Vols fans will love the last thing new defensive coordinator Jim Knowles tells players before leaving the locker room on game day
The Tennessee Vols officially hired Jim Knowles as their new defensive coordinator this week.
The Tennessee Vols officially announced the hiring of Jim Knowles as the program’s new defensive coordinator on Thursday.
Knowles served as Penn State’s defensive coordinator in 2025. He was Ohio State’s defensive coordinator from 2022 to 2024 (the Vols saw Knowles’ defense up close in the College Football Playoff last season).
Vols fans will love the last thing Jim Knowles tells players before leaving the locker room on game day
Earlier this year, Knowles joined Next Up with Adam Breneman to discuss a variety of topics.
At one point during the conversation, Knowles mentioned that one of his core values is being accountable to the players when things go wrong on game day.
“Don’t point fingers,” said Knowles. “Accept the responsibility, if something goes wrong, to be able to stand in front of the players and say — because we all make those mistakes — ‘Hey, I didn’t teach you, right. They got me on this play. This is not your fault.’ You have to be able to accept responsibility if something goes wrong, and don’t try to hide from it.”
“The last thing I tell the guys before they leave the locker room for the game is [that] all of your mistakes are on me today,” said Knowles. “All of your good plays are on you, but all of your mistakes are on me. Because if you make a mistake, you [weren’t] trying to make a mistake. So either I didn’t have you prepared, or maybe you made that mistake during the week and I didn’t get it corrected well enough. When you get to game time, I think those guys have to just be able to play free — because not everything’s going to go right. They can’t be worried about looking over their shoulder. So I take responsibility for all of the mistakes on game day and I’m accountable for that. And I think that leads to a lot of trust.”
No football team is going to play to its potential unless they play free — that’s probably the biggest thing that holds some players back. Knowles understands that, and that’s why he uses a game day approach that allows players to play without worrying about making mistakes — because when you worry about making mistakes is usually when mistakes are made.
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