Doug Meacham addition to Kansas coaching staff brings credibility in Big 12 country

Kansas offensive coordinator Doug Meacham works with the receivers during practice on Tuesday, April 11, 2017.

Frisco, Texas — If Big 12 Media Day questions are good indicators, then the hiring of offensive coordinator Doug Meacham rates as the most significant offseason addition to the Kansas football program.

David Beaty’s rebuilding project picked up credibility with the addition of Meacham and Beaty was more than happy to talk about the impact the former TCU co-offensive coordinator already has made.

“This game of football, it’s tough on these guys, a day-to-day grind for these guys. It’s a lot more than what a lot of people know. It’s very difficult,” Beaty said. “I just believe you’ve got to have a little fun throughout that process. Doug has done such a great job of making sure that we have fun every day. He’s a guy who is infectious, and you just want to be around him. He’s one of those people. I love the fact that our kids want to be around him because it’s not always that you have coaches that they want to be around. They may be there, but they don’t want to be around him. They love being around Doug Meacham because he is so much fun and he’s really good at what he’s done.”

Now that they’re on the same side, Beaty’s getting a better look at the Air Raid wrinkles Meacham puts on the offense.

“Watching him put his spin on this Air Raid offense has been so much fun,” Beaty said. “It’s going to be really fun watching him put his personality into it. The concepts are all pretty similar, but like all of the guys who live in this offense, everyone has their own little personality and twist on it. It’s been fun watching him instill that. We’ve had some position moves. We’ve had guys move to new spots that I wouldn’t have thought to do that.”

Beaty cited Ryan Schadler’s move from running back to receiver as an example.

“Doug has done so many things to really focus on the individual skill sets of each player, to really utilize them correctly,” Beaty said. “It’s been really fun to watch, and it’s just been fun to really just kind of be around him and to just soak up the knowledge that he’s brought to the room.”

Meacham and Sonny Cumbie shared the co-offensive coordinator title at TCU and Cumbie’s role in play-calling was going to expand at the expense of Meacham before Meacham’s move to Kansas.

Patterson was asked what impact he thought Cumbie calling the plays is going to have.

“Not much,” Patterson said. “I mean, Sonny’s been part of, you know, our offense, the way we do it, it’s everybody’s all in as far as the ideas and how we do things. So I don’t see that. I think what we have to be able to do is we have to do what we need to do to move the football.”