Kansas reportedly makes Lance Leipold one of Big 12's highest-paid coaches
Lance Leipold is staying in Lawrence, and he's getting a hefty pay raise to do so.
Kansas is giving Leipold a new contract that will bump his salary to more than $7 million per year, ESPN reported Wednesday. The new deal still runs through 2029, but Leipold is getting roughly a $2 million per year raise, making him one of the three-highest-paid coaches in the Big 12, according to ESPN.
Even though Kansas has gone 17-21 since Leipold arrived in Lawrence in 2021, he has lifted the Jayhawks from the dregs of the Big 12 to become a bowl team over the past two years. Kansas went 6-7 in 2022, but was briefly ranked in the Top 25 that season before reaching its first bowl game since 2008. The Jayhawks improved to 9-4 in 2023, reaching ranked status again as they climbed as high as No. 16, culminating in another bowl appearance.
In the years prior to Leipold's arrival, Kansas was among the worst teams in the Power 5 and the FBS. It went winless in 2020 and won just 21 games in the 11 seasons before Leipold took over in 2021, when he went 2-10.
Leipold's staff reportedly will also see an increase in pay.
The decision to give Leipold and his staff pay raises shows a continued commitment from the school as college football enters a new era. The school is doing a complete renovation of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium as part of a $450 million investment into the football program. As a result, Kansas won't play at its home stadium in 2024, splitting its home games at Children’s Mercy Park and Arrowhead Stadium.
Leipold was rumored to be a candidate for some of the top coaching jobs this offseason. But the 59-year-old, who coached at Buffalo for six seasons prior to landing at Kansas, recently told FOX Sports' RJ Young he's "happy" where he is and likes the investment the school has made into the program.
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"I think for a long time — through past administrations and coaches — it [has] always been acknowledged that the stadium needed work and there are things that need to be updated, things that we were desperately behind in the Big 12 and across the country and facilities and other things," Leipold said. "The energy and leadership of Travis Goff as athletic director and our chancellor Doug Girod — it's the best alignment I've ever been a part of, and we kind of hit this thing altogether and really made some things happen.
"I think it's really gonna give us a chance to keep this thing on firm footing and build it for years to come."