Kansas football coach Lance Leipold makes first public comment on contract extension
Second-year Kansas football coach Lance Leipold made his first public comment on his new contract prior to Saturday night’s KU-Kansas State game at Bill Snyder Family Stadium in Manhattan.
The Kansas athletic department on Wednesday confirmed the university had reached an agreement with Leipold on an extension. It has been reported the deal is through the 2029 season. KU has not officially announced details of the deal but confirmed the agreement this past week on Twitter.
“Obviously it’s very important and we appreciate very much the support from Chancellor (Douglas) Girod and (AD) Travis Goff and of course our great fans,” Leipold said during his pregame radio chat on the Jayhawk radio network.
“Like we said from the start we are extremely, extremely happy here. We feel welcomed. We have adjusted really well and we love it here. Also, we have a lot of work to do yet to build this football program much like we said on day one to be a consistent winner.
“We have a lot of work that’s not completed yet. This gives us a chance, and the support that we are going to have off this contract will give us a chance to retain coaches, to continue to work on facilities, do other things that are going to help our student-athletes and help us recruit players that are going to help us build this program into one we’re going to be proud of (for) a long time.”
In a Twitter post Wednesday, the official KU football account had a post with the headline, “New Contract.” Under those words were the signature of “Lance Leipold, head football coach.”
A KU official said full contract deals are expected “in coming days.”
On Tuesday night a source close to the situation confirmed to The Star that a new agreement had been reached. ESPN’s Pete Thamel first reported the news. Another source told The Star that Goff has been holding talks in recent weeks with Leipold’s representatives about a new deal.
“The new deal is structured to keep Leipold at Kansas for the long-term,” Thamel wrote on Twitter.
