And our defense does not need one. The ultimate significance of this hire. Watch this.
Knowles is not a savior
- Thread starter Marylovesthelions
- Start date
I agree that Knowles is not our savior. But the Penn State boosters who are saying enough is enough are. Paying to bring back our players and hiring Jim Knowles are just the first of many steps. There is a lot of rumblings we are going to be very active in NIL moving forward as shown with how many players stayed. The sleeping Giant is awakening.
My concern is just that; people think he's a savior. Diaz was as good of a DC as I've seen. Allen was "acceptable" this year but I think he was a half step back from Diaz given the quality of PSU's talent on defense. We often got killed on the defensive first drive of the game and gave up a lot of points to teams like BG, Oregon, and USC.
But he makes a great point, as the managers of this site did as well. The hire is more about a declaration of intent. And that intent should bring more high-end kids via portal and recruitment. If you want to be in the playoff, PSU will be there and we'll be knocking on the Natty door. I also think he can bring an attitude that we haven't had. I've heard that the team was really impressed with Julian Fleming's work ethic as he brought a lot of tOSU's culture to PSU. I love AK but he hasn't been to a top flight Natty. Nobody on our staff has. This is the first time a guy in the inner circle can say "been there, done that".
But he makes a great point, as the managers of this site did as well. The hire is more about a declaration of intent. And that intent should bring more high-end kids via portal and recruitment. If you want to be in the playoff, PSU will be there and we'll be knocking on the Natty door. I also think he can bring an attitude that we haven't had. I've heard that the team was really impressed with Julian Fleming's work ethic as he brought a lot of tOSU's culture to PSU. I love AK but he hasn't been to a top flight Natty. Nobody on our staff has. This is the first time a guy in the inner circle can say "been there, done that".
Nobody is saying he is a savior. First off, the program doesn't need saving: It's now one of the top 4 programs in the nation. Proof: Just made the final four and should have beaten Notre Dame to be top 2. Only true team that was better last season was an Ohio State team that was probably their greatest team since 2002.
Second off, Knowles is widely, and correctly regarded as the very best defensive coordinator in the nation. You can not get a better one. Penn State now has not only the best defensive coordinator in the nation, but also has what is also regarded as one of the top 10 OFFENSIVE coordinators in the nation ALSO.
The hire has sent shock waves through college football and with it, Penn State not only pulled off a move that was thought impossible just a week ago, but made a quantum leap in terms of financial commitment to staying in the elite on a yearly basis, rather than a window basis, as Pate said.
It's amazing to me how many of you have a defeatist mentality about this program. This head coach took over what was a dead and gone program just ten years ago. It was murdered by sanctions in 2011, destroyed by a predator in Sandusky, financially ruined, committing suicide with a corrupt board of trustees that destroyed the Paterno legacy, sabotaged by its own athletic director Joyner, with a horrible hire of Bill O'Brien, who didn't give a single shit and didn't even recruit, leaving an unknown coach from freaking VANDERBILT to come in to State college in 2014 with an offensive line that was comically bad, with a famous game in which two offensive lineman are literally blocking each other in a play vs Northwestern. .
That was ten years ago. Almost nobody recovers from that. It took.SMU FORTY years and NIL to get back to even a winning team, most others never recover. We played games in which officials, OFFICIALS, told our players we were "lucky to even be playing" during games.
Ten years ago. Now here we are, back to elite status. Yes, we are finally elite. Elite means top..5. We made the final four. Absolutely NOBODY and NONE OF YOU, including me, ever thought this was possible again.
We hire a damn coach away from OHIO STATE, the best assistant coach in the nation, and all you clowns want to do is pee all over it.
Nobody is talking about saviors. The damn savior is God, because nobody could have even prayed for this program to be great again. Get lost.
Second off, Knowles is widely, and correctly regarded as the very best defensive coordinator in the nation. You can not get a better one. Penn State now has not only the best defensive coordinator in the nation, but also has what is also regarded as one of the top 10 OFFENSIVE coordinators in the nation ALSO.
The hire has sent shock waves through college football and with it, Penn State not only pulled off a move that was thought impossible just a week ago, but made a quantum leap in terms of financial commitment to staying in the elite on a yearly basis, rather than a window basis, as Pate said.
It's amazing to me how many of you have a defeatist mentality about this program. This head coach took over what was a dead and gone program just ten years ago. It was murdered by sanctions in 2011, destroyed by a predator in Sandusky, financially ruined, committing suicide with a corrupt board of trustees that destroyed the Paterno legacy, sabotaged by its own athletic director Joyner, with a horrible hire of Bill O'Brien, who didn't give a single shit and didn't even recruit, leaving an unknown coach from freaking VANDERBILT to come in to State college in 2014 with an offensive line that was comically bad, with a famous game in which two offensive lineman are literally blocking each other in a play vs Northwestern. .
That was ten years ago. Almost nobody recovers from that. It took.SMU FORTY years and NIL to get back to even a winning team, most others never recover. We played games in which officials, OFFICIALS, told our players we were "lucky to even be playing" during games.
Ten years ago. Now here we are, back to elite status. Yes, we are finally elite. Elite means top..5. We made the final four. Absolutely NOBODY and NONE OF YOU, including me, ever thought this was possible again.
We hire a damn coach away from OHIO STATE, the best assistant coach in the nation, and all you clowns want to do is pee all over it.
Nobody is talking about saviors. The damn savior is God, because nobody could have even prayed for this program to be great again. Get lost.
Pate makes exactly the right point. It's not about Knowles per se. It's about Penn State signaling that they're all in, they're signaling that they can raise enough money to compete at a higher level.
And the funny thing is, it's not really that much money. To hire any top-tier defensive coordinator they'd be paying close to $2 mil probably, so it's just an extra million a year to make a statement to college football that Penn State isn't satisfied being a perennial top 10 team, PSU isn't satisfied finishing in the top 5, PSU wants to really compete for No. 1.
And the funny thing is, it's not really that much money. To hire any top-tier defensive coordinator they'd be paying close to $2 mil probably, so it's just an extra million a year to make a statement to college football that Penn State isn't satisfied being a perennial top 10 team, PSU isn't satisfied finishing in the top 5, PSU wants to really compete for No. 1.
If we want to compete at the highest level on a regular basis , we need to recruit near the top five every year. 15 or 16 doesn’t get it done. Hopefully , having at least the perception of the top DC will bring in some of the top Defensive Players.
Notre Dame recruits at our level or worse. I believe our roster by way of stars stacked up with anyone in the playoffs save for OSU, Texas and Georgia. Some of these kids are overrated and bolster classes improperly. Some kids have significant potential and rather pedestrian ratings.
The portal has really changed things. The bottom half of recruiting classes will largely not be on the roster in a few years. Either these kids develop as they should and possibly exceed expectations or they’re looking to leave and PSU will upgrade. I don’t disagree that high school recruiting is critically important but I’m not going to get upset if a class lands around 10 or 12.
Last edited:
We are back to elite status? are you serious? So based on one season and the only season where JF finishes top five b/c he beat SMU and BSU? So, since you don't aggregate work over several years samples in this scenario (like perhaps beating OSU, which we haven't done since 2016, no B1G titles in nine years and zero natty's under JF), does that mean that UGA is no longer elite since they finished #6, and we ended up #5? LOL ok.
There is not a single coach on staff, especially JF, who would say they are elite, and certainly not most fans who have any kind of balance. The way we played, specifically Allar in the playoffs, who was an elite recruit at the most important position, was FAR from elite. Structurally, we have made elite moves -- our donors amping up NIL to bring back our core players, winning the $$ battle to keep AK and bringing in Knowles. We are trending upwards, but haven't proven anything to be elite, yet.
Last edited:
He may not be a savior but he is an extremely good defensive coordinator. Penn State is obviously not going away of Lincoln Riley and hiring bad defensive coordinator after bad defensive coordinator. Very interesting matchup coming up in the fall when Knowles will try to stop osu's receivers.
Kudos to Franklin and the program for filling an opening with a top assistant and getting him away from our top rival.
Can not see any downside to this. A win.
But this is not a top 4 program. However the move has the potential to HELP move the program from top 10/15 to top 5/10.
That said, results are key.
Somewhat analogous to what Churchill once said: ~Wars are not run by evacuations but by victories in the battlefield.
"It feels so aggressive"...thats all I wanted to hear..agree with what he is saying...this hire is a statement..the only other possible "hire" I think we could have made which would have an IMMEDIATE impact to our program..is if Hartline came over..now that would be..a real game changer...
An unknown coach from Vandy? My dude, Franklin was one of, if not THE hottest name in head coaches being considered as candidates in all of CFB during that hiring window.
Similar threads
