Kansas football’s staff looks a lot different this season, and the biggest shift is tied to a change that has quietly reshaped the sport: the NCAA’s removal of limits on “countable coaches.” With more staff members now able to coach hands-on in practice and games, analyst jobs matter more than they used to.
That shows up clearly at KU, where 14 analysts are on staff this year. Most are new, and every one of them is now listed as an assistant position coach of some kind.
The arrangement has already paid off before. Current defensive ends coach Joe Dineen and defensive backs coach Brandon Shelby both came through analyst roles before moving up. The new rules also made it easier for KU to split Taiwo Onatolu’s responsibilities into two jobs, which let Onatolu stay on as special teams coordinator while Dineen was promoted.
Two of the offseason’s most notable additions carry the title of “senior analyst”: Duane Akina and John DeFilippo. Akina is working with the defensive backs under Shelby, while DeFilippo is helping passing game coordinator Jim Zebrowski with the quarterbacks.
Lance Leipold didn’t hide his enthusiasm for Akina, calling him an “outstanding football coach.” Akina brings 47 years of coaching experience and is best known for multiple stops at Arizona and Texas, including last season, when he served as the Longhorns’ defensive passing game coordinator.
“I met Coach Akina probably over 30 years ago when (KU general manager) Rob Ianello and him worked together at Arizona,” Leipold said. “Rob and Duane were talking and he was still looking for an opportunity to make a contribution to a program and we had conversations.
D.K. (McDonald, defensive coordinator) was always impressed with the work that he’s had.
If you look at the All-Americans, the Thorpe winners, all those things, he’s a very accomplished coach who has a lot of energy.”
Akina’s track record includes coaching players who went on to long NFL careers. Leipold also pointed to the Jim Thorpe Award winners under Akina’s watch: Darryll Lewis in 1990, Michael Huff in 2005 and Aaron Ross in 2006.
DeFilippo arrives with plenty of NFL credentials of his own. He was offensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns in 2015, the Minnesota Vikings in 2018 and the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2019. He also won a Super Bowl as the Philadelphia Eagles’ quarterbacks coach and has spent two seasons as a spring football head coach.
KU also added several other assistants in recent months. Kevin Johnson, who has worked as a special teams coordinator, is now helping with the running backs under Jonathan Wallace. David Parker came back to Lawrence with Andy Kotelnicki to work with the tight ends.
“David Parker was somebody that Andy worked with at Penn State, was at the University of Tennessee, and again when a guy wants to leave an SEC program to come work with us and get back on offense, (it) was something we felt was a great addition,” Leipold said. “He’s been at Arkansas, Nebraska, Minnesota, brings a lot of different perspectives and (is) a fine coach.”
On defense, Bobby McMillen joins the staff after most recently being at Southeast Missouri. Leipold noted that McMillen was with Jerry Kill at New Mexico State and had previously overlapped with McDonald at Iowa State. McMillen will assist Chris Simpson with the linebackers.
Those newcomers are part of a larger staff that also includes assistant defensive ends coach Courtney Arnick, a former Jayhawk linebacker who spent time on staff at Louisiana Tech and with Dineen at Purdue; assistant defensive line coach Darius Carey, a veteran Division II assistant working with the defensive tackles under Jim Panagos; assistant offensive line coach Kevin Ceh, who followed Kotelnicki from Penn State; assistant wide receivers coach Kelton Copeland, now in his third year at KU after a long run coaching the position at Iowa; assistant special teams, kickers and punters coach Kyle DeWeen, a special teams analyst who punted for Leipold at Buffalo; assistant offensive line coach Bill Queisert, another Kotelnicki hire from Penn State who had also spent a longer stretch at KU earlier in his career; assistant special teams coach Aaron Miller, one of Leipold’s longest-tenured assistants and on staff since 2021; assistant linebackers coach Jake Swalley, a former Miami staff member who played at Arkansas State; and assistant defensive backs coach Bryce Torneden, a Lawrence native and Free State High School graduate who played in the USFL and is now moving into coaching.
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Cole Ballard is one of the names worth watching as camp approaches, with the quarterback competition still a central part of the picture. Trey Lathan also looms large after giving Kansas a proven presence at linebacker, while Amir Herring and Leroy Harris III give the Jayhawks key pieces to evaluate up front. Add in wide receiver Nik McMillan, and Kansas has enough familiar faces mixed into the transfer-heavy roster that a few individual decisions could end up shaping the whole year. [Read more 🡒]