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Why the next month will include an 'excruciating process' for the Penn State defensive coaching staff

Greg Pickelby:Greg Pickel•about 10 hours•

GregPickel

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Penn State head coach James Franklin and assistant coach Terry Smith attended the Class 4A game between Aliquippa and Dallas. (Credit: Ryan Snyder | Blue White Illustrated)

STATE COLLEGE — Some people are hired for new jobs to come aboard and completely reconfigure an existing department or part of an organization. Others are brought in to blend their success with the already-established accolades of their new employer and elevate them. New Penn State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles finds himself in the latter boat. The Philadelphia native now oversees a longstanding defensive staff here that has had success under numerous coordinators.

Thus, Knowles’ job now is to keep what works, get rid of what doesn’t, and add what is needed to maintain or even lift the Penn State defense in 2025. He knows he can’t do it alone. And also that it will be an “excruciating process” over the next 30 days or so to do so before spring practice starts.

“When you can have a defense that’s upper tier through a couple coordinators, that means that the assistants are doing a good job,” Knowles said Tuesday. “Shout out to those guys. Yeah, it’s the next month, right? It’s literally sitting down, step by step, and I’m going to do it differently here than I’ve probably done it anywhere in that, we’re now looking at the things that were done here in the past.

“I’m learning that right? Because there has been success. So I don’t want to come in and just say, this is what I’m going to do. It’s not going to be like that here. Coach [James] Franklin has built a great defensive culture. They’ve had excellent defense here.”

Knowles’ task now is to mesh the Penn State defense with his own

Just like when Andy Kotelnicki and Tom Allen came aboard a year ago, Penn State will now mesh the old with the new. That means Knowles will adopt some of the existing terminology while also introducing some of his own. The same goes for pass defense concepts, blitz designs, and everything in between.

The goal is to keep things as similar to the past as possible where it’s appropriate to do so while also changing anything that must be. That takes time. And, it means a lot of film study and plenty of time in the Lasch Building offices. And, to do so, Knowles will work with Penn State defensive line coach Deion Barnes, analyst/linebackers coach Dan Connor, safeties coach Anthony Poindexter, and corners coach Terry Smith. He gave all of them a shout out on Tuesday.

“I’m going to look at it step by step. See what we can retain and start to teach the guys. ‘Hey, this is how I did this and that.’ And watch some of that film,” Knowles said. “But we are definitely going to go through a process of meshing. That’s really a kind of excruciating process. That’s what I love to do. Sit there and tell me why he’s doing that. Tell me why he’s doing this. How did you guys do this? This is how I did it.

“We’re going to mesh the two for sure. Because, I need to be fair to the culture that Coach Franklin has already developed. To the assistants. To the players, right? I mean, if you come into the players and say, ‘we’re going to keep this, we can call this the same as you guys call them. This is how I did it.’ But we want as much carryover as possible so that the transition is as quick as possible.”

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