During Ohio State’s run to the College Football Playoff national championship, speculation swirled around Oklahoma’s interest in poaching Buckeyes defensive coordinator Jim Knowles. However, as of Thursday morning, Knowles remains under contract with Ohio State. This fact was seemingly overlooked in a reaction video released by Oklahoma’s Rivals website, OU Insider, which prematurely responded to Knowles’ hiring—a move that hasn’t occurred yet.
In a post on the OU Insider message board and a subsequent OU Insider Live video, co-publisher Parker Thune revealed that the site had pre-recorded a reaction video in case Oklahoma hired the former Cornell head coach as its new defensive coordinator. Thune explained that the video unexpectedly went public due to a loophole in YouTube’s “unlisted” setting, which they had not previously recognized. “Yes, there was a video that was not supposed to see the light of day — at least not when it did,” Thune stated on OU Insider Live. “YouTube has a viewability loophole for unlisted videos that we have only now discovered.”
More Updates on Jim Knowles to Oklahoma tonight
– The video announcing Jim to OK that was deleted was a mistake. The 2 haven’t come to an agreement.
– OK feeling good about chances (60%-70% chance)
– OK maybe willing to offer Knowles upwards to $3m/yr.https://t.co/frDyezYeH9 pic.twitter.com/wBII4CrKDG
— Ohio State Football Recruiting (@OhioStateFBChat) January 23, 2025
Thune clarified that the 12-minute reaction video did not contain any “pertinent information” that had not already been shared with their subscribers. It was only presented under the misleading premise that Knowles’ hiring was official. He emphasized that Oklahoma has not hired Knowles, and highlighted the reality of covering college football, which requires a constant state of preparedness. “By hook or by crook, that video made its way into the public eye,” Thune remarked. “It shouldn’t have happened. Obviously, nothing was official at that time. Still nothing is official. But there was a video released that proclaimed that Jim Knowles was the next DC. It was just a video that we had prepared to drop in the event that that became public. Thankfully, it was only out there for a couple of minutes… obviously, should not have happened. That goes without saying. That will never happen again.”
On one hand, Thune is correct that preparing content for potential news events is a common practice in sports and media. While there is a distinction between writing a standard article on Knowles’ hiring and filming a reaction video to an event that hasn’t transpired yet, the reality is that preemptive content creation occurs frequently. Conversely, if content is produced ahead of time, it is crucial to ensure it remains unpublished until the news is confirmed. Unfortunately, OU Insider learned this lesson the hard way, but it is commendable that the site and its insiders chose to address the mistake directly.
