Inside Kansas football’s move to invest more in assistant coaches
LAWRENCE — Kansas football didn’t enjoy the same coaching staff continuity this offseason that it did a year ago.
This time, after the 2023 season, the Jayhawks saw three of their assistants depart — two to other college programs and one to the professional ranks. That led head coach Lance Leipold to bring in a few new faces, at least as it applies to Kansas. That’s not to say change has to be a negative, Leipold’s spoken well of those who left and those who arrived, it’s just reality.
But while the Jayhawks faced that reality this offseason, before they even started their spring ball practices Leipold made sure to note it wasn’t because their administration wasn’t prepared to keep the coaching staff in place. Without getting into specifics, during the press conference earlier this year that centered on his new contract, he mentioned Kansas put together packages that were equal to or better than what those three now-former assistants took elsewhere. The increase in the salary pool for the Jayhawks’ assistants, and support staff, wasn’t just for show.
“It’s an outstanding commitment by our administration, our university, the people here in the room that made that happen,” Leipold said then. “And it shows that this department and university are serious about our football program. But I think also, hand in hand, I think we’ve been able to see what it’s been able to do for our campus, our community, and different things as we move forward.”
When a program like Kansas has struggled to sustain success in recent years, and then undergoes a rebuild fueled by quick success, other teams are going to be interested in hiring from it. This coaching cycle saw Jordan Peterson head to Texas A&M and Andy Kotelnicki head to Penn State, while Scott Fuchs took a position in the NFL with the Tennessee Titans. But there are always more layers beneath a headline.
Leipold pointed to how Peterson, now the co-defensive coordinator/defensive backs coach at Texas A&M, returned to his alma mater. Kotelnicki, Penn State’s new offensive coordinator, had coached under Leipold for about a decade and — as Leipold explained it — thought he might be able to develop more while working with a different head coach. Leipold had also long known Fuchs, now an assistant offensive line coach in the NFL with Tennessee, wanted to work in the NFL.
Leipold, understandably, was disappointed that trio left because they aren’t around every day anymore. He described them as good friends, people he respects and very good coaches. In the end, Kansas continued to move forward and hired their replacements from a pool of candidates Leipold indicated were at a caliber he might not have heard from early in the Jayhawks’ rebuild.
Time will tell how much success Kansas has with Jeff Grimes (assistant head coach/offensive coordinator), D.K.
McDonald (co-defensive coordinator/ cornerbacks) and Daryl Agpalsa (offensive line) as assistants on the Jayhawks’ coaching staff. It’s unclear how the packages for this trio compare to what the aforementioned one could have earned, including base salary to start with $350,000 for Agpalsa, $500,000 for McDonald and $800,00 for Grimes — with Grimes’ increasing by $200,000 across the following two years. But they appear to be fitting in well so far.
Travis Goff, KU’s director of athletics, also highlighted prior to spring ball that his conversations on this topic with Leipold are done with the backdrop of ensuring Kansas can compete for championships. Leipold also mentioned that the process of bringing on a new assistant helps ensure he’s not complacent as a head coach. And while this necessitates the Jayhawks evaluating how they’ll approach recruiting, Leipold didn’t seem concerned.
“I felt this way when I went to Buffalo, and I still feel this way now,” said Leipold, who left Buffalo for Kansas ahead of the 2021 season. “You hire good people that are genuine, authentic, professional, they’re honest with the people when they talk to them, they follow up with the high school coaches — essentially doing it the right way.”
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.