COLUMBUS, Ohio — Former Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles broke his silence on his departure for Penn State, and his candid revelations about the pressure cooker atmosphere in Columbus stirred reaction from the Buckeye Talk podcast crew.

“Knowles said the 2024 season at Ohio State was the toughest environment he had ever been a part of,” Stephen Means read from Heather Dinich’s ESPN article. “There was finger pointing at the defense after the 32-31 Oct. 12 loss at Oregon, and it was a grueling, piercing time…”

Despite delivering Ohio State’s first national championship since 2014 and building the nation’s top defense, Knowles described an environment of intense scrutiny and pressure that wore on him.

The Buckeye Talk hosts unpacked these comments, with Stefan Krajisnik focusing particularly on Knowles’ mention of “finger-pointing” after the Oregon loss.

“It sounds to me like when the Oregon game happened, and we knew this in real time, Ryan Day stepped in and started working more with the defense,” Krajisnik analyzed. “And when Knowles left, the reports have surfaced that Knowles wasn’t too happy with some of that stuff… He’s not talking about like fans pointing fingers. He’s talking about inside the doors.”

Andrew Gillis added: “I’m wondering if the pressure cooker on the outside, if you can deal with it if it’s not hot inside, right? Like if, if you’re dealing with the smoke outside and then all of a sudden you go inside… these are people that you work with.”

Means pointed out a pattern where the relentless pressure makes Ohio State a difficult place for long-term coaching success.

“I don’t think Ohio State is a job for the long term. I think you eventually burn out if you’re not completely 100% sold and built for it.”

The timing of Knowles’ extension requests also raised eyebrows. Krajisnik noted the odd urgency: “There was a weird… urgency to get a contract extension, but it just came at a weird time. Like, he wanted the extension done before the championship game, which, like, all of Ohio State’s coaches were about to get raises and extensions if they won a national championship.”

The greatest test of this revelatory insight comes Nov. 1, when Knowles returns to Ohio Stadium wearing Penn State colors, thrust back into the cauldron he just described as the “toughest environment he had ever been a part of.”

Here’s the podcast for this week: