Bruce Feldman Defends Placing Lance Leipold No. 3 in College Football Coaching Ranks
Lance Leipold is without a doubt one of the most respected coaches in the Big 12 Conference, and in some cases, nationwide.
TheAthletic’s Bruce Feldman raved about Leipold’s coaching skills and listed him as the third-best head coach in America in his recent Top 25 coaches list.
In Feldman’s original article, he wrote, “The guy is a wizard. He’s turned Kansas into a Top 25 football program after several horrific years. In his debut season, he led the Jayhawks to the program’s first road win at Texas and snapped an 18-game Big 12 losing streak (and a 56-game losing skid in conference road games). In his second season, he got KU into the Top 25 for the first time in 13 years. In 2023, Kansas went 9-4, including its first win over Oklahoma in 26 years and its first top-10 win in 15 years. Kansas finished ranked for the first time in 16 seasons. The 59-year-old Leipold is a coaching miracle worker. Prior to his time at Kansas, he got Buffalo into the Top 25; before that, he won six Division III national titles. The biggest winner in this year’s coaching carousel may be Kansas because Leipold is still coaching there and just signed a new deal.”
While no one is disagreeing that Leipold deserves to be mentioned as one of the nation’s best, ESPN’s Paul Finebaum questioned the placement on the Paul Finebaum Show, which prompted Feldman to stand up for the Jayhawks head coach.
“He got Buffalo when he was there into the Top-25. That’s a brutal job,” Feldman said. “Before that, he won six DIII national titles. It’s interesting because, a few years back, I know he interviewed for the Vandy job when Clark Lea got it. Obviously, Clark Lea has a lot of ties to the program, was a young up and comer. I know they were impressed with Leipold but they didn’t hire him.”
He then mentioned Leipold’s impressive track record at Kansas, saying, “That program was in such a deep hole. I mean Les Miles was there and, just, it was in disarray. He got them back to the Top-25. I mean they were terrific. In his first year, they get their first road win at Texas ever and they snap an 18-game, Big 12 losing streak. The next year he gets them in the Top-25 for the first time in over 13 years. Then, last year, they win nine games and they beat Oklahoma for the first time in over a quarter century. It is amazing what this guy has done.”
While it should be common knowledge at this point that Paul Finebaum only respects SEC coaches, Bruce Feldman stood up for both Lance Leipold and the Big 12 Conference.
