Slowly, Kansas is building a staff that understands how the air-raid offense works. Time will tell if the pieces being put together now will be able to turn things around at Kansas any time soon.
New head coach David Beaty set out to put together a staff ready to make things happen, and so far it seems he has been able to do just that. Cal passing game coordinator Rob Likens was named the new offensive coordinator at Kansas on Monday, and on Tuesday multiple reports say Kansas will add another coach off the Cal sideline. As reported by Jayhawk Slant, Cal offensive line coach Zach Yenser will assume an identical role on the Kansas staff and will be the run game coordinator.
For Kansas, the staff seems to be in place to start building an offensive identity that takes a page from successful air-raid styles of Texas Tech and Cal. Having two coaches who worked under Sonny Dykes is a bad way to go after the improved play of Cal’s offense this past season. It should take some time for Kansas to see those kinds of results, but the mentality and coaching is there.
“Rob has been a major player in some of the best offenses in the history of college football,” Beaty said of his new offensive coordinator in a statement Monday. “I have always been a fan of Rob’s ability to develop players who produce at a high level. Rob has learned from some of the best in the country and is as fine of an offensive mind as I have been around.”
There is plenty of work to do at Kansas. The Jayhawks ranked 118th in total offense and 86th in passing offense in 2014.