It's been a wild 24 hours for Ohio State football fans. On Sunday, everyone was supposed to just sit back and enjoy the group's parade after winning the National Championship Game last Monday. Instead, a bombshell report dropped that Jim Knowles was leaving for Penn State.
What? On Monday morning, Penn State made things official, announcing the hire on social media. Buckeyes supporters everywhere remain quite upset with Knowles, especially after word dropped that he ghosted OSU, skipped the parade and didn't inform his players. Again, what?
Fast forward to today, however, and Brett McMurphy's sources are telling him that Ohio State asked Knowles to not attend Sunday's celebration as he mulled over his decision. Ohio State is getting dragged for the call, while fans are claiming Ryan Day wouldn't do this. Who should we believe?
Ohio State DC Jim Knowles was asked by school not to attend Buckeyes’ national title celebration while he deliberated his options, source said. Knowles’ representation tried to reach deal w/OSU week before title game & immediately after, but eventual offer was “well below” the…
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) January 27, 2025
Jim Knowles was reportedly asked not to attend the Ohio State football parade
McMurphy added that there was no 'ghosting' involved, with Knowles' reps trying to get a new contract done with the Buckeyes. Instead of that happening, Penn State and James Franklin put a deal worth more than $3 million per season on the table, which the veteran DC ended up accepting.
With Knowles set to make that amount of dough, it has made history as the richest contract for a coordinator in college football history. Penn State was reportedly paying Tom Allen around $1.5 million to be its DC in 2024, so the program has gone ahead and doubled things to poach Knowles from Columbus.
As for Ohio State and Day, the program is now in need of a new leader for the defensive side of the ball. Knowles made a big impact for this squad in recent campaigns, of course highlighted by the natty this winter. However, his exit has put a bit of a proverbial black eye on his legacy with the team, as no one wanted to see him bolt for a different locker room, especially not the one of a Big Ten rival.