Kansas Jayhawks football team has identified its next offensive coordinator

Head coach Lance Leipold’s Kansas Jayhawks football program has hired former Baylor Bears offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes as the next director of its offense, KU athletics announced Thursday.

Grimes, 55, will share the KU offensive coordinator job with Jim Zebrowski, whom Leipold recently promoted from quarterbacks coach to co-offensive coordinator.

Grimes’ official title, per a Thursday afternoon news release sent out by KU, is assistant head coach/offensive coordinator.

“Jeff is a coach with a lot of experience and is a great relationship-builder, football mind and a high-quality person,” Leipold said in the release. “He will be a great fit with our staff and offensive philosophy and is an exciting addition.”

Grimes (and Zebrowski) replace Andy Kotelnicki, who recently departed KU to become Penn State’s offensive coordinator.

Grimes indicated he is excited to get started in Lawrence.

“My family and I are thrilled to join the KU program and be a part of what Coach Leipold and his staff are building in Lawrence,” Grimes said in the news release. “I’ve admired Kansas football over these last few years and it has been impossible to ignore the momentum behind the program. That momentum doesn’t happen without strong alignment among tremendous people committed to a common goal.

“I get fired up just thinking about the opportunity to coach these talented players and I can’t wait to get started. Rock Chalk!”

Grimes has history with two other Big 12 schools. Most recently, he was the offensive coordinator for Baylor. He served that role for the past three seasons but was fired in late November after Baylor finished 3-9 with the nation’s No. 70-ranked offense.

Before his tenure in Waco, Grimes was BYU’s offensive coordinator for three seasons.

In his first season with Baylor (2021), he was a finalist for the Broyles Award, given to the top assistant coach in Division I. He won FootballScoop’s Offensive Coordinator of the Year award that season after helping lead a significant turnaround in Waco: The Bears improved from two wins in 2020 — head coach Dave Aranda’s first season in Waco — to 12 victories in 2021.

Grimes’ offense was a primary reason for the about-face: Baylor went from running a league-worst ground game to being the Big 12’s best in that aspect in 2021. The Bears’ rush game ranked No. 14 overall that season, averaging 215.2 yards per game on 5.27 yards per carry.

During Grimes’ time at BYU, Cougars quarterback Zach Wilson was drafted in the first round by the New York Jets (2020). BYU’s offense finished third in scoring (43.5 points per game) the prior season and No. 7 in total offense (522.2 yards per game).

As a player, Grimes was an offensive lineman for UTEP (1987-90) — he played two years for Chiefs coach Andy Reid in 1987-88, when Reid coached the Miners’ offensive line.

Grimes has often coached offensive linemen during his career, which began when he was a grad-assistant for Rice, and then Texas A&M, in the mid 1990s.

Where has Jeff Grime coached previously?

Here is Grimes’ progression as a college coach during his lengthy career:

1995: Rice (graduate-assistant)

1996-97: Texas A&M (grad-assistant)

1998-99: Hardin–Simmons (offensive line)

2000: Boise State (offensive line)

2001-03: Arizona State (offensive line/run-game coordinator)

2004-06: BYU (offensive line)

2007-08: Colorado (asst. head coach /O-line/run-game coord.)

2009-12: Auburn (offensive line)

2013: Virginia Tech (offensive line)

2014-17: LSU (offensive line/run-game coordinator)

2018-20: BYU (offensive coordinator)

2021-23: Baylor (offensive coordinator/tight ends)