Lance Leipold sets off-field staff at Kansas

Lance Leipold has set his first off-field staff at Kansas, and they'll be names familiar to him or to KU.

Rob Ianello has joined the staff as general manager, Grant Murray as director of player personnel, Taiwo Onatolu as a senior special teams analyst, Michael Painter as director of football operations, and Jordan Peterson as a senior defensive analyst.

Ianello, Murray, Onatolu and Painter all worked with Leipold at Buffalo. Ianello and Onatolu were on-field coaches -- Ianello coached tight ends and served as recruiting coordinator, Onatolu coached the defensive line and special teams -- while Murray and Painter served in equivalent roles at UB.

Peterson coached safeties for Kansas in 2020.

As general manager, Ianello will oversee recruiting operations and generally serve as Leipold's right-hand man in all things operations and management. He also brings previous KU experience as the Jayhawks' wide receivers coach from 2012-14.

“We’re very excited about adding these five great football minds to our staff,” Leipold said. “Each of them has specific skills that will allow them to thrive in their roles here at Kansas. Rob has assembled some incredibly productive and talented recruiting classes at several different Power 5 programs and will be a great resource here. Michael, Grant and Taiwo were all big parts of the success we had in Buffalo, and will fit right in here.

“Jordan has an outstanding track record and resume, and is very impressive in the way he approaches the game. It was important to me to retain him to keep building this program.”

The addition of these five off-field assistants means all 15 of Leipold's assistant coaches and staffers either came with him from Buffalo or were already at Kansas.

As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.