Kotelnicki to Kansas: Jayhawks look to the past for future success

On Friday, Kansas head coach Lance Leipold announced that Andy Kotelnicki, the leader of some of the most prolific offenses in school history, will return to the Jayhawks’ coaching staff for the 2026 season. With 21 years of coaching experience, including three seasons at Kansas, Kotelnicki will serve as the Jayhawks’ Associate Head Coach.

Kotelnicki served as offensive coordinator for the Jayhawks from 2021-2023. In his three seasons with the team, Kotelnicki helped Kansas to back-to-back bowl appearances for just the second time in school history, while the offensive production at KU reached new heights.

The 2022 and 2023 teams are two of the three highest-scoring offenses in program history, with the 2022 squad averaging 35.6 points per game and the 2023 team averaging 34.8 points per game. In 2022, the Jayhawks averaged 7.0 yards per play, which established a school record that still stands.

Kotelnicki eventually moved on to pastures new, but not before helping Leipold turn around a football program that had been dormant for decades. By the end of the 2023 season, KU had won nine games and were ranked 23rd in the nation.

Getting the band back together

Kotelnicki spent the last two seasons with Penn State, helping the Nittany Lions re-establish themselves as a Big Ten powerhouse. Under his direction, the Nittany Lions consistently ranked among the nation’s top offenses, leading the country in first downs (367) and explosive plays of more than 10 yards (253) in 2024.

This past year, Kotelnicki helped Penn State to four straight wins to close out the season and a victory in the Pinstripe Bowl, despite the departure of head coach James Franklin. 2024 saw Penn State set the single-season record for most wins (13), which included two wins in the playoffs as they made the semi-final.

Kotelnicki’s resume speaks for itself, but there are more reasons for Leipold to bring him back to Lawrence. The head coach and offensive coordinator had been tied at the hip since 2013, enjoying unparalleled success with three different college programs.

First came a two-year stint at Wisconsin-Whitewater, where the Warhawks went undefeated (30-0) and won the D3 championship. Leipold next took his OC with him to Buffalo, where they turned the downtrodden MAC school into a conference force, with the Bulls ranked nationally at #25 in 2020.

Then came the aforementioned stint at Kansas, before Kotelnicki landed one of the biggest coordinator jobs in the country at Penn State. A success wherever he’s called home, Leipold was clearly delighted to welcome back Kotlenicki ahead of a crucial 2026 season:

“We are excited to welcome Andy and his family back to Lawrence. Andy is familiar with our staff and culture, has run successful offenses for nearly two decades, and his experience over the past two seasons at Penn State will add to our program in a variety of ways.”

Work to be done

There’s no doubt that Lance Leipold has done an incredible job as a program builder in his five seasons at Kansas. The Jayhawks were the butt of jokes in the Big 12 after the mishires of Les Miles, David Beaty and Charlie Weiss. But back-to-back 5-7 records the past two years have seen momentum stall.

Kansas has poured money into the football program in recent years -  a ‘new era’ as they call it in Lawrence. Stadium expansion and facility upgrades; next to come, if it hasn’t already, is an increased financial commitment to on-field talent.

That investment brings pressure. And that’s not a bad thing - elevating expectations is exactly what Leipold and his team intended to do when they came to Kansas. But the task is made all the harder when your star quarterback of the past six seasons is out of eligibility and off to the NFL.

Jalon Daniels isn’t the only departure, and Kansas has a job on its hands rebuilding the roster. But once the offseason recruitment ends, the coaches will be looking to turn that talent into wins. That’s where Kotelnicki comes in, who will be working closely with co-offensive coordinators Jim Zebrowski and Matt Lubick to get the Jayhawks firing on all cylinders once more.

This is a group of coaches who know what success feels like and how to achieve it. For Kotelnicki, the opportunity to head back to Lawrence was too good to turn down:

“I care deeply about the University of Kansas, and my family and I are thrilled to be back at a university that has been so good to us. Working alongside Coach Leipold has been one of the highlights of my career, and I’m excited to rejoin him and the entire staff at KU …I can’t wait to get to work.”

2026 is an exciting season for Kansas, as they become the first college football team to host a game at Wembley Stadium in London. They’ll be hoping the return of their offensive mastermind makes it memorable for more than just a trip across the pond.

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