Lance Leipold expresses excitement to work with Kansas football in 2024 as rumors swirl
LAWRENCE — In the short amount of time that has followed the start of the Washington football coaching search, Kansas head coach Lance Leipold’s name has repeatedly been linked to the job by numerous reports.
Leipold, though, appeared to put an end to those rumors Sunday. With a post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, he expressed excitement about the 2024 season with the Jayhawks. It looks like Washington will have to look elsewhere.
“The guys come back to campus tomorrow,” Leipold posted Sunday. “Can’t wait to get back to work with them in ’24!! Rock Chalk!!”
Leipold, who had signed an extension through the 2029 season in Nov. 2022, took over at Kansas in 2021 after a six-year run at Buffalo. Although the Jayhawks struggled that first year to a 2-10 mark, it did capture an upset win at Texas late that season and headed into the offseason with momentum. What followed, were back-to-back bowl seasons in 2022 and 2023.
The 2022 bowl season was Kansas’ first bowl trip since 2008. The 2023 bowl season gave the Jayhawks back-to-back bowl campaigns for the first time since 2007-08, and their first bowl victory since 2008. In 2023, Kansas won more games overall and games in Big 12 Conference play since 2007 — when the program earned a chance to play in the Orange Bowl and won it.
In 2024, the Jayhawks are set up to compete for a Big 12 title in the new-look conference. A trio of juniors from this past season in quarterback Jalon Daniels, running back Devin Neal and cornerback Cobee Bryant, as well as many others, are set to return from Kansas' best team in more than a decade. And when they kick off to start the upcoming campaign, odds are Leipold will have a new contract with KU based on what the department's director of athletics — Travis Goff — said back in Nov. 2023.
“We demonstrated a strong commitment a year ago, but that doesn’t mean you just sit idle,” Goff said then. “It doesn’t mean you get comfortable. And ultimately, I think we’ve got a chance to have — and maybe we already do — have the two best in the country when you take into account men’s basketball and football coaches. So, we’ll ensure that that’s the way we go about it going forward.”
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Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He is the National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas for 2022. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Lance Leipold expresses excitement to work at Kansas football in 2024
