing they’re going to say is that we’re going to have answers,” Knowles said. “You know, that’s the biggest thing to me, is to make sure that we have answers for the players to be able to succeed, to put them in the right positions, right? We’ve all watched football, and you can see where there’s a gaping hole or a busted coverage.

“I never blame the players for that. I always take responsibility. Something happens negatively. The players know that in the game, that my responsibility. So I think, you know anybody who watches it, you’re just going to see that guys are in the right places. They’re in the right places, and they’re not being exposed.”

On coming to Penn State

“I really felt that in just my short time here, that very welcoming,” Knowles said. “Not a cliche, but you know, you feel the family. You feel the we are Penn State in that, and know it means something to everybody. And they just want to win, and they want to win at the highest level, and they’re committed to doing whatever it takes.”

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