The silly side of Knowles has value to Cowboys
STILLWATER — A shirtless Tre Sterling moved out of the camera's frame and Jim Knowles' dry wit slid in.
“I decided not to go shirtless like Tre, but I am excited about the victory,” Knowles said in classic deadpan on the postgame Zoom conference after Oklahoma State's 24- 21 win over Iowa State last Saturday.
Knowles won't be appearing shirtless for any interviews soon, though he joked that maybe a Big 12 title could tempt him. And the next step toward that title comes Saturday when the No. 6 Cowboys host Texas at 3 p.m. at Boone Pickens Stadium.
The Cowboys' third-year defensive coordinator is mixed from a special recipe. Part football junkie, part mad scientist, part Ivy League brainiac, part sharp-witted jokester, part rap music lover. And all that, it seems, is only the top layer of what makes Jim Knowles.
“You see him on TV and you think he's a scary old man,” OSU defensive end Trace Ford said with a laugh, “but that's the complete opposite of what he is.”
Knowles is part entertainer,
too. He'll blast rap music — and sometimes dance to it — as players are entering the meeting room. His creativity keeps them engaged in his meetings.
“He's just a funny guy,” Ford said. “He's playing music loud — super- loud, and dancing. He's just a comical character. He's in there trying to make you laugh, trying to make everyone laugh.”
Knowles is as complex as the defensive scheme he has been working two decades to craft, but he keeps things simple in football and in life.
“He's just an optimistic person,” Sterling said. “He sees every bad situation and
turns it into a good situation, and a good situation, makes it even better. He just brings energy.”
His music choices aren't always familiar to his players, but they respect his motivation.
“It's stuff I don't even know the names of,” Ford said. “Just stuff I remember listening to in my dad's car when I was, like, 5.
“It's a party in there sometimes.”
When it comes to work, Knowles is hard- core. Sometimes his coaching style can be as old-school as his rap music of choice. But his fun side endears him to his players.
“Some days like (Wednesday), it's cold, it's rainy. No one really wants to be at practice,” Ford said “Then you come into the meeting and Coach Knowles is hyping us up and getting us encouraged. It makes you have a lot more energy for practice.
“He brings a lot of that into the day, just being optimistic.”
That's important for the team at this point, when the stress of the season is intensifying and the goals are growing closer.
The defense might be the linchpin of this Cowboy team, even with all the stars the offense brings to the table.
And equally so, Knowles silly side might be just as valuable as his fourth-quarter calls on third-and-4, even if less tangible.
“We'll get into practice and he's out there joking with us saying the same stuff we're saying, singing the same songs we're singing. We just find it funny. That leads to a good practice, good game good habits, stuff like that,” Sterling said.
“It's contagious, the energy he brings, and that's what you look for in a coordinator or really, a coach — just that contagious energy that they bring to lift everyone up.”