The Man Behind the Kansas Jayhawks’ Shocking Rise
Kansas is the talk of college football thanks to a coach that many overlooked
Anything is possible.
Just ask the undefeated Kansas Jayhawks. Yes, undefeated. In football.
You probably didn’t need me to tell you that. This week, Kansas is the talk of the college football world. Maybe you watched quarterback Jalon Daniels on SportsCenter or FS1. If not, you’re sure to see him tomorrow when College Gameday comes to Lawrence for the first time in school history. The Jayhawks are ranked. David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium just sold out for the third straight game. Merchandise sales last week tripled the previous record.
Kansas football is having a moment.
And it’s all thanks to the most unlikely coach in college football.
It’s hard to say which was more unbelievable in April of 2021, when Kansas hired Lance Leipold to lead their football program: that the Jayhawks would be this good so soon or that Leipold would have gotten the job in the first place.
Leipold has always been a winner. He just wasn’t winning in the right places. From 2007-2014, Leipold guided his division III alma mater Wisconsin-Whitewater to a 109-6 record, including six national championships and five undefeated seasons. In 2015, he took a job in the MAC coaching the University at Buffalo, dragging the perennial loser to three straight bowl appearances.
But it didn’t matter—at least not in the eyes of the sports’ power brokers. Coaching jobs opened and got filled, and nobody called Leipold—maybe because he was so far out of the college football spotlight. He was approaching 60 years-old and had spent his whole life desperate for a chance to lead a legit Power 5 school.
Then Kansas called.
It’s hard to overstate just how sorry a state the Kansas program found itself during the spring of 2021. Their coach, Les Miles, left the team after a scandal was uncovered from his time at LSU. The Jayhawks were outscored more than any team in the FBS the previous season. The average final score for their conference games 47-15. They finished last in the Big 12 ten out of the previous 12 years.
And on top of it all, they were asking coaches to take control after spring practice and long after recruiting classes had already been finalized. Most hires are settled in January.
It was an impossible situation. The Athletic described it at the time as, “one of the most daunting rebuilds in college football history.” But it was an opportunity. And that’s all Leipold needed.
"We are going to build this program through developing players, discipline and determination," Leipold said when he was hired.
His team struggled through year one, but signs of change were there if you looked close enough. Each week, the Jayhawks played a little better. By the end of the season, they travelled to Austin and beat the Texas Longhorns in overtime. “You thought 2-10 was 10-2 sometime, just because of the Texas win,” Leipold said.
2-10 could become 10-2 soon enough.
Sometimes in football, all you need is a little open field, a little space, to make something special happen; a small glimpse of open field can lead to the scramble that sets up a touchdown. That’s as good a way as any to understand the Lance Leipold story: give him an opportunity and watch him go. He got a division III job and won like nobody before or since. He saw a job nobody else wanted and took it. He won one game and convinced the country he might never stop winning again.
All he needed was the chance
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