Lance Leipold | Kansas Jayhaws Football HC

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Minimum $10 per order. Additional terms apply. We miss college football. We can't wait for the 2024 season. This time for 46 yards and Michigan has taken a 13 to 3 lead on the second touchdown of the night from the man who was not tripping. And we're counting down the days to kick off. Here is your college football fix only on the Zach Gelb show. 70 days away until Kansas kicks off its football season up against Lindenwood and now joining us is the head coach of the Kansas Jayhawks who's done a sensational job in his first three seasons and that is Lance Leipold. You know from 2010 to 2020, Kansas only had 21 wins in football. Lance Leipold got there and they have 17 wins.

They were two and ten in year one, six and seven in year two and last season had a sensational year going nine and four and Coach Leipold's kind enough to join us right now. Coach, thanks for the time. Appreciate it. How you been? I'm doing well, Zach. How are you? It's a pleasure to be with you.

Well, I'm doing fantastic and I really appreciate you coming on. So, I'll ask you a simple question out of the gate but I know it's not so simple and it speaks to really what your staff has brought to Kansas but how the heck have you turned around Kansas from when you first got on to campus to now being a team with some high expectations this year? Well, you know, we're really proud of what's been able to transpire in a short period of time and you have to give, you know, credit to our to our assistant coaches and our players. You know, we inherited a very young football team and we kind of went through the growing pains but they, you know, we're able to build trust and they saw some love at the end of the tunnel and we've been able to really in this new environment retain a roster.

We had under 10 guys leave through the portal and we're going to have a large senior class of about 30 30 seniors and I think those are some kind of really some blessings for us that we're able to kind of go about it. You know, I arrived in we arrived in May of 2021 right after Travis Goff was appointed as athletic director and and so fortunate to work with him and chancellor Doug Girard and it's really been about the best alignment from top to bottom that I've ever really been a part of and and for us to be on the same page and invest in this program has really kind of helped us sustain and we're excited to get this thing kicked off next in the next couple months. You know, I'm a graduate of Temple University so I saw what Matt Rule was able to do and in his first season as the head coach at Temple they only had two wins but the team just looked different and there was a belief. Did you see the belief?

Did you see the buy-in? I know there's so much change now like you talked about in college football but did you see that buy-in right away in year one? Well you know we're you know there are some things culturally that that we found you know if if we were down 17 at half which is all always tough but just the the lack of confidence that that this program had was really tough and I think it's been well documented the you know we're able to get an upset win down in Austin, Texas that I really think you know kind of was a shot in the arm in the arm for this program of confidence of being able towards the end of a season we're one and eight and we go down there and could have been pretty easy just to play it out and try to look forward. We'd only been there five months as a staff we could all say yeah it's going to get better but that group kept working to get better and then I think the trust was starting to happen.

We started to get some confidence. We lost the last two in some close games but those games and really through Jalen Daniels that quarterback really catapulted us into an off season that this program could get better and and it has. We all know how sensational your quarterback is Jalen Daniels as right now Lance Leipold's here with us the head coach at Kansas.

We know he struggled to stay on the field at times because of different injuries last year it was the back. Where is he right now as you get set for a season to kick off at about 70 days? Yeah Jalen Daniels is doing everything that everyone else in the program is doing in the summer program. He's on part and on course to be right there for training camp. We expect him to be fully ready to go from day one and we're excited. You know it's been a bumpy road for Jalen but he is such a quality young man and he's been a great teammate throughout this.

You know kind of going through it and I don't know it's a lot of guys would have cracked and and he keeps kind of fighting through it. He's there for his teammates when he's not available to play and you know I guess there's a spot in my heart that not just for this team's sake or anything but for him I'm really pulling for him that he can really put to put it all together and really show the country what he's all about for 12 regular season games. Do you guys kind of draw a little inspiration from the story of Michael Penix Jr. just wondering because he was in like a similar spot. I know he had to transfer and wind up at Washington but he was a guy that was defined by injuries and then really the last two seasons he was as good of a quarterback as anybody in college football when he was finally able to stay healthy.

You know I haven't given that a lot of thought but it's a good comparison and things that that could happen. You know it's it's just been so unfortunate that that I don't know we just kind of focus what's happening here but yeah I think there's there's a chance for somebody like him to really take off and and show much like Penix did and when he was reunited with Kalen DeBoer. We all know what he's capable of on the field like that's not a question to people it's just can he stay healthy so like when you have stuff like that go down you know I think the mental health part of it and how you keep the spirits up is a big part of the conversation that sometimes doesn't get talked about so as a coach that loves the player for not only what he could do on the field but obviously knowing who he is as a man and a young adult like how do you what was kind of your message to him as he got ready to go through this off season with all the ups and downs and everything that surrounds him in the conversation. Yeah when when you're around him and you see a smile and and how he goes about it and with his teammates and things you you're just inspired about his positivity it's more through the bumps when talking either to his family or or or providing the right availability for the professionals that that he may want to bounce things off because it's not easy to walk in the building every day when you're when you're not able to go and people aren't asking you why and all those all those different things so as I as it's easy to say in in these situations as good a player as Jalen Daniels is he's a better person and he's really fun to be around and he's been an inspiration a lot of different ways for this program and like I said I'm just anxious to see him back out there. And if he could stay healthy through this year you got a pretty special one-two punch in that backfield with not only your quarterback but then Devin Neal who's been with the the program for a while and man he keeps on getting better and better and put it up big time seasons coach. Yeah he does and again another quality young man that you know when when you're looking to you know we're fortunate as coaches step into this situation here but he was a true freshman at the time but to watch him work and grow and and and become such a steady player but you know he was you know he's born and raised right here in Lawrence and he and he's been loyal to this community and university and he's definitely been impactful on and off the field for us to build this program and you know he's he's you know really ready to kind of take it another step as well so yeah you're right it's a one-two punch you know and we're excited about him and really all the surrounding talent that we have at the skill positions on the offensive side of the ball. And then you look at the defense we talk about the one-two punch on offense man in your secondary you got a great one-two punch that those are definitely be two kids that are going to be ready to be in the NFL this time next year it feels like.

Yeah again you know Kobe Bryant's been one that's been a first team all Big 12 performer last two seasons and an extreme competitor not the biggest guy but he's physical he's great ball skills and anticipation. Melo Dotson I think from the last you know probably two-thirds of the season played as well as anybody and again those guys have played a lot of football for us and they went through those growing pains as freshmen in the two and ten season and now we're you know now they're kind of crafty veterans so we're excited about them we've got some questions and we've got to keep answering and probably use the rotations of things in the front seven but I think again there's enough experience along the line that we have a chance again to be very good over there. Wrap it up with Lance Leipold the head coach at Kansas they've been sensational under his tutelage the last few seasons so Andy was with you for a long time obviously now he's the the OC at Penn State. Jeff Grimes comes in everything I read is that the offense is going to look similar you're not going to notice that much different you know how different is the offense going to be from last year to this year from a scheme standpoint. Yeah I don't think you'll see us line up in the wishbone or anything when you know but yeah you know and first of all Andy Kolnicki did an outstanding job you know I've been fortunate as a head coach and he was here for 11 years I mean and Brian Borland will be going on year 18 as the the defensive coordinator so to have that kind of continuity at those positions was definitely a big plus for us every every step along the way but I you know great respect for Jeff Grimes when he was at Baylor I can remember we came into this league we were picked 10th they're picked 9th they win the big 12 and and again Jeff knows the talent of the what he's stepping into in the surrounding pieces and and that was part of the interview process is that we don't want to vary too much from what we're doing and what has made us successful and at the same time I know he's going to put his stamp on it as well it should make us even better and I'm excited about him being our offensive coordinator. Obviously you want the big expectations because it means your program's in a big spot but you know there's talk about winning a big 12 championship this year there's talk with the playoffs going to 12 with you guys beating the mix for that how do you kind of sense if if your guys can handle the the spotlight and the more attention that naturally comes with those big expectations? Yeah great question because it's you know and and from my chair it's something I I kind of try to try to balance I want this team to be proud of how far it's come and how it's been mentioned I want that to build confidence because they've gone out and earned that at the same time it can't lead to complacency because our conference everybody always says it across the board but when you really watch the matchups in this conference will be as equal as anywhere in the country and there's going to be a lot of tough games on this schedule so though though that's flattering in June and July you've got to be able to go to work each and every day in the off season and be ready in camp otherwise you're you're gonna you're gonna have a big letdown so it it's a balance but I'm I'm excited that it's sure better than what it used to be that's for sure when you start talking about preseason expectations of this program and I I think one is a from the head coach position I've got to learn to handle and make sure we're on course but it's exciting times you know this our university our chancellor athletic director we're adding you know we're we're in the phase one which is 450 million dollars of redoing our football facility and and a portion of our stadium with another phase to come and you know people question about if Kansas was going to be serious about football and I think our administration fans and alums have stepped up to help us take the necessary steps and I only got a minute and a half left coach but it's cool that you stayed you know if you would have left everyone would have under like I would have understood it your big name well respect to coach now in college football but it's neat that you ended up staying how tough of a decision was that for you very easy very easy because it's about fits not about logos my wife and I and family are extremely happy here we've been treated well and we have unfinished business and you know there's you know the you got to have faith and and trust that that's going to be put in the right places at the right time and we certainly were and and and though though sometimes your name can be mentioned for certain things it doesn't always mean that they're factual or if it's even the right fit so we're excited we're we're we're locked in and we're ready to go coach good luck appreciate it's been awesome to see what you've been able to do the last few years at Kansas thank you I appreciate great to be with you you can host the best backyard barbecue when you find a professional on angie to make your backyard the best around connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well inside to outside repairs to renovations get started on the angie app or visit angie.com today you can do this when you angie that worried about letting someone else pick out the perfect avocado for your perfect impress them on the third date guacamole well good thing instacart shoppers are as picky as you are they find ripe 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program that twice had no wins total of 21 wins he comes up from buffalo and he was a good coach at buffalo i watched them buffalo because my sister and my cousin are alums of the universe at university at buffalo city bus with buffalo and to go two and ten then to six and seven to nine and four i can't wait to see what the next chapter is this upcoming season for lance light pole that can't with some big expectations tune in is the audio platform with something for everyone news in order to secure convictions in a court of law it is essential that we conclusively sports the clock at four doncic the step back three you bitch music and even podcasts whatever you love hear it right here on tune in go to tune in.com or download the tune in app to start listening tired of sifting through countless supplements unsure of what's actually effective introducing legion the choice of over 800 000 discerning fitness enthusiasts with all natural products clinically effective ingredients doses and 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