Coaches in high-level athletic associations are often thrown into double-edged swords, and Kansas football coach Lance Leipold is no exception.
Over the last two seasons, Kansas has posted back-to-back 5-7 records, where several losses have come from painstakingly barren fourth quarters, oftentimes making each feel that much more heartbreaking.
Yet it is important to remember where Kansas was before Leipold ever set foot inside David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium.
Recent list flashes Kansas back to the disaster that was the Les Miles era
In Saturday Blitz’s latest piece titled “College football coaches no school should ever trust to run their program,” Miles was nominated as the No. 2 candidate on that list, for reasons Kansas fans know all too well.
When Miles was brought into the fold in 2019, it felt like a major chance for both sides to fix their reputation.
Miles hadn’t coached a game since 2016 for LSU, meaning he would be dealing with a lot of ring rust, and Kansas had firmly planted themselves to the bottom of the Big 12 (and power-conference football in general), having won just 16 games over the last nine seasons.
Now, would you say a 3-9 first season is a success? Of course not. But when you add the fact that Kansas was set to play five ranked teams along with four losses decided by 10 or fewer points and you could begin to see a way where Miles could turn the ship around in the following season.
Then the following season happened.
Yes, Miles and the rest of the collegiate world were having to fight through the dystopian season that was 2020, where there were no fans, constant opt-outs and everything else in between, but the Jayhawks were consistently blown out week in week out, resulting in an 0-9 record, with really one close game being the only slight positive you could take out of a dismal season.
Combine that with Miles’ off-the-field problems, and it gave the Kansas administration ample reason for him to be removed from his post, ushering in the Lance Leipold era, which we live in today.
Where Kansas football stands now is in a much better place thanks to Leipold
As previously mentioned, Leipold hasn’t always been perfect, which is where that aforementioned double-edged sword comes into play. After three largely promising seasons that have even seen Kansas get ranked for the first time since 2009, things looked like they could hit peaks that Kansas hadn’t seen since the Mark Mangino era, but continuous stalls in the last two seasons is worth noting, and Leipold himself has come out to admit that the program is not doing as well as it should.
But just because things may not be where Kansas fans will ultimately hope they go, doesn’t mean they aren’t still in a great place, and the fact that Kansas is reeling in gems through the high school ranks and still has the ability to pull in some of the nation’s highest-rated minds is a testament to how well things have gone under Leipold.
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