Ed Warinner, Kansas University’s offensive-line coach the last two seasons, will accept a similar job at Illinois, a source in Illinois’ athletic department confirmed.
The announcement is expected to take place early next week. Warinner will complete the staff of new Illini coach Ron Zook, who was hired to replace Ron Turner during the offseason.
Though the source wouldn’t say what position Warinner would take, it appears that he will coach the offensive line at Illinois.
Zook, a KU aide in 1983, had hired Bob Heffner to coach the Illini offensive line last month, but Heffner changed his mind and decided to stay at Lafayette (Pa.) College, where he was offensive coordinator.
That left one vacancy on Zook’s staff.
Warinner spent two years at Kansas, helping lead KU’s high-flying offense to the 2003 Tangerine Bowl. That year, Adrian Jones moved from tight end to left offensive tackle and adjusted well enough to be selected in the fourth round of the NFL draft by the New York Jets.
Prior to his stint at KU, Warinner was an offensive-line coach at Air Force and an assistant at Army, Michigan State and Akron before that.
Warinner’s departure will leave two openings on KU coach Mark Mangino’s staff. Last week, running backs coach Pat Henderson accepted a job in the Williams Fund office at KU.
Though KU has not released any new hirings, one possible replacement could be Tim Beck, a high school coach in suburban Dallas who told the Dallas Morning News on Jan. 28 that he had accepted an assistant-coaching position with KU, then backtracked after KU denied any hiring officially had taken place.
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Spring dates set: Mangino spoke at Friday’s KUAC advisory board meeting and announced the time frame for spring football practices.
The first practice of the spring will be March 13, and the season will conclude with the annual spring game slated for April 16.
Until then, KU players will be conditioning four days a week — and eagerly anticipating getting back on the football field again.
“Our players like practicing football more than running around Anschutz Pavilion,” Mangino quipped, “I can assure you that.”
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Scheduling tidbits: Senior associate athletics director Larry Keating also spoke at Friday’s meeting, and though he said he still is frantically searching for a Division I-A opponent for Sept. 10, 2005, he has secured several games with opponents for future seasons — as far away as 2013.
Though Keating wouldn’t say who, some deals that are known to have been completed include Fresno State (2007 and 2009), Toledo (2006 and 2007) and Central Michigan (2007).
As for the opening in 2005, Keating said nothing is close to being finalized yet, but the plan still is to secure a one-game guaranteed contract at Memorial Stadium.
Some teams who haven’t filled their Sept. 10 non-conference date — at least publicly — include Arkansas State, Rutgers, Kent State, East Carolina and Texas-El Paso. Minnesota also has an opening, but KU is unlikely to schedule a program of that caliber.
Football points hot topic (02-12-05)