News and notes as KU football exits spring ball, with new deals for a couple assistants

LAWRENCE — There’s going to be a lot for Lance Leipold to talk about this week.

Leipold, Kansas football’s head coach, is going to be conducing post-spring ball exit meetings with every player. He’ll go over a holistic reviews of how they’re doing, including what roles they’re trending toward having in the fall. And director of sports performance Matt Gildersleeve will be there for each of them, too, along with the player’s position coach and potentially others who are members of the support staff.

Leipold’s been holding the exit meetings like this for at least four or five years, he said, because it ensures everyone is on the same page. It ensures they don’t have to waste time later on re-litigating what transpired, had staff met separately with a player, because all interested parties were in the same meeting together. And it’s a part of the program’s roster evaluation process that, in the current landscape of college football, is seemingly never-ending.

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“You can see common themes, common themes of progress being made and where a person is moving along, and then you can see when somebody’s been struggling in some areas that there’s usually some connections in some other areas as well,” Leipold said. “Sometimes we can point those out and head those off and get them in a good position to have a great summer.”

Those exit meetings, though, aren’t the only things worth discussing as the Jayhawks exit spring ball. A couple assistant coaches have new deals. A couple future games have been scheduled.

Quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski’s new deal has been finalized

A contract quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski is dated to have signed in May 2021 had him at Kansas through the 2023 season. It was a three-year deal that would pay him $250,000 in base salary each year. And the third year, the final year, was optional and at the sole discretion of Kansas Athletics.

Now, according to an amendment to an employment agreement that’s dated to have been signed in Dec. 2022, Zebrowski is set to be at Kansas through the 2025 season. He’s on a three-year deal that’ll pay him $350,000 in base salary each year. And that third and final year remains optional and at the sole discretion of Kansas Athletics.

Defensive tackles coach Jim Panagos’ new deal has been finalized

A contract defensive tackles coach Jim Panagos is dated to the singed in Jan. 2022 had him at Kansas through the 2024 season. It was a three-year deal that was set to pay him $300,000 the first year and $320,000 the next two. And the last year would be optional and at Kansas Athletics’ sole discretion.

Now, according to an amendment to the employment agreement’s base salary that’s dated Dec. 2022, Panagos will now be paid at a rate of $345,000 each year. That kicked in for the latter part of the first year and will carry through the next two. And the last year remains optional and at Kansas Athletics’ sole discretion.

Kansas football schedules two future home games

College football scheduling always has a tendency to look far into the future, and that happened here for the Jayhawks. They’ll play Middle Tennessee State on Sept. 19, 2026 at home. They’ll play Colgate on Sept. 1, 2029 at home.

Kansas announced the two matchups on Friday. Both are non-conference games. This year, the Jayhawks’ non-conference slate will see them play Missouri State on Aug. 31 at home, Illinois on Sept. 9 at home and Nevada on Sept. 16 on the road.

Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Coaches Jim Zebrowski, Jim Panagos have new deals with Kansas football