Big 12 Football: Every team’s most important newcomer

9. Kansas Jayhawks

Lance Leipold (Coach): 

Though this list is usually reserved for players, Lance Leipold is the most important acquisition for the Kansas Jayhawks in a long time. It was not that long ago the Jayhawks were 12-1 and on the doorstep of a National Championship.

Mark Mangino was unceremoniously fired amid player abuse allegations. The program has never recovered.

What makes Leipold important is he was the coach they wanted, and he wanted to come to Lawrence. Finally, the Jayhawks get a coach who knows how to win in unique places. Leipold turned Wisconsin-Whitewater from a regional power to a national juggernaut in D-III.

During his tenure at Wisconsin-Whitewater, the Warhawks played for seven championships and won six in eight seasons. Leipold was then hired to take the job at the University of Buffalo, a school with a little football tradition.

After two seasons of building the roster the way he wanted, the Bulls were bowl-eligible four straight seasons and played for two MAC titles. But, aside from a modicum of success under Turner Gill and Jeff Quinn, the Bulls were annual doormats upon returning to the MAC in 1999.

If his time at Whitewater and Buffalo is any indication, the Jayhawks will have an offensive identity, something they’ve lacked since Mangino and Leipold will find diamonds in the rough.