Kansas football: OC Andy Kotelnicki mentioned in Penn State coaching search

Kansas football offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki has been mentioned as a candidate for the vacant Penn State job and could be the Nittany Lions’ top target.

The Kansas football team is on the upswing now that they’ve reached consecutive bowl games after suffering many years of dread. While Lance Leipold and several skill position players deserve plenty of credit, a name that often gets overlooked is Andy Kotelnicki.

After spending time at the Division II and III level with Coach Leipold at Wisconsin-Whitewater, he followed him to his next stops at Buffalo and now Kansas football. Kotelnicki has been a home-run hire and is a major reason why his unit has finished top 30 offensively in the past two years.

KU’s offensive coordinator is the mastermind behind all of the Jayhawks’ funky play calls and triple options. He has utilized players like Jalon Daniels and Jason Bean to the best of their ability because of his creative mind.

However, success often brings forth new problems. Big Ten powerhouse Penn State is reportedly eyeing Leipold’s coaching partner. The news comes two weeks after the Nittany Lions fired OC Mike Yurcich.

Bleacher Report’s Bryson Stricker initially broke the information, while Matt Thomas of Breaking Blues Nation and Kevin McGuire of USA Today have also jumped on it. KU beat reporters Michael Swain and Jon Kirby have also spoken on it, but to respect their paywalls, I won’t elaborate on what they said.

While reports on this have been minimal, Kansas football fans know the coaching staff keeps everything on the down low, so we certainly won’t hear too much about it unless Kotelnicki is seriously considering the job.

Yurcich was making $1.4 million per year before he was dismissed from the program, and Kotelnicki makes $1 million per year in Lawrence. AD Travis Goff might have to assist in dishing out a more lucrative contract for the offensive guru to keep him long-term.

This should come as no surprise, considering Kotelnicki is widely considered one of the best OCs in the Big 12 and all of Power 5 football. Losing him would be a massive blow to Kansas football, but there haven’t been any indications yet that suggest PSU is close to reeling him in.