Penn State's James Franklin and Jim Knowles previously had discussed a job at Penn State. An early morning call two days after Ohio State's national championship began the process.

In the days after the Orange Bowl, Penn State’s players gathered on campus for a team meeting. At that point in January, they found out defensive coordinator Tom Allen was leaving for Clemson and that James Franklin would do his part to hire the best candidate he could.

Franklin had talked to Knowles in December 2021 shortly after defensive coordinator Brent Pry, one of his longtime assistants, left Penn State to become head coach at Virginia Tech. Knowles wound up going to Ohio State and the Lions ended up hiring Manny Diaz, who enjoyed two very successful seasons before he became head coach at Duke.

Jim Knowles landed at Penn State less than a week after helping Ohio State win the national championship. In those precious days following the College Football Playoff finale, the sought-after defensive coordinator had options from which to choose.