Kansas football launched the process of improving its offense by landing old Big 12 rival running back Dylan Edwards. But that January addition via the College Football Transfer Portal wasn’t even the Jayhawks’ biggest move. Landing former Penn State offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki rose as a larger coup in Lawrence.
Kotelnicki chose not to join old boss James Franklin as he took over at Virginia Tech. Nor did he choose to stay in State College to work with incoming Nittany Lions head coach Matt Campbell.
He instead pulled the stunner by joining KU and Lance Leipold. Kotelnicki sat down with Pete Nakos of On3/Rivals to outline four reasons why he chose the Jayhawks.
“Number one, I wanted to go to some place where I could make an impact,” Kotelnicki began. “Number two, I wanted to go to someplace I knew we could win. Then, I wanted to go to some place where I was going to be surrounded by growth-mindset individuals, people who are high capacity, both players and coaches. Then I wanted to go someplace where my family was going to be happy.”
Here’s another reason why there are smiles involving the latter: Kotelnicki returns to KU. He ran the Jayhawk offense from 2021 to 2023 under Leipold.
This time he brings previous College Football Playoff experience in tow. Kotelnicki drew plays for a PSU offense that played in the 2024 season semifinals. Now he’s aiming to create new magic for KU, which went 5-7 overall in 2025.
Kansas went 2-10 in Kotelnicki’s first season. But elevated to 6-7 and then 9-4 the next two seasons.
The post Andy Kotelnicki opens up about leaving Penn State for Kansas appeared first on ClutchPoints.
