Kansas unveils new assistant football coaches

LAWRENCE, Kan. - With national signing day out of the way, the new Kansas coaching staff finally had a chance to breathe and eat some breakfast. So, they invited the local media out to join them for a meet and greet. Coaches such as Tim Grunhard detailed the chaos of the first few weeks on the job.

"I signed my name on the dotted line January 1st, and I haven't had a day off. We got through recruiting. Now, let's get to the football stuff."

The past month has been a whirlwind for Grunhard. The former Chiefs center left his post as the head coach at Bishop Miege to take the offensive line position at Kansas. This is his first foray in to college coaching. He admitted he was planning to stay in the high school ranks indefinitely until this opportunity popped up.

"There's a lot of life after 49 years old. Our goal now is to establish ourselves as an offensive line coach here in the college level and, maybe, hopefully work up to a coordinator and some day a head coach."

Grunhard is part of a staff that has been pieced together by Charlie Weis from across the country and across the football landscape. Some of the coaches, like quarterbacks coach Ron Powlus, worked for Weis at Notre Dame. He understands exactly what Weis envisions for this team and offense. Powlus is also familiar with transfer quarterback Dayne Crist.

"It's a pro-style offense. It's a drop-back passing offense and a play-action offense. That's what we do. That's what Dayne is. Dayne is a heady guy, a smart guy that can control the flow of the game mentally. Physically, he is a drop-back passing guy."

Not all of the new coaches have that much familiarity with their new boss and players. A few weeks ago, Dave Campo was with the Dallas Cowboys. He fully expected to remain in the NFL as a defensive coach. Instead, Weis came knocking on his door with an opportunity to return to the college game as a defensive coordinator.

"I'm really looking at this as a tremendous challenge. You know, I've been doing this for a lot of years. I still feel like I have the energy to go quite a few more years."

The 64-year-old spent the past 23 seasons in the NFL. So, like many on this staff, this will be a completely different type of challenge than what he has become accustomed to recently. Still, Campo summed up the optimism every coach in the room was feeling.

"I really think it rejuvenates you to finish your career with something special. That's what I feel this is."