Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Offensive Coordinator Andy Kotelnicki To Penn State + Zebrowski & Peterson Promoted

Starting point is 00:00:00 On this bonus Locked On Jayhawks, Andy Kodelnicki, KU football offensive coordinator, has taken the job at Penn State, according to Bruce Feldman. Where does KU go from here? And some other coaching news for KU with Jim Zabrowski and Jordan Peterson. You are Locked On Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks. Part of the Locked On Podcast Network, your team every day. I'm Derek Johnson. You can hear me as well Monday through Friday from 3 to 6 p.m.

Starting point is 00:00:40 on KLWN Lawrence with Rock Chalk Sports Talk. Thanks for making Locked On Jayhawks your first listen every day. We are free and available anywhere you get your podcasts. Like and subscribe to us on our YouTube page. And on today's bonus episode of Locked on Jayhawks, we are talking the breaking news. According to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, Andy Kodelnicki, KU football offensive coordinator, is leaving for the same position, offensive coordinator at Penn State.

Starting point is 00:01:01 There was some other KU football coaching news too. Jim Zebrowski, the quarterback's coach, has been promoted to co-offensive coordinator. Jordan Peterson, the defensive backs coach, has been promoted to co-defensive coordinator. So a lot going on here. Let's start with the Andy Kotelnicki stuff on this episode of the show. So he's going to Penn State. First of all, good for him. He has, I guess, he has wants to be a head coach future. He had some head coaching offers last year at Kansas, didn't take them. Now, I don't know to what level. Were they FCS offers?

Starting point is 00:01:30 Were they a group of five offers? Does he want to get a power five head coaching offer? And if he can go to Penn State and help that offense, which has been stuck in the mud a little bit here, into being a much better offense and a team that, therefore, if they have the much better offense gets over the hump and beats one of Michigan or Ohio State or goes 11 and one or wins a big 12 title or makes a playoff appearance or something big that they haven't been to here

Starting point is 00:01:54 lately gets them over that hump he will get a better chance at a power five head coaching job than right now Kansas maybe he would have to look more at, you know, group of five head coaching jobs right now. So, you know, good for him. He gets that opportunity. It is a risk on his standpoint because James Franklin has had what six offensive coordinators, I think in 10 years. And if James Franklin, if they go seven and five, eight and four, he's one, I mean, people are talking hot seat at 10 and two. So he's one eight and four season away, which is what Kansas is this year from cleaning house and there being a new coaching staff there and that's the risk you have to take but he has again wants to be a head coach and this is a move to go that way certainly for

Starting point is 00:02:36 KU it's a loss Andy Kotelnicki very bright mind one of the best offensive coordinators in the country he's creative he does so many different motions and shifts and different formations and different packages, using players in a personnel way that it is such a balanced offense. He has been such a great coordinator. And regardless of the coordinators been in there, KU has had so much success on the offensive side of the football. So it is without a doubt, a big loss for KU football. That said, when you become a good football program, which is what Kansas is striving to and I think kind of has come up to, right? Your back-to-back bowl games, you're 8-4, you have a really good coach in Lance Leipold.

Starting point is 00:03:17 It is inevitable that you are going to lose assistance to other jobs at some point in time. And so whether it was last year, I mean, Andy Kotelnicki had head coaching job offers last year. He might've had other head coaching job offers this year or other offensive coordinator jobs this year. Even if he did stay another year at Kansas, he probably would have had other coaching opportunities around for next year. And so when you look at it, realistically, Andy Kotelnicki was not going to be on staff forever. He was going to take another job at some point in time. And that is what happens when you're a good programs. Look at Nick Saban. He has to deal with hiring and rehiring or whatever with offense coordinators,

Starting point is 00:03:53 defensive coordinators, staff members all the time. The key when you are building a program and you're a good head coach is to have good replacements, either waiting in the wings with analysts or other position group coaches that you have uh having that you know consistency with those other coaches you've had and or hiring from elsewhere and that's been something that Lance Leipold has done such a great job of cultivating coaching talent and having uh those same coaches in the building for so long that you feel like okay if you trust the head coach and Lance Leipold you think he's a good coach which I do one of the okay, if you trust the head coach in Lance Leipold, you think he's a good coach, which I do. One of the biggest jobs of being a good head coach is being a CEO and is being the guy who has to hire those other positions. So I have trust in

Starting point is 00:04:35 Lance Leipold here. I think you should too. The other key here is the lesson, the blow and hope you don't lose a ton of guys all at once. It's one thing when you lose one of your coordinators or, and maybe one of your position coaches in a given year. It sucks when you lose both coordinators and another position coach. And so Kotelmicki was probably going to leave Kansas at some point. Again, if you wanted to be a head coach, that was going to happen at some point in time. Maybe it was in a year. Maybe it was next year.

Starting point is 00:04:59 Maybe it was in two. Whatever. It stinks. And if it leaves the players entering the transfer portal, if it leads to more players on the offense, maybe deciding not to come back to KU next year, that would really stink. That would be the worst part of all of this. But if you do believe in Lance Leipold, like I do as the head coach, these are the things that they figure out. And knowing that top programs lose coordinators all the time and overcome it, and that I think Jim Zabrowski and Jordan Peterson are going to be helpful

Starting point is 00:05:25 coaches for you in this program. I think it should give you some comfort and should make you feel better, especially with the Jordan Peterson retention, which we'll get to coming up here in a moment. First, I want to get to the Jim Zabrowski stuff. This episode of the show though, is brought to you by eBay motors. Passion drive and patience. What brings home the winning trophy is also what keeps your ride or

Starting point is 00:05:47 die alive ebay motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to peak performance from superchargers roof racks exhaust kits led headlights and more whether you're into speed power or style ebay motors has got you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die, you'll always find exactly what you're looking for. And with eBay Guaranteed Fit, your part is guaranteed to fit your ride every time or your money back. Because with eBay Motors, you're burning

Starting point is 00:06:13 rubber, not cash. With all the parts you need at the prices you want, it's easy to turn your car into the MVP and bring home that win. Keep your ride or die alive at ebaymotors.com. Eligible items only. Exclusions apply. eBay Guaranteed Fit. ebaymotors.com. Eligible items only, exclusions apply. eBay guaranteed fit only available to U.S. customers. So I'll say this. I've seen some questions already from people. What is Andy Kornick? Maybe it has some sort of reverberation

Starting point is 00:06:39 on the current players, whether they're deciding to enter the portal or, I don't know, go pro or anything like that. it absolutely could. I do think Jim Zabrowski is well-liked. And I'll say this from a recruiting standpoint. Like, you look at the guys they have in tow for the class of 2024, a majority of them are Jordan Peterson or, you know, some of the other staffers to where I don't think it's going to be that big of a deal there. We've even seen a couple players come out who are committed in the 2024 class, the 2025 class, and be excited about Zabrowski or Peterson getting kind of upgraded with their job. So I think that's a good sign that they're well-liked and everything like that. Now, as far as Zabrowski, promoted to co-offensive coordinator, he was the quarterback's coach for Kansas. Now, he was also the offensive coordinator for Lance Leipold at Wisconsin Whitewater. I think

Starting point is 00:07:23 it was from 2007 to 2009. They won a couple of D3 national championships with him as the offensive coordinator. And then he took a job as, I think it was the QB's coach at Northern Illinois, coached Chandler Harnish. I think he coached Jordan Lynch when he was, I guess, a fringe Heisman candidate for Northern Illinois. Ends up working around and goes to Minnesota

Starting point is 00:07:42 and some of these other schools as a QB coach. Comes back, reunites with Lance Leipold when Kotelnicki, when I guess Leipold takes over Buffalo, hires Kotelnicki as offense coordinator, Zabrowski becomes the QB coach, and he's stuck with him kind of ever since then. So he has familiarity with Kotelnicki, with the offense, with Lance Leipold. You should feel good about the continuity that he brings to the table, and I trust what Jim Zabrowski is going to be able to do for you. Now, the one weird part about this is co-offensive coordinator because Kodelnicki's leaving. We haven't actually, you know, I guess theoretically, I think this is just a tying up a loose end type of thing. Like technically he's the co-offensive coordinator.

Starting point is 00:08:18 The Bruce Feldman report about Andy Kodelnicki leaving, I believe that to be true in everything, but there always has to be, you know, dotted I's and cross T's in the contracts until everything becomes super official. So until everything becomes super official, he's probably co-offensive coordinator. And then once Kotelnicki's gone for good, maybe he's full-time offensive coordinator, or maybe they're leaving open the door to say,

Starting point is 00:08:39 we're going to, you know, promote an analyst or we're going to hire somebody else to be co-offensive coordinator with you and that you're just going to take over the duties for the bowl game. I will say, for the bowl game, I hope that Zebrowski is the offensive coordinator for the bowl game and not Andy Kotelnicki. I don't think Penn State wants Kotelnicki coaching KU for the bowl game anyway.

Starting point is 00:08:58 They probably want him on staff and getting started on recruiting and everything. But, you know, this is a perfect kind of trial run, test run in the bowl game, which is kind of your cherry on top game, your reward game at the end of the season for him to, you know, work on being the offensive play caller and get some of those reps in game and see for us what the offense is going to look like. How different is it going to be? Is it going to be different at all with Zabrowski at the helm?

Starting point is 00:09:21 So I hope we get Zabrowski calling the plays for the bowl game. As far as the Jordan Peterson one, he is promoted to co-defensive coordinator. This is a very big deal. What I said about if you can, you're going to lose assistants at some point when you're a good program because other schools are going to want to hire them for bigger positions. But the big key, can you avoid losing a bunch of them, multiple of them at once? Keeping Jordan Peterson to that notion is huge. He has a big recruiting footprint. He's the guy who's the primary on the Arizona kids, including Deshaun Warner, the defensive end, who's one of those three desert edge kids. And now he has like offers from Michigan and Ohio State.

Starting point is 00:09:59 And so far he's stayed true with Kansas. I mean, he's huge there. He's huge on some other players across the country. And he's been one of their top recruiters so far. Current players seem to love him, like Mello Dotson, Kobe Bryant seem to love this guy. He's an up-and-comer as a defensive coordinator as well. So this was a big retaining. And I actually think that you could argue of all the news today, Kodelnicki going to Penn State, Zabrowski being bumped up to Co-OC and Peterson promoted to co-DC, you could argue the Peterson one,

Starting point is 00:10:28 even though it's not the biggest national news, is actually the most important for KU. I want to talk about why in just a moment. This episode of Locked on Jayhawks is brought to you by PrizePix, which is the most fun you can have winning up to 25 times your money this football season. You select two or more players, pick more or less on their projected stats, place your entry. You

Starting point is 00:10:49 can get in on some of the Big 12 or other college football playoff or college football conference championships this weekend. You know, maybe you don't have a rooting interest, but you can be like Bo Nix, more passing yards, Michael Penix, more passing yards. You can pick two, you can pick up to six and increase your odds the further that you go. PrizePix now offers Apple Pay for quick and easy deposits into your account this football season. They have more than football. They have college basketball, so you can do KU-UConn stuff.

Starting point is 00:11:15 They have NBA, NFL, everything that you want. Go to prizepix.com slash lockedoncollege and use code lockedoncollege for a first deposit match up to $100. That's prizepix.com slash LOCKEDONCOLLEGE with code LOCKEDONCOLLEGE for a first deposit match up to $100. PrizePix, daily fantasy sports made easy. Finishing things up with this bonus episode of Locked on Jayhawks. You know, the Andy Kohn-Lickey move is the biggest and headline-wise it is the biggest,

Starting point is 00:11:44 national-wise it is the biggest. National-wise, it is the biggest. But here's why I think the Jordan Peterson one actually is the most important news for KU. Like I said with Kotelnicki, you were probably going to lose him in the next year or two anyway because he wants to be a head coach somewhere else. It was untenable to think that he was just going to stay as your offensive coordinator forever under Lance Leipold. Now, ideally, would he have stayed for another year next year and had another year with Jalen Daniels? Sure. But eventually you're going to have to rip that bandaid off. The Peterson news to me is so important. And you look at the offense,

Starting point is 00:12:12 if everybody comes back, which I guess is a question now with your offense coordinator leaving, right? Do any players go with him to Penn State? Do any players transfer? But theoretically you can have so many good players, including Jalen Daniels and receivers, although will remain to be seen there, and some of the running backs and stuff in the offensive line. You can have a lot of good players in place. You have the familiarity of Jim Zabrowski. The offense can still be really good next year for Kansas.

Starting point is 00:12:35 When you look at Jordan Peterson, this was such big news because Peterson has his fingerprints all over this great 2024 recruiting class for Kansas. And when I look at Sean Warner, I legitimately look at a defensive end who can come in and eventually in his KU career be a first team all big 12 defensive end. I mean, he's gotten offers lately. He's been rising on ranks with Ohio State and Michigan and some of these schools. There was some talk that Jordan Peterson could get a defensive coordinator job elsewhere.

Starting point is 00:13:03 I mean, he was the fill-in DC for Brian Borland in the first game that he missed in the season. There was talk that Texas A&M, who's building out their staff, he's a Texas A&M alum, that they could be calling his way. So to keep him, keep some of those recruits in tow, gives you a great recruiter. And he is an up-and-coming defensive coordinator, too. Like, I don't know if Brian Borland has intentions of maybe retiring soon he's obviously older than peterson and maybe peterson can be your future dc we'll see but also the current guys love him which has to increase your chance of guys maybe staying whether it's from pro decisions or the transfer portal like mellow dotson seems to love him kobe bryant seems to love him so that is a bonus that you're getting out of all of this and

Starting point is 00:13:43 so overall losing kodelnicki is a hit on offense but leipold is a good coach you're getting out of all of this. And so overall losing Kotelnicki is a hit on offense, but Leipold is a good coach. And this is what you deal with when you are a good coach and a good program in college football, the more important piece will be not losing these key players to the transfer portal, which we will see how that has an effect moving forward. But you know, sad news. You wish Andy Kotelnicki well,

Starting point is 00:14:02 but also some good news with Peterson and Zabrowski on the other end of this too. All right, we'll have plenty more to talk about with KU football and see the reverberations and the ripple effects of this coming up. We'll have that all for you on Locked on Jayhawks, anywhere you hear podcasts, and on our YouTube page. See you next time with LOJ. We'll have a KU UConn preview tomorrow.

Your Ad Here

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - Kansas Jayhawks Offensive Coordinator Andy Kotelnicki To Penn State + Zebrowski & Peterson Promoted

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.