There’s finally some movement in the Kansas football coaching search

A time of turbulence is an easy explanation, but there’s finally some movement in the Kansas football coaching search.

In early March, as reports of his impropriety when he was the head coach at LSU surfaced, Les Miles was quickly out as the coach at Kansas. Athletic director Jeff Long was not far behind out the door. So a turbulent time in the athletic department was an easy reason for there not being any buzz about the Jayhawks’ coaching search.

The first sign that was changing came last week, as athletic director Travis Goff emailed donors announcing a “national search to find the next head football coach at the University of Kansas”.

Now, according to John Brice of Football Scoop, interviews to find Miles’ replacement are ongoing this week. More specifically, a list of successful sitting head coaches and on-the-rise coordinators are interested in the job. Apparently, a 21-108 record over the last 11 seasons is not turning candidates away right off the bat.

Who is Kansas targeting to replace Les Miles?

According to Brice, Army head coach Jeff Monken, Buffalo head coach Lance Leipold, Tulane head coach Willie Fritz, Eastern Michigan head coach Chris Creighton and Kansas interim head coach Emmett Jones have been invited to interview.

The list of coordinator candidates of interest to Kansas includes Texas A&M defensive coordinator Mike Elko, Georgia offensive coordinator Dan Lanning, Iowa State offensive coordinator Tom Manning and Illinois associate head coach Kevin Kane.

Lanning, Fritz, Monken and Leipold have Midwest roots, as much as that may matter. Kane is a former Kansas player, pre-dating the Jayhawks’ best modern-era run.

Other candidates who may make some sense for Kansas are Ball State head coach Mike Neu, Wyoming head coach Craig Bohl and Nevada head coach Jay Norvell. But it appears the search has been honed in without them, with a solid list of viable remaining candidates.

It will be quite an undertaking to rebuild Kansas on the field, and they need someone who will be the steadying force Miles was incapable of being. But the coaching search seems to be moving quickly now, with equal measures of due diligence and urgency.