*In the event Kansas decides to turn to an interim head coach at some point this season, I’m doing a series of blogs counting down to the most assistant coach on David Beaty’s who would make the most sense to take on interim duties, should it come to that.*
The last thing first-year Kansas offensive line coach A.J. Ricker needs on his plate is adding head coaching duties to trying to build a cohesive unit on the fly with graduate transfers starting at three positions. Ricker has the toughest job in the Big 12 as it is, trying to mold an offensive line in a program that didn’t have enough blockers to play a spring game.
As long as he isn’t asked to also become the head coach, which he won’t be, Ricker will teach and motivate this line, which had a terrible opener, to improvement.
As Missouri offensive line coach in 2014, Ricker coaxed enough in-season progress out of his unit that an offensive line with one starter returning to play the same position as the previous season performed well enough for Missouri to make it to the SEC title game.
If Ricker were promoted to interim head coach, which again he won’t be, either director of recruiting Tyler Olker or defensive analyst Dirk Wedd could take over as offensive line coach, at which point Wedd might be allowed to do interviews.
Then again, maybe not. Under the current policy, Beaty is the only football coach who will do interviews this season, unless and until he is relieved of his duties or changes his mind.
Unlike most programs and at Kansas in previous seasons, the offensive and defensive coordinators and the rest of the coaches on Beaty’s staff are blocked from talking to the media. Not only do analysts not do interviews, no assistant coaches do interviews starting with the first game week.
