Lance Leipold on moving forward with the defense, Joe Dineen promoted
With defensive coordinator DK McDonald returning for a second season and several players now entering their second year in the system, head coach Lance Leipold believes the defense should show progress.
After a season filled with transition, Leipold pointed to experience and knowing the system better as key reasons for improvement moving forward.
“Yeah, I mean, we can talk about a lot of things, guys,” Leipold said. “You know, I’ve been told about how disappointing last year was in defense, and sometimes I pause and go, we had a whole new back seven. A whole new back seven. And there’s growing pains with that.”
Kansas was breaking in new starters and underwent schematic changes than many outside the program realized. Leipold said he gave McDonald the freedom to adjust and evolve the defense, believing those changes will pay off in the long run.
“There were a lot more schematic changes than I ever let on in this room, because there was,” Leipold said. “And I gave DK the latitude to do that. I think it’ll be beneficial for us in the long run.”
With more returning players in the secondary and several additions through the transfer portal, Leipold likes both the experience level and the physical makeup of the current roster.
“I really like the bodies and the people that we’ve added in the portal that’ll give us a chance to take a step defensively again,” Leipold said. “You think about a play in the Cincinnati game, a couple plays in the Arizona game, even the last game of the year. One more stop or one more turnover and we’re not sitting there questioning as much as we have been.”
Leipold also made a notable coaching adjustment this offseason by moving Joe Dineen into an on-field role coaching defensive ends. Former defensive ends coach Taiwo Onatolu will now focus solely on special teams, a move Leipold said was about maximizing the number of coaches.
Joe Dineen moves up
“Probably the next biggest one (move) is that Joe Dineen will now coach our defensive ends and Taiwo will be strictly special teams coordinator,” Leipold said. “With the unlimited coaching now, it just makes the most sense to use our personnel in a way that helps us take another step.”
Leipold credited Onatolu for balancing his coaching responsibilities effectively in the past but said narrowing his focus should help the Jayhawks special teams more. At the same time, he praised Dineen’s energy and ideas as a good fit for the defensive front.
“Joe’s an outstanding young coach — a lot of great energy, a lot of good thoughts,” Leipold said. “Talking with DK, we thought this would be a way for us to move forward and try to be a little bit better.”
The move also builds on a position group Leipold feels has consistently produced during his time, both at Kansas and previously at Buffalo. Now, with new roles across the staff and a defense that’s no longer learning from scratch, Leipold believes the next step is about consistency.
“I think our defensive ends have been very productive in our program,” Leipold said. “But for us to take the next step, this (move) was one we felt we should do.”
