Jeff Knowles came to Temple in 2019 to begin his 12th year of coaching and his first with the Owls. He has been named defensive coordinator and linebackers coach.He spent the previous two seasons on the defensive staff at Northern Illinois University where he was hired as the linebacker coach in 2017 and added defensive coordinator title in 2018.
That season the NIU defense ranked second in the country with a schoolrecord 50 sacks. They were also ranked third in the country with 2.7 rushing yards per carry and had the MAC’s best scoring defense with 20.6 points per game allowed. Knowles also helped back-to-back All-American defensive end Sutton Smith lead the FBS in sacks with 15 and was second in the country with 24.5 TFLs. Smith and LB Antonio Jones-Davis also received All-MAC honors for their work on Knowles’ defense.