While the North Carolina Tar Heels football program has found their guy for the upcoming season in the form of legendary head coach Bill Belichick, one Big 12 head coach was floated as a possible successor.
In a recent podcast appearance with Ryen Russilo, FOX Sports’ Colin Cowherd suggested that UNC should have poached Kansas head coach Lance Leipold instead of the former Patriots coach.
“I would go hire Lance Leipold,” Cowherd said. “What are you doing with Belichick? I mean if you gave Leipold that job…”
Since accepting the job at Kansas, Leipold has issued an incredible turnaround. He took a team that had won 21 games in the decade before he was hired, a total that Leipold is nearing entering year four with 17 wins in Lawrence.
He also led the team to back-to-back bowl games in 2022-2023, with trips to the Liberty Bowl and the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. Things got off track in 2024, however, with the team missing out on postseason play with an overall record of 5-7.
Leipold is one of many Big 12 names floated around in offseason coaching searches alongside Iowa State’s Matt Campbell, Kansas State’s Chris Klieman, and many more.
He returns to Lawrence next year for the fourth season in a row, a mark that hadn’t been completed since the David Beaty era from 2018-2018.
