Since Notre Dame football lost Al Golden to the NFL, things have been relatively quiet on their replacement front. That is, things were quiet until Friday, when reports started circulating that the Irish were interested in Ohio State DC Jim Knowles.
Knowles is fresh off a National Championship game win over Notre Dame and is one of the hottest names on the coaching market. The Fighting Irish weren’t the only team rumored to be wanting to lure him to town, but they were one of the best.
Unfortunately for the Notre Dame football program, the Buckeyes seem to understand what they have in Knowles. On Saturday morning, a new report from the Columbus Dispatch said that OSU offered Knowles a contract to make him the highest-paid defensive coordinator in college football. Now the ball is in the sought-after defensive coach’s court.
Notre Dame football might need to look elsewhere for Al Golden replacement
For context, Michigan’s Wink Martindale was the highest-paid defensive coordinator in 2024, earning $2.5 million. His contract calls for him to make $2.75 million this year. Martindale has also reportedly been in the crosshairs of some schools and even some NFL teams, but for now, he’s sticking in Ann Arbor.
It’s not hard to see why Notre Dame, and other schools such as Penn State and Oklahoma came calling for Knowles and why the Buckeyes are doing everything they can to keep him. OSU had the top-ranked defense in college football in most significant categories, including points per game (12.2) and yardage allowed (251.1 per game).
Knowles previously said that he wasn’t even going to entertain requests to interview until after the National Championship parade. That’s come and gone and now things could move quickly. And all indications are that Notre Dame football will have to look elsewhere. Perhaps even in-house.