Did Lance Leipold and Kansas Go Big Time in Time Amidst College Football’s Lawless Chaos?

Leipold’s Success Ignites an Expanded, Spectacular Luxury Booth 

Construction has begun on the renovation of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. The visuals of its design are spectacular, and the venue will be a boon for ticket sales, recruiting, and the transfer portal.

The $300 million investment would never have happened had Leipold not quickly rebuilt the worst program in college football into a serious contender. Kansas is coming off consecutive bowl seasons for the first time since 2007-2008.

For the 2024 season, Kansas will split time between Children’s Mercy Park, home of the MLS Sporting Kansas City franchise, and the iconic Arrowhead Stadium, home of the Kansas City Chiefs. Then, in 2025, the Jayhawks will return to the renovated Booth for a championship-level venue and experience.

The Jayhawks were 9-4 in 2023, including 5-4 in the Big 12, and won the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. Kansas is expected to contend for the 2024 Big 12 championship in Leipold’s fourth season in Lawrence.

Magical Momentum Slams Into College Football Headwinds

To see how far and fast Kansas has come under Leipold, consider its recruiting climb. KU’s 2022 class ranked 126^th as Leipold arrived. One year later, it climbed to 70^th. And then, for 2024, it ranked 40^th. Powerhouse programs will scoff at those numbers, at least for now, But look at what Leipold did with those previously lower-ranked classes. Most important, the recruiting trajectory is impressively upward.

Senior QB Jalen Daniels gave Kansas the ultimate endorsement by returning for the 2024 campaign after he rejected offers from elsewhere. Kansas had enough NIL and program culture to keep its best player.

Equally impressive is that KU had such a strong 2023 campaign without Daniels, who was lost on September 23 with back problems. Daniels won second-team All-Big 12 honors for Kansas in 2022. If he stays healthy, Kansas can contend for the Big 12 championship.

And yet Kansas continued to win with backup Jason Bean, who will depart a Kansas legend. The Jayhawks' success is a testament to what Leipold is building. Last season, Bean led Kansas to an epic 38-33 home win over Oklahoma that triggered a field rush. Bean could have transferred out when he lost his starting QB job to Daniels. But Leipold's culture encouraged him to stay.

A Basketball School That Loves Football  

There has long been a myth that Kansas fans don’t care about football. That is false. Kansas fans don’t care about hopelessly losing football or miserably overmatched teams that are poorly coached.

Attendance was through the roof at The Booth in 2023, just as it was when coach Mark Mangino had the program humming with three bowls in four years from 2005 through 2008, including a final AP finish of 7^th and Orange Bowl win in 2007.

History shows that if a coach can deliver a quality football team, Jayhawk fans will back it and travel well in the process. 

A Surprising History of Special Men and Moments  

Kansas has had its share of success through the years, but the problem has been sustaining it.

Coach Jack Mitchell had fine years in the early 1960s that included a final AP ranking of 11^th in 1960 and a Bluebonnet win in 1961. Mitchell coached such legends as QB “Kansas” John Hadl and the famed “Kansas Comet” RB Gayle Sayers.

Pepper Rodgers took KU to the 1968 Orange Bowl with QB Bobby Douglas, RB John Riggins, and powerful DL John Zook.

Don Fambrough produced two bowls in two different tours of duty, and his 1973 team, led by QB David Jaynes, finished 18^th nationally.

In 1975, coach Bud Moore and QB sensation Nolan Cromwell went to Oklahoma and beat the #1 ranked Sooners to end their 37-game unbeaten streak en route to the Sun Bowl.

Of course, it was Mangino who led Kansas to its greatest season of glory in 2007.

Kansas has historic evidence it can win, legendary players in its annals, and passionate fans who will respond to success. 

Lance Leipold appears ready to build and sustain the greatest era in program history. Best of all, he has rejected numerous overtures to leave.  

Leipold is a disciple of Wisconsin's Godfather and legend Barry Alvarez. He would like to play the Alvarez role in Lawrence and save a program that he can call his own. If he does, he'll be pulling into the stunning David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium while looking up at his own statue.  

 It would be unforgivable for college football to screw this story up. Yet it might.