Four more members of Lance Leipold's football staff at the University at Buffalo will join him at Kansas.
The Kansas athletic department announced Tuesday that Leipold will add Rob Ianello, Grant Murray, Taiwo Onatolu and Michael Painter in various support roles with the Jayhawks.
Ianello will be the general manager of the Jayhawks, which is a new position in the program. He will oversee Kansas' recruiting and will help lead day-to-day operations of the football program.
“Rob’s going to work closely day in and day out with me on a lot of things, really our whole organization,” Leipold told reporters Tuesday in Lawrence, Kan. “He’ll be heavily involved in personnel. Our recruiting organization, process, evaluations.”
Ianello was previously UB's associate head coach/wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator, and he will return to Kansas, where he was the Jayhawks' recruiting coordinator and wide receivers coach from 2012-14.
"Getting Rob here was extremely important to me again,” Leipold said. “Selfishly, I need and want him in this position as much as being an on-field coach for what we want to get accomplished here and as quickly as possible.”
Onatolu will be Kansas' senior special teams analyst; he previously was UB's special teams coordinator and defensive ends coach. Painter will be Kansas' director of football operations and Murray will be Kansas' director of player personnel; both held the same roles at UB, where Murray also was the director of high school relations.
Leipold's coaching staff at Kansas includes five former UB assistants: offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki, defensive coordinator Brian Borland, quarterbacks coach Jim Zebrowski, offensive line Scott Fuchs and linebackers coach Chris Simpson.
Gall transfers to Baylor
Jacob Gall, an offensive lineman who played at UB the last four seasons, announced Tuesday that he will transfer to Baylor.
Gall is a graduate transfer who will be immediately eligible.
He entered the transfer portal May 6, six days after Leipold was named the coach at Kansas. Gall announced his transfer to Baylor on his Twitter account.
"Thank you to everyone at Buffalo for an unforgettable and successful 4 years. After countless hours of discussion with my family and friends I have decided to finish my college career at Baylor!"
Gall played in 33 games in three seasons with the Bulls after he redshirted as a freshman in 2017. He started 20 games at both left guard and right guard in four seasons with the Bulls, including all seven of UB's games in 2020, at left guard.
Gall is one of 12 players from UB's 2020 roster to enter the transfer portal after Leipold's departure, and is the first to announce his transfer destination. Quarterback Matt Myers and linebacker Tim Terry withdrew from the transfer portal earlier this month.
UB officially adds Cole
UB officially announced Jeremy Cole as the first addition to the football support staff on Tuesday. Cole is UB's new strength and conditioning coach, and replaces Matt Gildersleeve, who took the same role on Leipold's staff at Kansas.
Cole previously was an assistant strength coach at Minnesota for the past four seasons. Cole also worked at Rutgers for eight seasons, including four as the Scarlet Knights' head of strength and conditioning, and at North Carolina, Kansas and with the NFL's Indianapolis Colts.
