Coach ,

Andy Kotelnicki’s offense is carefully orchestrated. He has been doing this every stop along the way with Head Coach Lance Leipold. At Wisconsin-Whitewater they led the Warhawks to their sixth national championship before moving on to Buffalo. From there it was on to Kansas where Leipold and Kotelnicki have driven steady improvement. Kansas' records improved from 2-10 to 6-7 to 8-4 in their three years in Lawrence. The Jayhawks are headed to their second consecutive bowl game and will finish with their first winning record since 2008.

Now Coach Kotelnicki and Coach Leipold part ways as he takes the OC job at Penn State.

Coach Kotelnicki has certainly coached some great players along the way, but it takes a sound plan not just game to game, but all year round to get an offense performing to its maximum potential.

That’s something that offensive coordinator Coach Kotelnicki takes great pride in and spends countless hours ensuring that he and his staff get it right and put their players in a position to be successful.

In his clinic on game planning, Kotelnicki starts by defining the word “coordinate”

It’s not about being a guru or putting up gaudy stats. It’s about bringing things together. In our era of huge offensive stats, it's easy to lose focus on that. To keep that focus. Kotelnick begins every offensive meeting with that picture on the screen to remind them that they need to be on the same page.  

The fingers show that small gap that’s necessary for them to close to make the difference and win on Saturday.

Kotelnick explains how all of what they do is driven by execution in this video:

Video: Execution

Kotelnicki points out the importance of having a flexible structure that does not hinder creativity. He illustrates two paradigms of game planning to which most coaches subscribe:

Whether it's an “us” or them” focus, game planning fits into three models:

1. “Less is more” model: best suited to teams with great talent and depth. They have less volume in their playbook which leads to more offensive production. Sometimes this model lacks answers.

1.  “An answer for everything” model: teams that do not have as much talent may feel they need more plays. This model can detract from performance and execution because of the volume burden on players.

1. “The inverted U” model (pictured below): the “art and science” of coaching. Having enough to prepare the answers needed to attack a defense, but not too much as to hinder execution.

“You gotta make football finite”  - it was an “aha” moment for Kotelnick in realizing that he only has so many reps available in practice.

What he starts with is quantifying their week. Minutes = reps. How much:

• 11 on 11 reps
• Skelly
• Inside
• 1st team, 2nd team, 3rd team reps
• Meeting time
• Walk thru time

Like in the classroom, you need to know how much time you have to teach the subject.

These define what you will be able to work on and have ready for a game. You only have those reps, so you must use them wisely.

Coach Kotelnicki covers all the details of how they break this down yearly and by week to understand exactly what they need for every situation and how they will be able to get the maximum out of their execution on game day.

This is an exercise that every coordinator should do regardless of whether he coordinates the offense, defense, or special teams

Thank your to Coach Koetlnick for sharing the specifics in his clinic “Developing an Offensive Game Plan.” He also shared a clinic at the NYSHSFCA Clinic “Distorting the Defense with RPO.”

The Nittany Lions look forward to Coach Kotelnicki’s creativity and attention to detail. For Coach it’s another challenge that he is up for.

Always be growing!

Coach Grabowski

P.S. Both of Coach Kotelnicki’s clinics are available together here