At his introductory press conference Friday, Charlie Weis promised a quick resolution to the matter of hiring a coaching staff, and Tuesday the first pieces fell into place.
Tim Grunhard and Ron Powlus have been brought aboard as offensive line coach and quarterbacks coach respectively.
Grunhard is a familiar name to any resident of the Kansas City area. After graduating from Notre Dame in 1989, he was selected by the Kansas City Chiefs in the second round of the 1990 NFL Draft. As the anchor of a potent offensive front, Grunhard played 11 seasons for the Chiefs - a career which included a Pro Bowl appearance in 1999 - and started 164 games at center.
Most recently, he has led the revitalization of the Roeland Park (KS) Bishop Miege high school program, after taking the reigns in 2006. The Stags won the 2009 Kansas Class 4A state championship.
Hiring Grunhard gives Weis and the Jayhawks an immediate boost to their already significant recruiting cache (thanks to running backs coach Reggie Mitchell) in the Kansas City metropolitan region, and likely in his home town of Chicago.
He will officially begin his tenure Jan. 1.
Powlus and Weis are already well-familiar. The former Notre Dame quarterback, himself one of the most highly-touted prep talents in history, joined Weis' staff in South Bend in 2005 and remained with him through his departure in 2009.
As one might guess, his area of responsibility is quarterbacks. While at Notre Dame, he had a hand in the development of Brady Quinn - who eventually became a first-round draft pick and a Heisman candidate - and Jimmy Clausen.
In Clausen's three years as a starter, his progress was remarkable. He threw for 1,254 yards, seven touchdowns and six interceptions, completing 56.3-percent of his passes. Two years later, as a junior he threw for 3,722, 28 touchdowns and four interceptions, with a staggering 68.8-percent completion rate.
For the past two seasons, he served as the passing game coordinator/quarterbacks coach for former Notre Dame assistant Rob Ianello at Akron University.