Kansas Football Coaching Search: A Tradition Unlike Any Other
Hello Friends, here we are again for our semiannual tradition of doing a KU football coaching search. I had high hopes for Les Miles (documented here) and man did I miss the boat as far as wins and losses. I did basically get the peripheral/program building things right, that Jeff Long and Les Miles would have the patience to build the roster from the ground up and develop the infrastructure. At some point this fall I’ll do an analysis of where the KU football roster stands (hint: VERY young). So if that’s disqualifying, you can stop reading here.
If you’re still on board or at least looking forward to how bad I mess this up, what follows is my ranking of coaches I would hire to be the next Head Coach of Kansas football. In the interest of full disclosure, I prioritize sitting head coaches, trajectory at current job, recruiting chops, financial viability, ties to the region, and scheme fit. Because of the unique timing in hiring a coach, it’s important that a new hire is able to pull together a staff quickly and hit the ground running. Incumbent head coaches certainly have a leg up. Next, trajectory is important. I’m not interested in candidates that clearly have peaked and are declining (I see you Chuck Weis). Weis was 35-27 at Notre Dame, but had a losing record over his last three seasons. This is why I left the oft-mentioned Willie Fritz off the list. Fritz has plateaued at Tulane, with six losses each of the last three seasons. Also there are some rumors he’s tired of chasing the KU job.
The other criteria are more qualitative. In the age of the 247 Composite and other services, we have more information on recruiting than ever. As such, these things are easy to track if you look in the right places. Coaches who can recruit their own footprint well or the traditional Kansas pipelines (Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana) ranked higher here. On the financial side of things, we all know Covid-19 has drastically impacted athletic department budgets. Kansas is no different. That coupled with potentially having to buy out the equivalent of maybe 1.5 coaching staffs makes it complicated. Coaches with reasonable buyouts and the financial viability to bring over a lot of their staff for a reasonable price scored better. Now, this doesn’t mean to go cheap. The David Beaty hire is a case study in how bad an idea that is. It means don’t be stupid and pay a steep buyout for a risky hire (see Gill, Turner).
Midwest/Kansas ties were also a consideration. It’s not to say we have to hire a “Kansas guy” per se, but someone who knows the lay of the land is attractive. It also lessens the risk of someone bolting at the first opportunity. This program needs stability. Finally, I looked at scheme. I love the triple option for service academies, not Power 5 teams. It’s unbelievably difficult to overhaul your roster to run the offense in the first place, then twice as hard to rebuild to run something else. It can really set you back. So I looked at coaches who had success doing a couple things: running the football and the ability to be multiple and adapt to personnel. Plus I got to watch a bunch of tape of teams I don’t see a lot of, so it was fun to see what new stuff is out there.
Without further adieu, my #1 choice is…
1. Lance Leipold: Head Coach, State University of New York - Buffalo
Age: 56
Record: 146-39 overall, 109-6(!) at UW-Whitewater, 37-33 at Buffalo
Contract: $624,000 salary, $600,000 buyout
Scheme: Spread to run. In watching some condensed games, Leipold’s offenses absolutely love running the football and will do so from a bunch of different formations, mostly in the shotgun and pistol family. The only time they’ll go under center is short yardage. Personnel wise, Leipold uses a bit of everything. On tape, I noticed heavy use of tight ends and multiple running backs. They absolutely destroy defenses with fairly simple inside and outside zone. Notably against Kent State (Jaret Patterson’s 8 TD game), Buffalo carved up Kent State on the outsize zone stretch and split zone plays. Buffalo runs a nifty buck sweep as well. Unsurprisingly, in the pass game they rely on play action and taking shots vertically down the field. His offense is very adaptable as well. In 2017, Buffalo led the MAC in passing offense. Leipold flipped the script in 2019, leading the Bulls the MAC’s top rushing attack. In 2020, the Bulls tied for fifth in the country at 7.3 yards per play and were third in the country in rushing at 287 per game. That’s decent.
Why KU should hire him: Leipold just wins. At UWW, he was the fastest coach in the history of the sport to get 100 wins. He won six national titles in eight years. Dude just gets the job done. He also has the only two bowl wins in Buffalo history, and the Bulls finished the season ranked in the AP poll for the first time in 2020. On the more intangible things, he’s a Midwesterner for life. Buffalo is the only job he’s had not in Nebraska or Wisconsin. He even spent some time as an assistant for Nebraska great Frank Solich (I bet that sounds good right now, huh?) Leipold has the reputation as a grinder and obsesses over the small details. His teams play smart football as well. All things the Jayhawks need. On the recruiting front, Leipold and his staff have been sniffing around the Kansas/Missouri area in recruiting and have offered several local players. Perhaps a preview of what’s to come?
Why KU shouldn’t hire him: Leipold is no spring chicken anymore at 56, and there’s a world where he loses the fire to rebuild the Jayhawk program. He’s also a Packers fan, so that’s not good in a region where you can’t even say the sky is pretty without a random Chiefs fan yelling “YEAH BUT MAHOMES!!” It’s actually pretty hard to find good reasons why Leipold shouldn’t be the next coach of the Jayhawks, hence his #1 ranking.
Chances he takes the job if offered: Quite high. Time is running out for him to land a Power 5 coaching job and KU has a lot of attractive features. Win two bowl games at KU and he gets a statue at Memorial Stadium.
2. Jeff Monken: Head Coach, Army
Age: 53
Record: 87-55 overall, 38-16 at Georgia Southern, 49-39 at Army
Contract: $930,000 salary, $0(!) buyout for the Kansas job
Scheme: Triple option from flexbone… for now. This is where things with Monken get really interesting. Both at Georgia Southern and Army, Monken (a Paul Johnson devotee) ran the flexbone triple option. (RANDOM ASIDE: it is one of my biggest pet peeves in football (other than the goal line fade) when commentators say Army runs the Wishbone. The flexbone and Wishbone are two entirely different formations!!) Anyway, Monken’s Army teams have never attempted more than 10 passes per game in a season. It truly is a one dimensional option attack. However, Monken has been telling anyone with two ears he would change things up dramatically at a Power 5 job. Monken has made some staffing moves over the years to bring in more coaches with spread/RPO backgrounds. Notably, Monken brought former Kansas Wesleyan (go Coyotes!!) Head Coach Matt Drinkall on staff. KWU was an offensive juggernaut under Drinkall, and they very much did not run the triple option. At his core, Monken believes in putting the defense in significant conflict. If the offense executes properly, the defense will always be wrong. It takes some outside the box thinking to win at Army, and we could use some of that in Lawrence. Coastal Carolina’s option heavy spread is a model Monken will certainly look to in developing his offense for the Big 12.
Why KU should hire him: Similar to Leipold, Monken just wins. After getting to three FCS Final Fours in four years, Monken took over a moribund Army program that only had one winning season this millennium. Since Monken took over in 2014, Army has four, including three bowl wins. Win three bowl games in seven seasons at KU and Monken gets a statue in front of Memorial Stadium (there’s a theme here). Army also finished ranked in 2018 for the first time since 1996, when your humble blogger was in kindergarten. Army is a unique job, and it’s hard to win there. Not only is it a service academy, it also has no conference affiliation which makes it difficult to recruit. You know what else makes it hard to recruit? It’s freaking WEST POINT. Monken is also a Midwesterner, with deep ties especially in Illinois. His cousin, Todd, is the Offensive Coordinator at Georgia. Maybe a family reunion is in the cards? He does have a spread background… As far as realistic coordinator hires, Monken certainly has an eye for defensive talent. His last DC, Jay Bateman, is a rising star in the coaching ranks. He’s currently Mack Brown’s right hand man at UNC. Monken’s current DC, Nate Woody, led the Black Knights to second in the country in total and scoring defense. Monken’s teams have always played tough, disciplined football, which would be a welcome sight on The Hill.
Why KU shouldn’t hire him: It’s definitely a gamble to hire an option coach at this level. Yes, Monken is screaming from the mountain top he wouldn’t run it in the P5. But it’s the only thing he’s run in his career. KU would have to bank on him making a very strong Offensive Coordinator hire to make it work. Recruiting is also a question. As I mentioned above, Army is a unique job and has an entirely different recruiting process from typical schools. However, Monken has all the traits you look for if you’re KU and would be a great hire.
Chances he takes the job if offered: Quite high. Monken was a finalist for the Illinois job and very much wants a P5 opportunity.
3. Dan Lanning: Defensive Coordinator, University of Georgia
Age: 35
Record: 0-0, no head coach experience
Contract: $1.75 million salary, unknown buyout. It Just Means More™
Scheme: Enough talk of offense! Ok, I’m actually an offensive guy but given Lanning has never coached offense above high school it’s impossible to say what type of coordinator he’d hire at Kansas. Lanning’s defensive scheme is much clearer. He’s coached under Todd Graham, Nick Saban, and Kirby Smart, all odd front (three defensive linemen) coaches. Graham has long been a 3-3-5 guy, with three linemen, three true linebackers, two LB/DB hybrids, two corners, and one safety. Saban and Smart are definitely more in the traditional 3-4 camp, but have increasingly used 3-3-5 type looks to stop modern, spread offenses. In the Big 12, which is full of them, it’s easy to see Lanning keeping with the odd front and speed in space. Georgia also has a robust blitz package every game. One of my favorite things Georgia does is the “Check Rain” blitz. Below we see the offense is in empty and defense is in a Nickel look, man coverage. The really nifty part of this is the interaction between the Strong Safety and Mike linebacker. One of them is blitzing, just nobody knows which until the play begins. First, the QB reads blitz and slides protection. The Mike and SS read the center, and whichever way he slides, the defender to that side pops out to cover the receiver on the hot route. The defender opposite to the protection blitzes. Pretty nifty way to outgap the offense and get a free rusher.
Why KU should hire him: Lanning is the most “green” on my list but wow does he have a lot going for him. He has an A+ pedigree, having worked under three of the best defensive minds you’ll find. Fun story about that: he really wanted to move up from high school to college coaching, so he pulled an all nighter and drove to Pittsburgh (only stopping to shower and change into a suit) to hand deliver a resume to Graham. Lanning has the reputation as a player’s coach and fiery personality. KU could use a bit of that after Les Miles’s Zen-like sideline demeanor. Lanning is also an absolute ace recruiter. He was recruiting coordinator at two stops (Arizona State and Memphis) and is Kirby Smart’s lead recruiter at UGA. As of this writing, he’s 247Sports’s #1 recruiter for the 2022 class, having landed commitments from two five star recruits, four four star recruits, and one three star. That’s two more five star recruits than Kansas has signed since services started keeping track of such things. So why, given his impressive rise, would Lanning be interested in lowly Kansas? Well, he’s a local! Born in KC, Lanning played linebacker at William Jewell, a small D2 (then NAIA) college in the metro. Before his infamous drive to Pittsburgh, Lanning was a high school coach in a KC suburb. What better story than local boy revives KU? That would also get him a statue in front of Memorial Stadium.
Why KU should not hire him: Experience. Lanning has never been a head coach at any level, and a rebuild like KU takes a special kind of skillset. Unlike Leipold and Monken, Lanning doesn’t have a record of doing more with less. It’s one thing to get players at Georgia with nearly unlimited resources, another entirely to get players to a middle of the road Big 12 program in terms of resources. It’s also unclear the type of staff Lanning could put together at this stage given he’s just a coordinator. I have no doubt he’d kill it in an interview, but it remains to be seen how he could execute.
Chances he’d take the job if offered: there are reports he’s interested, but it seems he’s not close to Leipold/Monken shout from the mountain tops.
4. Sean Lewis: Head Coach, Kent State University
Age: 35
Record: 12-17
Contract: $460,000 salary, $600,000 buyout
Scheme: Wowzer. Lewis is one of my favorite offensive coaches in the game. He’s heavily into analytics and finding every edge to put up points and yards. Kent State runs a relentless tempo, running 81 plays per game in 2020. That’s a lot. Not only do they run at a crazy tempo, they put up serious numbers. Kent State (yes, Kent State) led the country in yards per game and ranked third in points per play at 7.6 and ranked second in the country in rushing at 289 yards per game. Only two ahead of the Golden Flashes? BYU and Alabama. Now, to the specifics. If you remember Baylor under Art Biles (ON THE FIELD) they didn’t quite look like anyone else. Most spread offenses line up with inside receivers oriented to split the distance between the end man on the line of scrimmage and the outside receiver. Baylor went full send (as the youths say) and sent inside receivers out to about ¾ of the distance to the outside receiver (see below). This accomplishes a few things. First, good luck disguising pressure. The wide splits keep defensive backs honest and away from creeping toward the LOS. The next advantage is related; the offense gets a clean look at “the box” (the box between the tackles and closer than 5ish yards to the LOS) every play. If you have six defenders in the box, you’re outmanned in the pass game. If you have five, the offense has a hat for a hat in the run game. K-State fans will know how well Baylor ran the ball. From that, you can have a lethal run-pass option (RPO) game. The idea is you run the running play, and if the read defender comes down to stop the run, throw to the receiver in the vacated space. If he drops into coverage, hand the ball to the back like normal. Baylor (and later Kent) made a living running RPO’s off a safety which guarantees one-on-one matchup to the outside.
Why KU should hire him: On paper, Lewis is a really impressive candidate. At first glance, his record isn’t impressive. However, it becomes more impressive when you see Kent St.’s history and realize they have more zero or one win seasons (11) than winning seasons (nine). And Lewis has two of them. Lewis also has one of three sets of consecutive winning seasons in Kent history. Finally, Lewis has two of three bowl appearances in program history. This is not what you call a storied program. 12-17 is borderline miraculous there. Lewis has ties to the area as well as a former assistant at UNO. If we’re looking at past KU hires, they’ve had good luck with Kent State. One of the greatest ever to put the headset on in Lawrence, Glen Mason, was hired from Kent
State. Lewis has also heavily emphasized recruiting Ohio at Kent State, and a similar strategy in Kansas could pay dividends.
Why KU shouldn’t hire him: Experience. He’s only 35 and been at Kent State for three seasons. It’s unclear whether he’s up to a Big 12 rebuild, and this isn’t a hire KU can afford to screw up. Given the lack of experience, it’s also unclear what kind of staff he could put together on short notice.
Chances he’d take the job if offered: It seems unlikely. If he keeps it up at Kent, he’ll have better offers in November. Unlike Lanning, he doesn’t have ties to the area. I would likely have Lewis higher on my board if I had more confidence he’d take the job.
5. Jay Norvell: Head Coach, University of Nevada – Reno
Age: 58
Record: 25-22
Contract: $625,000 salary, $2.5 million buyout
Scheme: Norvell has a long history of coaching in Air Raid offenses. For the uninitiated, the Air Raid is a popular passing offense that relies fundamentally on simplicity; the fewer concepts our players need to learn, the better they can execute those concepts. In its many iterations since Hal Mumme’s in the late 1980’s, it has evolved almost beyond recognition. But whatever iteration, it relies on four main passing concepts: Mesh, Y Cross, Y Corner, and All Curl. Below you’ll find Mesh from Chris Hatcher back in Valdosta State’s glory days. At Nevada, Norvell has departed from the Mike Leach school of throw it every down and run a very balanced scheme even with Mumme’s son, Matt, as Offensive Coordinator. In 2020, Carson Strong completed 70% of his passes and threw 27 TD’s vs. only four interceptions on the way to a 7-2 season.
Why KU should hire him: Norvell has a long history of being an assistant coach at very good programs. He’s coached under Barry Alvarez at Wisconsin, Jim Mora in Indianapolis (NFL), and Bob Stoops at Oklahoma. Norvell called plays at Texas in 2015 after Charlie Strong (who lost to Kansas at football in 2016) removed Shawn Watson from playcalling duties. Norvell also has done a very good job at Nevada, from winning three games in his first year to a 7-2 record in 2020, including a bowl win, his second at Nevada. Two bowl wins in three seasons will also get you a statue in front of Memorial Stadium. If you can win at Reno, you can win about anywhere. It’s a very difficult job and really only one other coach (legendary Chris Ault) has had any success there. Unless you want to count Joseph Sheeketski’s 1947 Salad Bowl (yes, really) win. As the only black head coach on the list, it would be an advantage on the recruiting trail and in the press to hire Norvell. He would be the only black head coach in the Big 12 and the sixth in Big 6/8/12 history.
Why KU should not hire him: While it’s hard to win at Nevada, Norvell’s trajectory doesn’t scream home run like Leipold’s or Monken’s. The buyout is also much steeper, which likely means a smaller assistant salary pool. Since half the Big 12 runs some variant of the Air Raid, it might speed up the rebuild to zig while the rest of the league zags.
Chances he’d take the job if offered: High. Like others listed, Norvell very much wants an opportunity to run a P5 program, and has deep ties to Big 12 country.
6. Kevin Kane: Associate Head Coach/Outside Linebackers, University of Illinois
Age: 37
Record: 0-0, no head coach experience
Contract: Unavailable as of this writing
Scheme: To finish us out, we’ll go back to defense. Unlike current KU DC DJ Elliot, Kane is an even front (4 DL) coach. However, he’s willing to move to an odd front against aggressive spread teams. Behind that, SMU was pretty multiple. Kane likes personnel that can play multiple positions and do different things depending on matchups. Generally, they play with two LB’s, two corners, two safeties, and a hybrid LB/DB similar to a 4-2-5 look. Kane isn’t afraid to bring the heat either. In 2019 at SMU, the Mustangs led the country in sacks per game (4) and ranked third in tackles (TFL) for loss per game (8.5!). At Northern Illinois, Kane’s defense led the nation in TFL’s (9), second in sacks (3.3), fourth in defensive TD’s (5 total), and ranked seventh in yards per play (4.5).
Why KU should hire him: Kane clearly has the look of a future head coach. In KU’s position, it’ll be difficult to find a P5 head coach interested in the job. Kane may be the next best option. And if you’re a longtime Jayhawks fan, you’ll remember Kane starring at linebacker for the Jayhawks from 2002-2005 under Mark Mangino. He came back to Lawrence in 2015 for David Beaty’s first season as LB Coach. So… that ended poorly. Kane also is a KC native and graduated from Rockhurst High School in KC. That could be a boon to local recruiting for Kansas. If rumors are to be believed, he would target current Iowa State WR Coach Nate Scheelhaase (another Rockhurst alum) as his Offensive Coordinator. Scheelhaase is an ace recruiter in the KC region and likely wants the opportunity to coordinate his own offense. The Kane/Scheelhaase combination has one of the higher ceilings on the list. He would be an immediate fan favorite as well. We do need to sell tickets after all. And even pretty good seasons get him a statue in front of Memorial Stadium.
Why KU should not hire him: the lack of P5 experience is a big negative for Kane. Even though he has more Defensive Coordinator experience than Lanning, he hasn’t coached a game as a P5 coordinator. That’s a really tough obstacle to overcome and not a chance KU will likely take. It’s also far from a guarantee the Rockhurst dream team would come to pass. At this point in the calendar, what kind of staff could he put together? This would be one hire I would make in November, but not April.
Chances he’d take the job if offered: I think pretty high. The glow of Mt. Oread draws us all back. It truly is a special place! The opportunity to turn around the alma mater and bring back the mid 2000’s glory days has to be tempting.
So that’s the story! After nearly 4000 words, hopefully you’ve learned a thing or two other than I need a new hobby. And hopefully Liepold or another one of these fine gents takes us back to the promised land Let me know what you think! Tweet me @kyletabbott.