Kansas Jayhawks Hire Former NFL Assistant Jim Panagos
Kansas head coach Lance Leipold is set to add veteran defensive line coach and former NFL assistant to his coaching staff, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.
Panagos joins the Jayhawks as their new defensive tackles coach after spending the last two seasons as the defensive line coach at Rutgers.
In 2020, Rutgers led the Big Ten and ranked 11th in the nation with 7.8 tackles for loss per game. They also saw three defensive linemen named as honorable mention All-Big Ten selections.
In 2021, the Scarlet Knights averaged almost six tackles for loss and nine of the team’s 23 total sacks came from defensive linemen.
“Jim has a wealth of knowledge coaching defensive linemen and it is proven in the countless players he has developed during his career,” Rutgers head coach Greg Schiano said upon hiring Panagos ahead of the 2020 season. “Ask any of his past players, and they rave about his energy and passion, but most of all, they talk about his care and commitment for them individually.”
Panagos also coached the defensive line at Rutgers from 2012-2015 under former coach Kyle Flood.
Jim Panagos started his coaching career in 1993 as an assistant defensive line coach for Maryland. Panagos, who was a former defensive lineman with the Terrapins, followed that experience up by coaching at the high school level as the assistant coach for C.R. James Alternative School in Florida from 1994-1997.
In 2002, he joined the Minnesota Vikings as a quality control coach and was promoted to assistant defensive line/assistant special teams coach in 2005.
He left the Vikings following the 2005 season and returned to coaching in 2007 as the defensive line coach at UCF, where he stayed through the 2011 season before joining Rutgers for his first stint.
In between his stints at Rutgers, Panagos spent time at Pittsburgh, Temple, and Minnesota.
He was nominated for the Broyles Award in 2017, which is awarded to the nation’s top assistant coach, after helping Temple’s defense record 39 sacks and 92 tackles for loss while serving as their defensive line coach.
Panagos brings plenty of experience coaching on the defensive line to Leipold’s staff at Kansas.
