Jim Knowles salary: How much does the Ohio State DC earn with the Buckeyes?

Ohio State defensive coordinator Jim Knowles has been an important asset to the team since joining from Oklahoma State.

After four seasons with the Cowboys, the 58-year-old decided to join Ryan Day's coaching staff in 2022. Since then, he has gone on to rebuild the Buckeyes defense and made them a stronghold on the backline.

So, how much does Jim Knowles earn with Ohio State, and what are his contract details?

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Jim Knowles salary

When Knowles agreed to become Ohio State's defensive coordinator, he agreed a three-year deal that pays him an annual base salary of $1.96 million.

That makes him one of the highest-paid assistant coaches in college football. Moreover, he also received a signing bonus of $138,850 when he joined the Buckeyes ahead of the 2022 season.

Jim Knowles has the opportunity to earn bonuses, as per his contract details. If Ohio State becomes the Big 10 divisional champions, he will get 8.5% of his base salary. For winning the Big 10 title, it will be 4.25%.

If the Buckeyes make it to the CFP national championship game, he will earn 25.5% of his base salary as a bonus.

There are also other bonuses like CFP Bowl game appearance bonus, regular Bowl game appearance bonus among others. The program also paid him around $66,000 to pay out any amount left from his buyout clause with Oklahoma State before he joined the Buckeyes.

As per reports, Oklahoma State tried to retain Knowles with an offer of $1.3 million per year. But the 58-year-old decided to take up the Ohio State offer, as it looked like a better deal financially.

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Jim Knowles' coaching career

Knowles began his journey as an assistant coach for his alma mater Cornell in 1988.

He spent almost a decade with them before joining Western Michigan as their defensive lineman coach in 1997. He got promoted to defensive coordinator in 2001.

He spent one season as the linebackers coach with Ole Miss before returning as the head coach of Cornell from 2004-09.

Knowles subsequently joined Duke as their defensive coordinator ahead of the 2010 campaign before joining Oklahoma State in 2018. Four seasons later, he joined Ohio State and has been a part of their coaching staff since then.