The Kansas football program has experienced a few incredible peaks since the turn of the century, but there has been one long, horrendous valley that seemed to go on forever.
KU enjoyed its best season ever this century, but also its most brutal stretch of seasons in program history. Two of the all-time best Jayhawks' quarterbacks played in the past two decades, and their best running back ever and two NFL All-Pro cornerbacks. Still, there have been more negatives than positives.
Kansas has hired big-name coaches, little-known coaches, and a coach who was incredibly successful at a Division III school. KU went from its best season ever to a college football laughingstock very quickly, and it has been a brutal climb out of that dark pit of ineptitude.
Currently, the Jayhawks are at least moderately competitive in the Big 12, but there is still a way to go to recover from some of the worst coaching eras the school has seen in its 125-year existence.
This list doesn't include any interim coaches or Terry Allen, who mostly coached in the nineties, though his last year and a half were in the 21st century.
Ranking the Kansas football coaches over the last 25 years
No. 6: Les Miles
Expectations were high when Kansas hired Miles, who had a national championship under his belt when he was at LSU. Miles, however, looked lost at Kansas.
David Beaty didn't leave much talent when he was ousted, but there was plenty of hope that Miles' name and reputation would provide enough gravitas to draw better players. That didn't happen.
The Jayhawks won three games in Miles' first season, but none in the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign. KU averaged 15.7 points a game, yet gave up 46 points per outing. One stretch of four games saw KU give up at least 52 points in each contest. In only one game did Kansas give up less than 38. They lost 16-13 in the final game of the season.
Those hellish results and a scandal from his LSU days were enough to end Miles' time at Kansas. While his brief time was not good in any way, he did recruit Jalon Daniels and started him for seven games as a freshman. Daniels would play a significant role in the program's rejuvenation.
No. 5: David Beaty
Beaty was hired to coach the 2015 Jayhawks. He had served as an assistant in the past at KU and was happy to return when the head job became open. Like most of the other coaches in this era, he had very little success.
In his first season at Kansas, the Jayhawks won zero games for the first time in 60 years. Beaty inherited less than 40 players and had little chance of success. They did little better the next season, winning twice. Evidently, that minuscule improvement was enough for Beaty to receive an extension. It didn't work out for anyone.
The Jayhawks won just one game in 2017, then lost the 2018 season opener to Nicholls State, an FCS school. KU bounced back to beat Central Michigan and Rutgers, and it looked like maybe things were turning around. Instead, KU lost eight of its last nine games that year, with the defense unable to stop anyone. Beaty was fired with three games left in the season but weirdly, was allowed to finish off the season.
The relationship between KU and the coach only worsened, as Beaty sued Kansas for breach of contract, and it was later settled out of court. There had been no evidence that Beaty was worthy of an extension, and the program continued to be awful.
Turner is the first of four coaches who were all awful at Kansas. He is ranked slightly above the other two strictly because he was only around two seasons and did have a couple of good wins among the horrible losses.
The first awful loss came in his very first game as the Kansas head coach. At home, KU lost 6-3 in a brutal effort against North Dakota State. Despite this debut, the team bounced back the very next week and beat a ranked Georgia Tech team but lost to Southern Mississippi the following game. The Jayhawks beat New Mexico State in game four, then fell apart in Big 12 play, losing all but one.
Like the other KU teams in the post-Mark Magina era, the Jayhawks struggled to compete, especially on defense. Kansas gave up at least 20 points to all conference foes, and in only two of games did their opponents score fewer than 35. Even in their lone conference win, against Colorado, they allowed 45 points. Five teams scored at least 45 points against them.
It was much of the same in Turner's second season. KU beat McNeese State and Northern Illinois, then lost the last ten games of the season, many of them blowouts. While the Jayhawks were not good on offense, they were brutal on defense. The Jayhawks gave up 66 points, 45, 70, 47, 59, 43, and 61 points in other losses. It was a disaster.
The biggest issue with Turner and the three coaches who followed him over the next decade was that the Jayhawks just weren't competitive. They were one of the worst teams in college football for an extended time, and it wasn't getting better.
When Weis was hired as the head football coach, there was hope that this was the guy. He had Super Bowl rings from his time with the Patriots, and he turned Matt Cassel into a productive quarterback when he was the offensive coordinator for the Chiefs. He added Del Campo as his defensive coordinator, who also had Super Bowl rings from his days as an assistant with the Cowboys. Surely, these two heavy hitters could bring in better recruits.
Like others on this list, Weis failed miserably. His first season, inheriting a few good players, was awful, winning just one game. He brought in Dayne Crist to play quarterback. Weis had coached Crist during his tenure as head coach at Notre Dame. Crist struggled, completing only 47.7 percent of his pass attempts, and he threw nine interceptions to just four touchdowns.
Weis' first season was much like Gill's teams. They couldn't stop anyone from scoring. Weis tried to improve the team by bringing in supposedly top-notch junior college transfers. Few made an impact, and the Jayhawks won only three games and again were giving up massive points on defense.
Season three started out how the previous season did, with KU beating a couple of lower-division and mid-major teams but getting crushed by Power Five schools.
By this time, KU fans had little to no enthusiasm for football. No one was attending games. The Jayhawks played Texas at home for the first Big 12 game of the year, and got beat 23-0 in front of a sparse crowd. After the game, Weis was fired and Clint Bowen took over on an interim basis.
Things were so bad, that the roster had under 40 players on the roster and lost more before Beaty's first season. Instead of building up the program at all, Weis left in tatters.
In reality, the first four coaches on this list could have been in any order. They were all terrible, and none of them were able to improve the team at all. They combined for 21 wins (Clint Bowen won one game against seven losses after Weis left) in 11 seasons.
No. 2: Lance Leipold
Leipold took over the program post-COVID, and as it had been for more than a decade, it was in a disastrous place. The roster was bereft of talent and depth, and Leipold's first season ended with a 2-10 record. But in that season, a glimmer of hope twinkled.
KU beat South Dakota to open the season, then lost eight straight. It was more of the same in that the team couldn't score, and they were unable to stop anyone. After the opening victory, KU didn't hold a single opponent to less than 31 points. The closest score in those eight games after the win was a 23-35 loss to Oklahoma.
Then there was a night at Texas. The Jayhawks hung with the Longhorns, forced the game into overtime, and won the game 57-56. It was the first time Kansas ever won at Texas, and Jalon Daniels became a star. KU lost the last two games of the season but was much more competitive than they were before the Texas win.
The next year, Leipold led the Jayhawks to the Liberty Bowl, which they lost to Arkansas in overtime, 53-55. Still, it was a remarkably quick turnaround from the pit in which KU was mired for so long.
The 2023 season resulted in a 9-4 record, the most wins since the 2007 team. It ended with a bowl victory, and expectations were now high. Unfortunately, KU struggled at times and finished with a 5-7 record both years, losing several close games. While those seasons were disappointing, they were a far cry from the many years of despair.
Leipold has 27 wins at Kansas, the seventh most in program history. If you take out his 2-10 first season, KU has played .500 ball since. Leipold made the Jayhawks competitive again, and he is not done. 2026 will mark his sixth season at Kansas, and that hope lingers.
No. 1: Mark Mangino
Mangino's 50 wins are the second most in KU history, and the 2007 season was the best for Kansas football.
Mangino took over a roster that was short on talent, and he, like every other coach on this list, had a rough first season at 2-10. However, it didn't take long for Mangino to make the team competitive.
Like Leipold, Mangino pushed the Jayhawks into a bowl in just his second year. After a down year in 2004, KU played in another bowl in 2005. But the best was yet to come.
In 2007, with an under-recruited quarterback leading the team, the Jayhawks went 12-1, including an Orange Bowl win. Todd Reesing, who was too small for the NFL but was an incredible college quarterback, threw for 3,486 yards and 33 touchdowns that season and is the greatest quarterback in school history.
The next season, KU still made a bowl, but Reesing dealt with injuries, and KU finished with a respectable 8-5 record. Expectations for 2009 were still high. Kansas won their first five games, but controversy wracked the program, and they didn't win another game that season.
Mangino was forced out, with accusations swirling around how harsh his practices were and that he was verbally and physically abusive. He was old-school in his approach, but players weren't willing to stand for that kind of behavior anymore. Mangino was just one of several coaches at the time that dealt with similar accusations.
Mangino had a reputation as an abrasive person and didn't get along that well with the athletic department administrators. With all of these negatives pulling down the program, Mangino resigned, and Kansas football has never been the same since.
Leipold's bowl appearance in 2022 was the school's first since the 2008 campaign. That is a long drought. Leipold has rebuilt the program to a degree of respectability but still has a ways to go to reach the heights that the 2007 team did.
Mangino and Leipold are the bookends to the darkest period in Kansas football history. Hopefully, the program can continue to improve and draw better talent. Maybe someday, they can win the Big 12!
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