OFFICIAL: Knowles hired as DC

#111
#111
FlyFishnVol said:
This is a high-tier coach; the stat I would like to see improve is 3rd-down defense. I have felt this stat indicates a defense's performance overall.
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Unfortunately PSU was even worse than us this year on 3rd down. Even 2024 OSU was worse than us (granted we were 7th, they were 34th). BUT he had some great years at Ok St in this area too (1st and 3rd last 2 years after beginning 67th and 55th).

Jancek was an amazing 3rd down DC. Too bad the personal stuff.

Shoop was a total and complete bust otoh. Pruitt didn't have very good defenses either, despite his pedigree (with tons of talent at Bama).

I'll trust Heupel on this one. Ready to give the DC 3 years to get us back to 16-22 ppg where Banks had us before the down year. I'm ready to be patient, the opposite hasn't helped and Heupel is the best thing to happen to UT football is 30 years.
 
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#112
#112
I think it's a good hire. Possibly a great one. Time will tell.

One thing that I think helped bring him here is that Coach Heupel is probably going to hand him the keys to the defense, and not interfere. Good move, IMO.

Coach Knowles is 60. He's set in his ways. But he's good at what he does. Hopefully he'll pass on those years of experience and wisdom to our next DC.

Apparently his system is a bit complicated, and takes a year or so to master. UT may not have OSU-level talent, but it has SEC-level talent. So I'll give him a pass in '26, for the most part. Another 90+ defense will not suffice, but Top 50 will. Come '27, let's see what he can do. He has a 3-year contract at 2.2M/yr. That's serious money for a DC. My guess would be that AD White tossed a few performance-based incentives in the bucket for Coach Knowles to grab, if he can.

So...UT has made the most obvious and necessary move to challenge for SEC and CFP championships. Next up is S&C. Let's see what they do there.

Go Vols.
 
#114
#114
Devo182 said:
Unfortunately PSU was even worse than us this year on 3rd down. Even 2024 OSU was worse than us (granted we were 7th, they were 34th). BUT he had some great years at Ok St in this area too (1st and 3rd last 2 years after beginning 67th and 55th).

Jancek was an amazing 3rd down DC. Too bad the personal stuff.

Shoop was a total and complete bust otoh. Pruitt didn't have very good defenses either, despite his pedigree (with tons of talent at Bama).

I'll trust Heupel on this one. Ready to give the DC 3 years to get us back to 16-22 ppg where Banks had us before the down year. I'm ready to be patient, the opposite hasn't helped and Heupel is the best thing to happen to UT football is 30 years.
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Thank you
 
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