Multiple sources have confirmed that Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino’s search for a new offensive coordinator was completed on Friday, with Illinois offensive line coach Ed Warinner landing the job. Warinner was offensive line coach at Kansas in 2003 and 2004.
A message left for Warinner at his Champaign, Ill., home Saturday morning was not returned. KU is expected to announce the move in the next few days.
Warinner will replace Nick Quartaro, KU’s offensive coordinator for the last five seasons who announced his resignation on Dec. 29 to pursue opportunities outside of coaching. Quartaro was the first coordinator to leave under Mangino – defensive coordinator Bill Young has been at Kansas since Mangino’s hiring before the 2002 season.
It will be Warinner’s second tenure as an offensive coordinator in his 20-plus years in college coaching. He held the position at Army in 1998 and 1999 at the end of his 12-year stay with the Cadets. He’s also coached the offensive line at Air Force, and early in his career coached linebackers and defensive backs at Michigan State.
At KU, Warinner was coach of a successful offensive line in 2003, led by current NFL tackle Adrian Jones and Big 12 newcomer of the year Joe Vaughn. He stayed on for the 2004 season before taking a similar job at Illinois. Current offensive line coach John Reagan replaced him at Kansas.
Warinner, also the Illini’s run-game coordinator, has been a wanted man this offseason after illinois led the Big Ten in rushing with 188.8 yards per game. He was among the finalists for the Air Force head coaching job that eventually went to Houston Texans offensive coordinator Troy Calhoun.
For more on this story, pick up a copy of Sunday’s Journal-World.
