Wisconsin is reportedly close to naming its new offensive coordinator.

Jeff Grimes, who held the title of offensive coordinator and assistant head coach at Kansas this past season, will replace the first Phil Longo in Madison, according to Pete Thamel of ESPN.

Sources; Wisconsin is targeting Kansas OC Jeff Grimes as the school’s new offensive coordinator. A deal is not complete, but the sides are talking and those talks are expected to intensity in the near future.

— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) December 6, 2024

Grimes has an extensive coaching background in college football, having gotten his start at Rice in the mid-90s as a graduate assistant. Most of his work has been with the offensive line, including stints at Arizona State, BYU, Colorado, Auburn, Virginia Tech and LSU. He got his first offensive coordinator job back at BYU, helping the Cougars average 43.5 points per game in 2020. He then spent three years with Baylor, including 2021 when the Bears won the Big 12. He was a finalist for the Broyles Award (best assistant coach in the country) in 2020 and 2021.

Former Wisconsin defensive coordinator Dave Aranda, the head coach at Baylor, fired Grimes after 2023 when the team averaged just 23.1 points per game. But Grimes landed with another familiar name, Lance Leipold, this past season in Lawrence. With Grimes calling plays, the Jayhawks struggled early but finished by beating three ranked teams in their final five games. That included dropping 45 points on Iowa State and 37 on Colorado.

Grimes is a Texas native and played his college ball at UTEP from 1987 to 1990. He has never coached in the upper midwest, with Kansas being his closest job. Grimes is expected to bring more of a power run game back to the Badgers that was lacking at times in Longo’s version of the Air Raid the last two seasons. His Kansas team finished second in the Big 12 and 13th in the country in rushing yards per game at 211.4 yards.

The addition of Grimes won’t be the only one on the offensive side of the ball, with coach Luke Fickell saying earlier in the week he intended to hire a quarterbacks coach as well as an offensive coordinator.