If you thought you were done having your blood boil over Jim Knowles and him leaving the Ohio State football team for Penn State, well, not so fast. Knowles shocked us all when he bolted for a Big Ten rival, with money clearly having something to do with it.
Knowles went ahead and confirmed that in an eye-opening ESPN interview that went live on Tuesday morning. It wasn't just the way things went south that has people so upset, however. In the ESPN piece, Knowles revealed that he was hoping for Ohio State to give him a new contract right before the national title game.
So, instead of focusing on the biggest game of the year and one of the biggest games of his life, Knowles was putting pressure on Day and Co. to give him a new deal? This is a bad look across the board and it's no wonder the Buckeyes told him not to attend the title parade.
Some interesting notes in the jim knowles interview with espn
— Official Ohio State DG (@DylanEveryday) May 6, 2025
- Knowles reached out to penn state 5 am , 29 hours after winning the title, not the penn state reaching out to him
- He’s complaining osu didnt give him a new contract before the Notre Dame game despite signing a… pic.twitter.com/YZvBd4G6gH
Jim Knowles was upset Ohio State didn't give him an extension before the national title game
Keep in mind that Knowles was given an extension last spring. With the way the Buckeyes performed in 2024, he was hoping for another payday, but couldn't the two sides have waited until after the season was wrapped up to take things to the next level there?
Yes, we understand that DCs were in high demand and that Knowles was looking out for himself. At the same time, his focus needed to be on the showdown with Ohio State. The fact that he called James Franklin at 5:09 AM just TWO days after that win over the Irish tells you where his head was at.
Things moved pretty darn quickly with the Nittany Lions, who put a $3.1 million per year offer on the table for him. Ohio State offered less money and it wasn't going to match what PSU did, which opened the door for Knowles to leave town.
Again, we can't overstate how infuriated Ohio State fans are that the main reason Knowles jumped ship was because no offer was made before the natty was on the line. He said he wouldn't have looked for other jobs had that not been the case, but we don't know what to believe.
What we do know is that Knowles is with Franklin and Day has brought in Matt Patricia to take over his defense. The two programs moved in different directions, but get your popcorn ready for what should be a blockbuster showdown come Nov. 1.