In contrast to recent hires, choice of Lance Leipold could calm chaos of KU football
Virtually since Kansas cast out Mark Mangino in 2009, the football program has been stranded between limbo and chaos.
From lunges of faith to gimmicks to backfiring shortcuts, from being relegated to go cheapskate to over-correcting with a “name” coach engulfed in smoke and mirrors, KU is 21-108 overall and 6-91 in the Big 12 … to say nothing of the smoldering trail of buyouts and the residual impact of confounding associated sideshows.
Meanwhile, here’s what Kansas hasn’t tried in that span: an understated veteran coach whose resume speaks volumes on his behalf; a coach whose career record isn’t a haphazard jumble of incomplete reports or curious twists but one of constancy and competence and development over the years … and a logical trajectory to the here and now.
That’s what Lance Leipold represents for KU.
And while a calming presence and fine track record at different tiers of competition are no guarantee of success in the Big 12, and while the first weeks on the job in an offseason provide little gauge for where this is all going, it’s also reasonable to suggest that Kansas football can’t be competitive without first furnishing a sense of normalcy and direction that has been in scarce supply for more than a decade now.
And, wow, does Leipold seem refreshingly normal, which is not to say merely ordinary.
Much as he projected in his introductory news conference a few weeks ago, what was most striking when he introduced his staff recently was his no-frills practicality and the absence of theatrics or drama.
It was a reminder that vanilla is a flavor, too, one all the more appealing after all that tutti frutti. He comes off as confident, to be sure, but mostly in that sort of way that suggests he’s from the school of underpromise and over-deliver.
As such, he exuded the straightforward and methodical. He was pleasant and engaged, yes, but virtually sans quips and one-liners — except for his bit about needing to clone the staff since there’s so much to do.
But something else stood out about the 57-year-old Leipold. He doesn’t shun the responsibility of the spotlight but doesn’t need it for one reason in particular:
Because this job, as he sees and lives it, is about the collaborative and the collective.
You could tell that in his ego-free, galvanizing and smart decision to retain five former Les Miles assistants in what he called “new jobs” as part of an entirely different enterprise.
And you could also see it in how he credited the broader staff he largely brought with him from Buffalo, including offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki and defensive coordinator Brian Borland
“I don’t stand before you,” he said, “without them.”
In Kotelnicki, Borland, offensive line coach Scott Fuchs and director of sports performance Matt Gildersleeve, who came with Leipold from Buffalo, you can sense some of the composite picture of what that means.
Kotelnicki, who has been with Leipold the last nine years at Wisconsin-Whitewater and Buffalo, spoke of Leipold’s trust in him to do his job and as a great delegator.
“He’s great at big-picture thinking,” he said, “and he’s good at connecting the puzzle pieces.”
Borland, who has known Leipold since they were in middle school in adjacent towns in Wisconsin, pointed to Leipold’s “vision for what can be.”
“But there’s lots of guys who, to me, have vision but they have no basis in making things happen: It’s pie-in-the-sky kind of vision ...” he said. “He’s got the vision, but he’s also got feet-on-the-ground practicality to get things done.
“And there’s a formula for that. I can’t exactly say what the formula is. I just know there’s a formula that we use, that we have, that comes from him, that works.”
Fuchs, too, pointed to Leipold having “big-picture ideas” but not micro-managing. And Gildersleeve perhaps summed that all up at once as he spoke of admiring the way Leipold empowers his staff and constantly talks about “we vs me.”
His ability to manage a culture, Gildersleeve said, is the sort of stuff that would have had him running a Fortune 500 company if he weren’t coaching. He is humble and open-minded enough to know both what he’s good at and the areas in which others around him should be minding his gaps, and he welcomes dissenting opinions from this staff.
“Even when he doesn’t disagree,” Gildersleeve said, “he plays devil’s advocate because he wants to make sure that’s the right way to do it.”
Speaking of devil’s advocacy, while it’s certainly easier to see in hindsight, it seemed evident along the way that KU could have used more of that in its series of regrettable hires since Mangino.
It’s also true that Leipold may not ultimately look as good in the rear-view mirror as he does right now, especially given fan apathy, resource challenges and the sheer dead weight of the last decade-plus he has to shrug off just to be able to have a chance in recruiting alone.
Just the same, hiring a man who won six Division III national championships at Wisconsin-Whitewater, his alma mater, and went 30-16 in his last four seasons at Buffalo against better-endowed programs is logical and smart … and a considerably different approach.
And just maybe it’s a step toward order at last coming out of chaos for KU football.
This story was originally published May 20, 2021 at 5:00 AM.