Kansas football is broken and there may not be a quick solution, but how can the Jayhawks go about fixing things?
Kansas’ football program is very sick, and it has been for a long time. The Jayhawks are patently broken, and there’s no quick solution to the destitute state of their roster and organization. Since 2000, Kansas has had seven coaches (interim or permanent), and not one of them has managed to sustain success. It goes without saying that this is the most difficult power five job in the country.
In those seven coaches, each has tried a different strategy from his successor, and each one has failed, spectacularly. Of the permanent coaches (Terry Allen, Mark Mangino, Turner Gill, Charlie Weis and David Beaty), Mangino was easily the most successful. Mangino, who is out of coaching now, was the last Kansas coach to put together a winning season, and led the program to their best season ever: a 12-1 season in 2007.
Even Mangino was a failure in turning Kansas around, however. Like every person on that coaching list, Mangino eventually ran out of recruiting momentum. He failed to capitalize on so building excitement, and turned to JUCO recruits and transfers to save his job. When the transfers start, it signals the end of a coaching tenure. The win now mentality, as per usual, was successful for two years, the depth was destroyed, and the Jayhawks cratered.
Every coaching tenure for Kansas has ended the same way, and put the Jayhawks in the situation they’re currently in. Completely devoid of any depth, chemistry, a built-in system, or top end talent. The 2018 Jayhawks have two very good players (Steven Sims Jr. and Mike Lee), and a bunch of transfers. They might win three games, and then they’ll be searching for a new coach in December.
It’s a never-ending cycle. I’m not just here to dunk on Kansas and their misery, however. I’m here to fix the Jayhawks. How do we do that? Well, the most important thing in all of this is patience, something that no Kansas coach since Mangino has gotten.
Firstly, Kansas needs a new head coach. David Beaty’s recruit first, ask questions later strategy didn’t work, and we need a coach that can build a program through development, not recruiting. A coach that runs a specific system, that can be used to succeed with lesser talent. Kansas needs a triple option coach. Kansas needs Willie Fritz.
The triple option is designed to work with less size and talent. That’s why the service academies use it, that’s why high schools use it, and that’s why it’s so successful at smaller schools. For the option, you need two things. Ten players that can move quickly, and are willing to buy into a system, and a smart, fast quarterback.
The beauty of the triple option is in the timing, and the use of misdirection. Running it successfully isn’t a matter a talent, size, or athleticism, it’s a matter of discipline and coaching. The coaches left in college football that do coach the triple option are all very good at it. Willie Fritz, however, has the ability to coach it, and the number one thing Kansas needs in a coach: experience with a rebuild.
Fritz is the definition of a turnaround artist. He took Blinn College from perennial bottom feeder to 39-5-1 and two national titles from 1993-96. It was a similar story at Central Missouri from 1997-2009, as he put up a 97-47 record during his time, and turned the Mules into contenders.
He led Sam Houston State to two national title appearances in four years, and moved on to Georgia Southern. He helped ease the Eagles into the Sun Belt, going 9-3 and 8-4 before jumping to Tulane.
While Fritz hasn’t had a ton of success yet at Tulane, the Green Wave could be in for a big year in 2018, and should at the least be headed to a bowl game for the first time since 2013. They missed a bowl last year by literally one yard, and in his two years, Fritz has built a very solid roster and added an outstanding 2018 class (third best in the AAC).
All of this is to say, in a long way, that Fritz is an experienced, proven winner. He runs a system that lends itself very well to rebuilds at difficult jobs. That’s exactly what Kansas needs. The Jayhawks have tried former P5 coordinators with recruiting ability with coaches like Beaty and Mangino. They’ve tried a rising G5 star with Turner Gill, and a proven P5 commodity with Weis. It’s time to bring something new to the Big 12.
Schematically speaking, it makes a lot of sense. Putting a triple option team into the pass heavy Big 12 would throw a wrench into defensive gameplanning for every team the Jayhawks face. Going from Texas Tech’s air it out offense to Kansas grinding your bones to dust with a devastating option is a nightmare for Big 12 defenses.
It wouldn’t be hard to recruit for the system either. There’s talent all around Kansas, specifically to their south in Texas, to their east in Louisiana and the deep south, and even into Big Ten country to the north. Option offenses are rampant in high school football, especially in the midwest, and quarterbacks that understand the system are a dime a dozen.
The biggest challenge in recruiting is getting players to buy in. Keeping great recruiters like running backs coach Tony Hull on staff, and finding prominent option coordinators around the country to fill out the staff would go a long way towards accomplishing that. Once the Jayhawks start winning games and upsetting top teams, the recruiting will become easier.
Defensively, the military academy strategy could be followed to a T. Navy and Army both succeed with a bend don’t break defense, and run it with athletes all over the field. Speed can make up for a lack of size defensively, and has been proven to work. If the defense is even decent, offensive clock control will keep games close enough to win for Kansas.
Next: NFL Draft 2019: Projected top 5 prospects
The option isn’t the pretty, exciting option. It’s not going out and recruiting top players in Texas, Louisiana, or anywhere else. It’s not airing the ball out, and trying to beat the rest of the conference at their own game. Willie Fritz isn’t the flashy option. But he’s the right pick for the future of Kansas.