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After two years as the offensive coordinator at the University of Mary, a Division II program in Bismarck, North Dakota, the chance to take the same position at Division III powerhouse Wisconsin-Whitewater represented a major step up the coaching ladder for Andy Kotelnicki.
He’d played offensive line at Division III Wisconsin-River Falls and spent five seasons as the school’s offensive coordinator before being hired by former Mary coach Myron Schulz. Winners of five of the previous six national championships when Kotelnicki was approached by former Whitewater coach Lance Leipold following the 2012 season, the Warhawks presented a larger platform, a bigger stage and the chance to prove something: That his offensive scheme and philosophy would travel across different levels of competition.
I want to go to a place where I know it’s me or it’s not me, Kotelnicki told Schulz, meaning a program that was on par in terms of talent and resources with teams in the same orbit.
“I respected him for that,” Schulz said.
After helping Whitewater go back-to-back as unbeaten national champions in 2013 and 2014, Kotelnicki would follow Leipold to Buffalo and then to Kansas, where he was instrumental in the Jayhawks’ rapid and remarkable climb from the bottom rung of the Bowl Subdivision.
But there are few programs bigger than Penn State, where Kotelnicki is in his first season, and few games bigger than the No. 3 Nittany Lions’ matchup on Saturday against No. 4 Ohio State. With Kotelnicki at the controls, a unique and constantly evolving offense has driven an unbeaten push into November and raised hopes that this is the year PSU makes the leap to the top of the Big Ten.
“We kind of started to look at who are the coordinators and who are the teams that are producing explosive plays, and not just because their genetics are…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/offense-dairy-queen-blizzard-hopes-102012268.html
Author : USA TODAY Sports
Publish date : 2024-11-01 10:20:12
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