Hyman Named Special Teams Coordinator; Football Staff Meets the Media

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas football continues to fill out its staff as head coach David Beaty announced Wednesday morning that Gary Hyman will serve as special teams coordinator and tight ends coach.

“I’m very excited about Gary Hyman coming aboard here at Kansas,” said Beaty. “Gary is among the most knowledgeable and hardest working coaches I’ve ever worked alongside. He has trained under some of the best special teams mentors the game has to offer. The energy and enthusiasm Gary brings to the table, will most certainly help elevate our team.” 
 
Hyman, who has a wealth of experience working with special teams at all levels, arrives in Lawrence after spending the 2014 season at Texas A&M where he served as the quality control coach for special teams for the Aggies. Prior to his time in College Station, Hyman coached the wide receivers and special teams at South Dakota School of Mines (2012-13), served as a graduate assistant for offense and special teams at UTEP (2010-11) and was an assistant strength and conditioning coach at USC (2009)..
 
Prior to his stint with the Trojans, Hyman wore many hats in eight years as a member of the Delta College (California) football staff. He was a standout receiver at Humboldt State from 1994-96 before earning his bachelor’s degree in 2000. He completed work on a master’s from Cal State Stanislaus in 2004.

Football Staff Meets The Media
As Beaty’s Kansas staff nears completion, those who have been put in place were made available to the media Wednesday afternoon at the Anderson Family Football Complex. The following are a sampling of quotes from Wednesday’s availability:

Clint Bowen, Assistant Head Coach/Defensive Coordinator
On the energy a younger coaching staff will bring to the program:
“Even though they’re young in age they’ve earned their stripes. They’ve earned their right to be here and they’ve worked hard to get here and have accelerated their learning curve to get here. I think it’ll be a group of guys that our players on our roster right now can come in and relate to and feel comfortable around. At the same time, on the recruiting trail I think it helps a little bit. There’s still a lot of older guys doing great jobs out there, but I think it comes down to the right fit for Kansas at the right time and they’re guys that Coach Beaty is comfortable with. We’re putting together a good staff.”
 
On the new coaches bringing new ideas to the table due to their age:
“Any time you bring a new group of guys together I think it’s a great opportunity to really step back and evaluate everything you do. From a recruiting standpoint, to how you handle your players on a day-to-day basis to a schematic standpoint. It’s a chance to let everyone stand up in the room as if they do on their interview. It’s interesting when you interview guys you actually learn a lot about the way they would do it. It’s a chance to reset the whole deck a little bit and find out what everyone really does know and find out where you can make your program better.”

Rob Likens, Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks
On accepting the position at Kansas:
“As soon as Coach Beaty shared his vision with me I was like, ‘Let’s do this. I’m onboard.’ He wants to do it right. He wants to build a solid foundation doing things the right way, building a program over the long haul not just coming in here and doing quick-fix type stuff. That was very attractive for me.”
 
On coming to Kansas with Zach Yenser:
“A lot of people don’t think about how much the coaches have to come together. The comradery of the coaches will filter and trickle down to your team. Players are smart, they’re not dumb, they see that. They see that comradery. If there’s some dissension amongst a coaching staff, kids are the first one to pick up on that. That (Yenser) was big because the offensive line coach has to be one of the better coaches on your staff. We’ve worked together for five years and all I’ve got to do is say Zach, ‘This.’ And he knows exactly what I’m talking about. I don’t have to spend a day coaching him what I want. It was huge and on the personal level he’s a really good friend of mine.”

Gary Hyman, Special Teams Coordinator/Tight Ends
On joining the Kansas staff:
“Working for Coach Beaty was a big part of the decision. He is fired up and brings energy. That fits right in with my personality and how I coach. Having the opportunity to coach with him for a year at Texas A&M, you would like nothing better than to be under him in a full time position. That and Lawrence, Kansas. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Reggie Mitchell, Recruiting Coordinator/Running Backs
On going through the coaching transitions and his role in the program:
“The transition has been very smooth. Because of Coach Beaty’s personality and attitude he knows sometimes things aren’t going to work out perfectly. With me knowing our roster a little bit and knowing the players and then knowing the guys who we were recruiting on the board, that’s kind of helping the transition because I can come and say, “okay here are the guys and here is this guy compared to another guy.” It’s helped in the direction of whether or not we want to take another receiver versus taking another tackle or just being able to fill some of the roster voids.”
 
On how his familiarity with Beaty helped ease the transition:
“I think it helped both of us because there’s a trust factor. He’s seen me work and he knows what I’m about. He knows how I evaluate players. From that standpoint I don’t think it was a problem. Whatever I’ve suggested he’s kind of been onboard with it so it’s been great.”

Zach Yenser, Run Game Coordinator/Offensive Line
On the focus of the recruiting:
“The one word that comes up is character. High character guys. That’s how this thing is going to be built is finding those high character guys that love football and then you keep progressing. You find those guys that have chips on their shoulders, then you can build this thing and then you can start getting your foot in the door on some of those high profile guys. You have to do your homework and find guys that you like and not recruit just because everyone else is recruiting them. If you do like the guy then go full-fledge and build relationships with them and find out what’s going to make the difference for you.”

Kevin Kane, Linebackers
On the focus of recruiting locally:
“We’ve had a lot of good players here in the past from Kansas City and we can still get a lot of good ones. Whether it be on scholarship or in our walk on program, the biggest part is to keep the local guys local. The local guys are what makes this program go.”
 
On the returning group of linebackers:
“I’m excited. School starts here on Tuesday (Jan. 20) so they’re not back yet, but I’ve talked to them all and I’m excited to get going. The pieces are in place to have success. We’ve got to bring some more guys in, but the best thing I know to have good linebackers is to have a lot of guys competing against each other. The more competition the more success you’re going to have. We’re starting over from scratch so from day one, ‘Here you go.’ They’re going to know who I am, I’m going to know who they are in all worlds: academics, social and obviously football. I’m excited to get going.”

Klint Kubiak, Wide Receivers
On what factored into his decision to join the coaching staff:
“I like David Beaty. I knew him for one year at Texas A&M, worked for him and loved him. I had the most fun coaching I’ve ever had. When he called I knew I wanted to work for him and help him out.”
 
On his experience coaching in college and in the NFL:
“The biggest positive with college is the kids you get to work with, you get to mold them. Whereas when you get to the NFL, guys are who they are. You don’t really have input in developing them, but in college you can take a kid that may have come from a small school and you can really make them a good player and help them learn offensive football.”
 
On growing up in a football household and figuring out he wanted to coach:
“When I got cut from my first NFL tryout I needed a job. I had never really thought about coaching before that. I always thought I was going to play forever. When that finished I got my first chance as a graduate assistant, which I was just going to go try and see how it was. I knew from my dad (Gary Kubiak) the hours that are involved. Once I did a semester of it I was already loving it and that was it.”

Calvin Thibodeaux, Defensive Line
On what he wants to see out of the defensive line and its mentality:
“We’re going to be physical, we’re going to be tough and we’re going to get after people. We’re going to do it with the proper technique and we’re going to have fun doing it. As a player, in college, I was fortunate enough to be a part of the University of Oklahoma and won a bunch of conference championships and played in every BCS bowl game, so I’ll bring those experiences with me here.”

Je’Ney Jackson, Director of Football Strength and Conditioning
On preparing for the upcoming season in the weight room:
“What I do in the weight room has to mirror what they want to do on the field. If we’re going to go fast I can’t have them moving slow in the weight room. They have to get used to being at a high, high tempo and that’s what we’ll do. They have to be in great shape if we’re going to move quickly and we’re going to do things quickly, so they better be in great shape.”

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