In 1893, Knipe scored a touchdown for the Penn Quakers in a game against a Walter Camp-coached Yale team.

[1] Some sources attribute the famous touchdown to fellow Penn halfback Winchester Osgood, not Knipe.

The 1894 Penn squad featured a very talented backfield that consisted of Carl S. Williams at quarterback, George H. Brooke at fullback and Winchester Osgood and Knipe at halfback.

"[5] Knipe then served for two years as an assistant coach under Woodruff at Penn while earning his degree in medicine.

The University of Iowa offered him fifty dollars a month to coach the Hawkeye football team in 1898.

School officials hired Edwin A. Dalton of Princeton University for ten days prior to the 1892 season to assemble and organize the team, making him Iowa's first head football coach.

Emergency fundraising allowed the team to be financed and recognized, but Iowa decided not to hire a head coach in 1895.

School officials hired Alfred E. Bull of the University of Pennsylvania to coach the 1896 squad.

Bull's success led school officials to hire more coaches from the University of Pennsylvania, including Otto Wagonhurst in 1897 and Knipe in 1898.

Knipe simply started younger players, including Clyde Williams and Joe Warner.

Before the 1899 football season, Knipe, an accomplished singer and director of Iowa's glee club, sang in a school production of the operetta The Mikado.

After a season opening win over Northern Iowa in 1899, the Hawkeyes turned their attention to heavily favored Chicago, coached by Amos Alonzo Stagg.

Before the 1900 season, the University of Iowa appointed Knipe to a position titled "Director of Physical Culture".

Nine starters from Iowa's undefeated 1899 team returned for the 1900 season, including Williams, Warner, Edson, John G. Griffith, Ray "Buck" Morton, and Morey Eby, captain of the 1899 squad.

After a scoreless first half, the Hawks scored two quick touchdowns early in the second period and Iowa won, 17–0.

The Hawkeyes led 28–0 before Michigan managed a field goal to prevent the shutout, the first points scored on Iowa in 1900.

Only three starters returned in 1901, but arguably Iowa's best player, Clyde Williams, was one of them and was named team captain.

The Hawkeyes won their first three games of the season before preparing to play fellow 1900 conference champion, Minnesota.

While in college at Penn he had been a member of the prestigious Delta Psi fraternity, AKA St. Anthony Hall.