OC Koenning fired, Dearmon Promoted

Les Miles has coached six games at Kansas. He has hired three offensive coordinators.

KU and Miles announced late Sunday afternoon that offensive coordinator Les Koenning has been relieved of his duties, and that offensive analyst Brent Dearmon has been promoted to offensive coordinator.

The statement by Les Miles reads (in part) as follows:

Les Koenning has been relieved of his duties as offensive coordinator/quarterbacks and Brent Dearmon has been promoted to fill that role effective immediately.

Miles is quoted by the university as saying:

I would like to thank Coach Koenning for his contributions to Kansas Football. This was a difficult decision, but it is in the best interest of our football program both now and in the future. There is still a lot of football left to play this season and I want to put our players in the best position to be successful, which is why I am making the change now.

This likely comes as a positive for the in-the-know Kansas football fans, as the inconsistency of the offense so far this year has been puzzling. After opening the season with two games of ground-and-pound, I-formation football that included a frustrating 12-7 loss to Coastal Carolina, Kansas opened up the playbook in a stunning win at Boston College. The win at BC was then in turn followed by yet another conservative gameplan in a blowout loss at TCU.

As mentioned earlier, Dearmon is Miles’ third OC at KU. Chip Lindsey took the head coaching position at Troy a few weeks after Miles hired him in the offseason, and now Koenning has been relieved.

As for Dearmon’s experience, he certainly appears to be an up-and-coming offensive mind. Dearmon played his college ball for Bethel, a private NAIA school in Tennessee (between Nashville and Memphis). Dearmon, a quarterback, is still the school’s current single season record-holder for passing yards (7,045) and touchdowns (77).

Seriously. 77 touchdowns, one season.

He also played some arena football after college.

Dearmon’s most recent post was actually as the head coach of his alma mater, the aforementioned Bethel. He only coached there for one year (2018), but led his team to an unbeaten regular season while averaging 55 points per game, the highest scoring offense in all of college football.

Prior to that, Dearmon spent three seasons as an offensive coordinator at D2 Arkansas Tech, and two seasons with Gus Malzahn at Auburn as an analyst. It is notable that Dearmon’s QBs at Arkansas Tech made all-conference teams every year.

TL;DR - Exciting times for the Kansas offense appear to be in our near future with this change at offensive coordinator. Kansas has a bye next weekend before traveling to Texas prior to ending the season with a final stretch of TTU, KSU, @ OSU, @ ISU, BAY.