Lance Leipold has been mentioned as a candidate to fill the Michigan State head coaching vacancy. Will the Kansas football head coach leave after this year?
Michigan State fired their head coach, Mel Tucker, after he was accused of making inappropriate sexual comments and gestures to Brenda Tracy, a rape survivor and women’s rights activist. Safeties coach Harlon Barnett will serve as the Spartans’ interim, but they’ll need someone long-term by the season’s close.
The news has, of course, cued media outlets to mention Kansas Jayhawks head coach Lance Leipold’s name again.
According to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic, Leipold would be one of the top three options to replace Tucker at Michigan State. Mike Elko, Chris Klieman, and PJ Fleck are other names that surfaced in the article.
Leipold has taken Kansas football to unprecedented heights in less than three years. He took a program that had not won more than three games in the previous decade and put them back on the map. His current record at KU is 11-17, though he’s gone 9-7 since the beginning of the 2022 season. He previously won six national championships at Division III Wisconsin-Whitewater and went 37-33 at Buffalo across six seasons.
It’s not the first time Leipold has been mentioned in head coaching vacancy talks. In fact, practically every Power 5 school with troubles at the helm seems to believe they can lure Leipold away from Lawrence.
But despite being linked to several programs in the past year — including Wisconsin, where he has plenty of ties to — he has stayed firm in his commitment to the Jayhawks. Last year, he signed an extension that lasts until the 2029 season with over a $5 million annual salary.
Michigan State is hardly an upgrade over the Kansas football program
If Michigan State offers a similar contract to Leipold for what they gave Tucker (10-year, $95 million), it would be hard to turn down that kind of money. However, he might not want the baggage that comes with being the Spartan head coach.
The MSU Athletic Department is an absolute mess right now, with two members in the sports program being tied to sexual assault in the past six years. It’s also not like they have been some football powerhouse — they finished 2-5 in Tucker’s debut season and missed out on bowl eligibility a year ago.
Additionally, he’d be abandoning dozens of kids to whom he made commitments as the Kansas head coach. With the program on the rise and his entire staff at KU, there should be very little worry over Lance Leipold bolting for another job yet.
Michigan State’s had three Top 10 seasons in the past 9 YRs, and has big money. There’s a bunch of Power 5 coaches that’ll listen. Mike Elko? Lance Leipold? Chris Klieman? What I’m hearing about the Spartans coaching search.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) September 21, 2023
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