That turnaround earned Leipold his first opportunity to lead a Power Five program, with the Jefferson, Wis., native signing a six-year, $16.5 million contract last Friday to replace Les Miles at KU. And while it’s not difficult to imagine how draining the time since that moment has been, particularly the meet-and-greet marathon sessions with players, Leipold insisted he’s been energized by how the Jayhawks he’s inherited have approached the situation.
“Meeting with those players and seeing how anxious and hungry they are and determined to build a program that everyone deserves here is really exciting,” said Leipold, who later added: “I know it hasn’t been easy (for fans), but day-by-day, brick-by-brick, we’re going to find a way to get this thing done for you. You deserve a winner, and we’re going to find a way to get this thing done for you.”
Here are other noteworthy remarks from Leipold’s first radio appearance with KU:
First-year coaching staff to be a ‘blend’
While nothing is official just yet, Leipold said he’s “getting close” to finalizing his first-year coaching staff with the Jayhawks.
“I really like the way it’s coming together,” Leipold said. “Having a chance to meet people here, I think there’s a lot of things that are going to come together for us that we’ll have the staff that we need on the field, recruiting, everything that we’re trying to get done. It should be pretty exciting.”
Yahoo Sports on Monday reported former Buffalo assistants Rob Ianello, Andy Kotelnicki, Brian Borland, Chris Simpson, Jim Zebrowski, Taiwo Onatolu and Scott Fuchs are each set to reunite with Leipold at KU in some capacity, while a Wednesday report by the outlet listed current Jayhawk assistants Emmett Jones (wide receivers), Jake Schoonover (outside linebackers/special teams), Chevis Jackson (defensive backs) and Kwahn Drake (defensive line) as four coaches “expected” to retain on-field roles with the team.
Leipold spoke to the benefits of taking a mixed approach to putting his staff together.
“There’s some outstanding coaches here that we definitely want to have part of this moving forward. And I would not be sitting here with you tonight if it wasn’t for some of the people that I’ve worked with for quite a while and back in Buffalo,” Leipold said. “So like a lot of things, we’re going to try to blend those things together — get some philosophical things that were going really well here, put some things of our flavor that have helped us get to this point, and again, build this program for the long-term and get a foundation set here as quickly as possible.”
And given the track records of the last three individuals to hold the title of Jayhawk head coach, it may be refreshing to both fans and those assistants in line to be first-year members of Leipold’s coaching staff that he doesn’t consider himself a micromanager.
“I trust our coaches,” Leipold said. “When we put this staff together, they’re going to have the ability to put the plans together and do some things. Of course we’ll make adjustments as we go, but I think you’ll talk to people that have worked with me before, I give a lot of latitude in those things because they have a lot more time in that aspect of the game to put things together and kind of work from there.”
Schemes for the team
Leipold’s defenses at Buffalo deployed a 4-3 approach, and he made news Thursday by stating fans can expect to see a “similar scheme” when the team gets “rolling.” Buffalo ranked 35th in total defense with 359 yards allowed per game last season, one year after finishing seventh nationally in that category (291.9).
Leipold appears intrigued by the players he’s inheriting on that side of the ball.
“What I’ve been able to see in really a quick glimpse is I like what we have up front defensively. I think we’ve got a lot of great athleticism in the back end,” Leipold said. “So it’s going to be fun to put this thing together.”
Offensively, Leipold earned a reputation while with the Bulls for simply letting the team’s personnel dictate whether it would deploy a more run- or pass-based attack. Buffalo ranked second nationally in rushing yards per game last season (287.4) and finished 10th in that department two seasons ago, and in 2017, the Bulls were 22nd nationally in passing offense (290.8 passing yards per game).
“We’re going to be multiple enough to use the personnel to our best to go out and win football games,” Leipold said. “That might be with three, four wide receivers on the field, or two or three tight ends, or two running backs in there.”
Written in the stars
Part of Leipold’s success at Buffalo stemmed from his staff’s ability to both identify under-recruited talent and develop them upon their arrival on campus. It’s difficult to imagine a path to success for Leipold at KU should he be unable to replicate that here.
While Leipold said he intends to compete for the commitments of high-profile recruits, he also stressed as critical the role those more under-the-radar prospects play in a rebuild.
“I know people like to follow those rankings and stars and all those things; a lot of times those stars or lack of stars motivate players more than ever before to prove people wrong,” Leipold said. “There’s parts of the country that maybe they don’t get evaluated as much. We like to find diamonds in the rough, so to speak, or guys that are going to have a chance.”
