Andy Kotelnicki is headed back to Kansas after two years at Penn State, KU announced on Friday morning.
His title will be associate head coach. He previously served as KU’s offensive coordinator from 2021 to 2023, overseeing dynamic, motion-heavy and extremely productive offenses during the 2022 and 2023 bowl seasons, and held the title of associate head coach beginning in December 2022.
“We are excited to welcome Andy and his family back to Lawrence,” head coach Lance Leipold said in a press release. “Andy is familiar with our staff and culture, has run successful offenses for nearly two decades, and his experience over the past two seasons at Penn State will add to our program in a variety of ways. Having worked with Andy for 11 years, I’m looking forward to him rejoining this current staff as associate head coach.”
After KU’s offenses averaged 7.0 yards per play in 2022 and 7.2 in 2023, ranking among the best in the nation, Kotelnicki left for the Nittany Lions following the conclusion of the 2023 regular season. He guided an offense to the College Football Playoff in 2024, and was even reportedly a candidate for the West Virginia head coaching job the following offseason, but his tenure with Penn State went south during this past year. Head coach James Franklin, who brought him aboard, was fired after a 3-3 start. A season-ending injury to quarterback Drew Allar didn’t help matters, but the Nittany Lions finished 103rd in passing offense and 83rd in total offense compared to 66th and 26th, respectively, the prior year. All told, his Penn State offenses posted 6.5 yards per play in 2025 and 5.8 in 2024.
Kotelnicki remained through the season with the lame-duck staff and officially concluded his PSU tenure with the Pinstripe Bowl last Saturday, a 22-10 win over Clemson that made the Nittany Lions 7-6.
Meanwhile, in the intervening months and years at KU, Leipold had then-quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski call plays in KU’s 2023 Guaranteed Rate Bowl victory, but ended up hiring Jeff Grimes as the offensive coordinator for 2024. Grimes left for Wisconsin after one disappointing season, and Leipold promoted Zebrowski as his replacement for 2025 and brought back Matt Lubick, who had played a key role in Kotelnicki’s offense as an analyst, as the co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach. Personnel turnover played a role too, but the ultimate result was KU’s worst offensive year statistically in many respects since 2021, one in which the KU offense and quarterback Jalon Daniels displayed moments of brilliance but struggled towards the end of the season.
Now Kotelnicki himself is set to return to KU. He has coached with Leipold at Wisconsin-Whitewater, Buffalo and KU and will now embark on his second stint in Lawrence. He also spent time earlier in his career at the University of Mary, Wisconsin-River Falls and Western Illinois.
“I care deeply about the University of Kansas, and my family and I are thrilled to be back at a university that has been so good to us,” Kotelnicki said in the release. “Working alongside Coach Leipold has been one of the highlights of my career, and I’m excited to rejoin him and the entire staff at KU. I’m very grateful to Coach, Athletic Director Travis Goff and Chancellor Doug Girod for welcoming us back. I can’t wait to get to work.”
What is not yet clear is what Kotelnicki’s responsibilities as associate head coach will entail and how his return will affect the rest of the coaching staff — and specifically Zebrowski and Lubick.
AP Photo/Barry Reeger
