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KANSAN.COM/SPORTS | THURSDAY, APRIL 7, 2016
Running backs coach Tony Hull speaks to the media for the first time as a Kansas coach. Hull is a former NASA engineer.
Tony
▶ CHRISTIAN HARDY
@ByHardy
About nine years ago, Tony Hull walked away from what, for some, seemed like a dream job.
He endured five years of engineering school at Louisiana-Lafayette while balancing his football schedule to end up in the engineering field. And about a year out of college, it paid off.
Hull landed a job with NASA.
He loved the job as NASA engineer. But it wasn't his dream job: football was.
"I loved my job at NASA," Hull said. "Just the love for kids and the love of for wanting to develop players on and off the field kind of superseded my love for engineering."
In 2005, Hull, now Kansas' running backs coach, was volunteering as a high school coach at his alma
mater, Sarah T. Reed Senior High School in New Orleans. There he served as the offensive line coach and run game coordinator. The next year, he volunteered for another school while still with NASA.
"When the Warren Easton job became available, I decided to go after it," Hull said. "If I got it, I
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figured I would make the switch and leave NASA."
At the same time, on a much wider scale, Hurricane Katrina was devastating New Orleans, and it took entire high school football teams with it. In 2007, many high school athletic programs began to claw their way back into shape.
At the time, Warren Easton Charter High School hadn't played a game since 2004. In 2007, the school began forming its football team again, and Hull applied to be the coach, ready to pursue what he thought he was meant to do.
Two months before Warren Easton would return to the field, Hull was hired. Because the school was opening up a year later than others, it only had 45 players, with just five that had played football before.
"We developed a process there - me and the coaches that were there - and we stuck to that process," Hull said. "Day in and day out, no matter how hard or how bleak it looked, we continued that process. And all of a sudden, things just started rolling."
The first three years, Hull struggled. It wasn't until the third year that Hull's squad barely snuck into the playoffs.
made it to the state semifinals.
Hull, the former NASA engineer turned football coach, and his team sky-rocketed. In 2014, his team appeared in the state championship; in 2015, it
Christian Hardy/KANSAN
After nine years at Warren Easton, Hull's phone started ringing for other jobs. One of those calls was from someone who Hull considered a good friend: Kansas coach David Beatty.
Hull first met Beaty when Beaty was at Texas A&M and recruited players from Warren Easton. The coaches stayed in touch throughout the 2015 season, but when Beaty offered him the Jayhawks' vacant running backs job this winter, he had other college offers on the table.
Ultimately, though, Hull chose Kansas.
"I think it's because him and I share the same common values: to love kids and to always do right by kids and our players," Hull said. "By us having the same philosophies, it kind of tied us together and joined us at the hip."
Through ten spring practices, he's settled into his role with Kansas.
No longer a head coach, he can focus on a single position, which is a change he's welcomed. He sports a phone case on his iPhone with a Jayhawk on the back, and two rubber wristbands with "#EarnIt" — a Beaty staple on Twitter — printed on both.
But the main reason he's settled in is Beaty himself. Hull and Beaty are not only great friends but have run similar offenses.
"Tony Hull's been running what I run for a long time at Warren Easton; the terminology is almost exactly the same. He came and studied with us at A&M, and it was very, very similar stuff," Beaty said after the first spring practice. "Some of that was by design, but the real part of it was because they were the right men."
Still, even in comfort early in Kansas, he never looks back on his last 13 years — especially not with regret. Though each move in his life has been integral to getting him to the next, and eventually to Kansas, he focuses on now.
His move from NASA set him on the path of his passion. His time at Warren Easton connected him with Beaty. It opened his eyes to an offense similar to Beaty's. Now he's at a place he hopes to call home for the near future after his long life in Louisiana.
"It was all incredibly influential to where I am today," Hull said. "I like it the way it is here; guys and coaches trusting the process, and we're getting better every day. It's going to pay out in the end."
Kansas offense making strides ahead of spring game
- Edited by Brendan Dzwierzynski
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@ByHardy
Through the 15 spring practices Kansas football had before last season, there were constant hints of frustration.
Kansas coach David Beaty and offensive coordinator Rob Likens were installing a new offense, while defensive coordinator Clint Bowen was switching to a four-down defensive front. And all of that change was coming with a lack of experience among their players
Now-senior quarterback Montell Cozart makes a throw downfield in a 2015 game. Cozart will start the spring game.
"Oh my goodness," Likens said when reminded of last spring. "You'd see me walk off the field last year and I was white, really white, shaking my head going, 'Wow.' It was definitely a different feel."
This year though, it's been different for the coaches. Simply put: it's less learning and more doing..
Senior quarterback Montell Cozart said Beaty's configuration of the offense is the simplest he's played in. Likens said it's the reason they have been able to make such a significant jump this year in spring practices.
For the offense, everything has become more effortless this spring with a year under their belts.
said. "The reason that we're able to make the jump we're seeing every day is because a lot of the concepts are the same as what we did last year."
"A lot of it's the same, but there's obviously several different things," Likens
For Cozart, the slightly-changed offense means two things, beside the simplicity: speed and responsibility.
File Photo/KANSAN
will start the spring game.
You'd see me walk off the field last year and I was white [...] shaking my head."
Rob Likens Offensive coordinator
The first look at Beaty's
"We go so fast, we rely on tempo to help us speed up the defense to where they can't do so much against us," Cozart said. "We have all the answers to the test as quarterbacks, and we just have to be able to put our offense into great situations and great positions to move the ball."
Beaty, as the quintessential quarterbacks coach, is putting more in the quarterbacks' hands as he spends more time with them in practice. But he's also emphasizing pace — a part of the offense that didn't meet expectations last year.
"I just want to go out there and compete, make good throws and be able to put our offense into great situations," Cozart said. "It's just another practice, going against the defense. It's going to be fun. It's the closest thing we can get to being in our season."
quicker, improved offense will be at Saturday's spring football game, which is set for a 1 p.m. start.
Players to watch:
Junior wide receiver LaQuvionte Gonzalez
Gonzalez is a Texas A&M transfer who sat out last year, but has been making waves with his athleticism in spring camp. He's 5-foot-10, 175-pounds, and is a speedy guy who's done most of his work outside in camp.
"Difference-maker. Very quick. Glad to have him," Likens said. "He's at a different speed, and he can make people miss in the open field. That's what we were lacking last year."
Martin was platooned by other running backs in the crowded Kansas backfield during his freshman year, but should have a bigger role this year behind starting back Ke'aun Kinner.
Sophomore running back Taylor Martin
"If Taylor continues to progress the way he has, you can definitely expect to see some exciting things from him," running backs coach Tony Hull said. "His ability to stick his foot in the ground and get vertical is one of the best I've seen."
Kinner has been banged up in camp and isn't expected to have much of a role in the game.
Sophomore defensive end Dorance Armstrong, Jr
Armstrong is a raw, lanky end who will provide
"The sky is the limit for him," defensive line coach Michael Slater said. "He's as skinny as a racing lizard right now. ... We're planning on playing 13 or 14 games this year, so he needs to put himself in a position to be successful."
a ton of speed off the end for the Jayhawks this year with the loss of defensive end Ben Goodman. He's expected to start in the upcoming season, but coaches still think he can do more before he reaches his potential.
Senior safety Bazie Bates IV
Bates spent last season learning behind senior safety Fish Smithson and now graduated safety Michael Glatczak after transferring in from Trinity Valley Community College. This year, he should have a bigger impact.
He ended last season with two tackles and an interception against Kansas State, and should start this year off on the same foot. Expect to see him a bit with the first and second-team defense.
- Edited by Michael Portman
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