Back in 2021, Lance Leipold took up Les Miles’ already hot seat. Leipold has made multiple stops in his journey. These include the Buffalo Bills, where he led the program to a perfect 5-0 regular season and a MAC East Division title. But the Jayhawks camp can be considered to be the turnaround in his coaching career. The reason? 

Leipold revitalized the program, which even a few years back was considered the worst in all of the Power 5 (now Power 4) conferences. From the rock bottom, to a 9-4 season in 2023, the head coach has been the savior. Definitely, after their 5-7 season in 2024, they still have a long way to go. But CBS Sports is already trusting Leipold’s potential and placed him in the No.4 spot in their ranking of Big 12 coaches. For now, the head coach is not forgetting his off-the-field duties. Leipold is on a mission to pay tribute to high school football programs in the Sunflower State. 

To Leipold, building a connection with the budding high school football players is of top priority. On Thursday, July 31, the David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium showed a new look that touched the fans’ hearts. They have dedicated a wall of helmets in the main concourse. It features the most recent state champions across the various divisions in Kansas high school football. The writings on the wall said it all: “Champions are born in Kansas.” After the big reveal, Leipold faced the media on July 31, and it turned out that the wall of fame had been his brainchild. The head coach shared, “I guess part of the idea was when I was coaching at Wisconsin Whitewater. If you know, at Lambeau Field, they have a big atrium area.”

He continued, “The coaches association is in the state of Wisconsin is a very strong organization. They’ve given a lot of recognition for different things in that area, and they’ve kind of made it multiuse.” Leipold coached at UW-Whitewater for 8 seasons, from 2007 to 2014. And he is still carrying the inspiration within himself. Led by Athletic Director Travis Goff, the iconic David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium has been transformed to modernize the stadium. Along with it, they have taken up a larger “Gateway District” project. We have seen how stadium renovations and facilities have become a thing in the college football landscape. 

Matt Rhule and Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium renovation project cost approximately $450 million. As per the reports, Jayhawks’ abode will cost a major $448 million. Now that Leipold is making the high school recruits feel special with the renovation, it is clear that Kansas is prioritizing local recruiting in a way like they never have before. For the 2025 class, Leipold has only three in-state recruits, including Bryson Hayes, Brandon Schmelzle, and Tate Nagy. With the “Booth” renovation came another exciting news.  

Lance Leipold and Chris Klieman’s shared vision

During the press conference, Leipold said that once the renovation is fully complete, it will host the state championship games making it the hotspot for the Sunflower Showdown to bloom. “Hoping that when the stadium is complete that the possibility of state championships and things being played here is something I’ve talked with coach [Chris] Klieman at K State about. Even tossing the idea of alternating the site for the championship between the two universities,” the head coach’s voice was filled with hope. But as of now, the stadium will open again for an Aug. 23 home game against Fresno State. 

That’ll be both the Jayhawks’ regular season and home opener for the fifth year of coach Leipold’s tenure at Kansas. And Travis Goff, the athletics director, is already stirring the pot with some more suspense. He said, “It’ll be a hair above 40, and that’s like — that’s not me being cagey. That’s like, literally, it’s going to be just a notch above 40,000. We’ll have the full East side to play with, certainly. It’s being — it’s been designed for phase one to then have a phase two component of the East that gets it deeper into the 40s.”

Over the past few years, Lance Leipold’s program has had a hard time accommodating its games. Kansas was selling out some of its games when it most recently played in Lawrence in 2023. That year, their attendance hit 47,233. This year, Leipold’s Jayhawks have more home games lined up apart from the Fresno State game. The other home matchups are Aug. 29 vs. Wagner, Sept. 20 vs. West Virginia, Sept. 27 vs. Cincinnati, Oct. 25 vs. Kansas State, Nov. 1 vs. Oklahoma State, and Nov. 28 vs. Utah. Now, it’s to be seen how the new capacity affects the team’s home-field advantage. After all, the renovation has dropped the stadium’s capacity by at least 5,000 spectators, to about 42,000. With a tighter squeeze in the stands, the Jayhawks now face a new challenge. Can a smaller crowd still bring big-time energy to Lawrence?