Tennessee Volunteers' defensive staff just got a familiar face. A coach who spent time at Michigan Wolverines under the previous regime has made his way to Knoxville to work under Jim Knowles, one of the most respected defensive minds in college football.

On3's Pete Nakos broke the news on X on July 5.

"Former Michigan assistant QB coach Josh Sinagoga has joined the Tennessee staff as a defensive assistant, sources tell On3," he reported.

Sinagoga hasn't always been on the defensive side. His whole coaching career up to now has been working with quarterbacks and receivers. Youngstown State from 2020 to 2023, then at Michigan in 2023 as an offensive analyst.

This past spring, he went back to De La Salle Collegiate in Michigan, the high school he played at, taking on an assistant head coach role there. Now he's in Knoxville working defense. That's a real shift.

The guy running that defense is Knowles. He got to Tennessee in December after building the best scoring defense in the country at Ohio State in 2024, just 12.9 points per game on the way to a national title.

Tennessee brought him in because their defense gave up 28.8 points a game in 2025 and ranked 92nd in the country. Head coach Josh Heupel didn't hide how much he wanted him.

"Hiring Jim Knowles was our top priority from the start of this process," Heupel said. "Jim has a proven track record of developing elite defenses that play with an edge."

Sinagoga walks in as the defensive staff is still being assembled from the ground up. For a young coach looking to expand his experience, working under Knowles is as good a classroom as any in college football right now.

Jim Knowles has a track record of building elite defenses that only get better with time

Knowles doesn't tend to hit the ground running. His defenses typically take a year to adjust before making a significant jump in year two and becoming elite by year three.

Knowles rarely hits year one and dominates. Oklahoma State took time; Ohio State took time. But by year three at Ohio State, his defense was first in the country in both scoring and total defense.

After joining Oklahoma State ahead of the 2018 season, Knowles inherited a defense that ranked 112th nationally, giving up 452.5 yards per game.

Over the next four years, he transformed the unit into one of the nation's best, with the Cowboys finishing fourth in total defense (297.9 yards allowed per game) and fifth in run defense (87.6 rushing yards allowed per game) in 2021.

Tennessee signed him to three years and $6.6 million, banking on that same arc, according to PFSN. Sinagoga's early arrival may work to his advantage if Knowles continues to develop players the way he has at previous stops.

Do you think Jim Knowles can fix Tennessee's defense in 2026? Let us know in the comments.

Read more at Michigan Football Community.

Written by

Farheen Fathima

Edited by

Soheli Tarafdar