Anonymous Coaches 🤫 Explain KU's Offensive Struggles

• 🏈 Anonymous Coaches Talk KU’s Offense

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Anonymous Coaches Talk KU’s Offense.

This is part one of a two-part series on KU’s offense. Today, two anonymous offensive college football coaches shared their thoughts on the Jayhawks. Tomorrow, I’ll take a look at in-game adjustments.

Lance Leipold called a team meeting the day Kansas hired Jeff Grimes. He proudly delivered a message to his players: “We’re not changing our offense.”

Leipold reiterated this commitment on Monday, his earlier pride giving way to evident frustration during a tense, seven-minute press conference.

He’s not making changes.

The presser is worth watching.

It’s impossible to watch KU this season and not wonder: What happened to one of the best offenses in college football?

To better understand, I spoke with two active offensive college football coaches who have a combined ~30 years of experience in FBS (D-I Football). They helped explain some of the less apparent challenges KU may be facing.

The Illusion of Sameness: Why the Same Offense Looks Different

Jeff Grimes, Lance Leipold, and former offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki all have backgrounds in the "wide zone" offensive philosophy.

The "wide zone" offense is a running scheme that stretches the defense horizontally to the side with more blockers than defenders. By moving the offensive line laterally, it creates running lanes for the RB to read and exploit, often leading to big plays if executed well.

Despite this shared foundation, one coach explained that every coordinator is going to apply the concepts differently in live action:

“You could take three coordinators from the same coaching tree, the same system, the same plays — and all three offenses would look different on tape.”

Grimes is recognized as a coach with a well-defined identity—a 'system guy,' as we might say — with a reputation as a good football coach.

In contrast, Kotelnicki was praised for his adaptability. One of the coaches said Kotelnicki’s best asset was his ability to use the playbook to create confusion, which led to easy plays.

Speaking to the two coaches helped explain why KU’s concepts seem familiar but lack the explosive results we’re used to seeing. Grimes is using his “system” but may be struggling to create the same confusion on the defense.

Understanding how Kotelnicki tweaked the offense may shed light on the offense’s current challenges.

Kotelnicki's Adaptive Approach at Kansas

Both coaches highlighted Kotelnicki's innovative methods:

“Kotelnicki completely reinvented himself offensively to fit what talent he had at KU.”

Kotelnicki's strategies included:

• Learning from Option Coaches: When he first got to Kansas, Kotelnicki met with coaches from schools that run the option to learn technical, option football.

• Integrating Systems: He blended the option offense into the "wide zone" philosophy, creating a hybrid that maximized the team's strengths.

• Creating Defensive Confusion: As mentioned, Kotelnicki’s use of pre-snap shifts and motions kept defenses guessing and led to explosive plays.

Of course, Leipold should get credit for this approach as well. Kotelnicki wasn’t doing this on his own.

One of the coaches emphasized:

“KU’s ability to run option was the hallmark of what made them different from any of the other teams in the conference.”

“To win at a school like Kansas, you’d have to be a bit of an outlier. You don’t have to be a total contrarian, but you have to sit there and ask, ‘What are teams not used to facing every single week?’”

And right now, that’s not happening.

Challenges Facing the Current Offense

The departure from Kotelnicki's adaptive style appears to have exposed several issues:

• Predictability: Without creative adaptations, defenses can anticipate KU’s plays more easily.

  • KU’s offense is in the 62nd percentile in explosive play percentage this year. Last year, it was in the 96th percentile.

• Depth Concerns: One coach observed, “Taking everybody’s best shot can wear a team down—and Kansas doesn’t have the depth to handle that right now.”

• Recruiting Rankings: KU's 2022 and 2023 recruiting classes were ranked No. 117 and No. 73, respectively, affecting overall talent and… depth (see above).

• Late-Game Struggles: The team has been outscored 28-0 in the last five minutes of games, indicating fatigue (again, depth) and possibly a lack of strategic adjustments.

One coach bluntly stated, “The line between being a bottom feeder in college football and being respectable at Kansas is razor f—king thin.”

Grimes' (and Leipold’s) Uphill Battle

Jeff Grimes is facing significant challenges in his role right now. Even if he inherited a roster with the most returning offensive production in the country. One of the coaches said he gives Grimes a lot of grace right now.

“On paper, you're landing a hell of a job and hell of a situation. But in reality, you're in a tough predicament.

“The expectation is that you’re competing to be an elite team with your best player (Jalon Daniels), not 100%—not even close… and the expectation to run a system that’s not your area of expertise 100%.”

Note: Last week, Jeff Grimes mentioned “the ramifications” of Daniels not being with the team all offseason.

This remark was troubling, especially in a mid-week press conference where the coach should have an idea of what he’s going to say. It’s another vague comment from a KU coach, leaving Daniels’ health or commitment to the team open to interpretation. In this instance, it seems to only serve Grimes. If Daniels wasn't ready, it's on the coaches to address that before the year… or by Week 1.. or Week 2.

One coach said Grimes was dealt a tough hand with all of this. He compared it to hiring a NASCAR driver to race in the Indy 500 with an engine that isn’t firing on all cylinders.

So maybe that’s part of why Leipold is sticking with Grimes and keeping things steady. Or maybe Leipold is trying to keep a forever restless football program still through adversity. KU has been quick to cycle through QBs and coordinators the last 15 years.

And one of the coaches said having an experienced, system coach like Grimes may benefit KU next year — when the team has to replace ~30 seniors.

Pressure from fans is building on social media. Pressure from donors to Leipold is mounting as well. They miss the old Kansas offense.

One KUHearings subscriber and season ticket holder wrote me this week, summing it up:

“It wasn’t Leipold’s mess when he showed up—but now it is.

It’s all our mess now.”

KU’s Offensive Numbers

They pretty much all look like this.. so I’m gonna leave it at that for now.

More to come.

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🏀 We’ve got 30 seconds of KU hoops practice footage with Rylan Griffen highlights.

🏈 One KU fan broke down KU’s path to the College Football Playoff. Props to him for the good rundown 😂

🏈 The Kansas City Star also wrote about KU’s offense and the Leipold press conference.

🏈 247Sports’ Michael Swain’s postgame breakdown of KU’s loss to TCU was a really nice summary of what went wrong.