After their second consecutive loss to inferior teams, the Kansas Jayhawks football program is at a crisis point in its rebuild. Head coach Lance Leipold has been brilliant in resurrecting the program, but now he’s faced with the decision to fix the football team while keeping the boosters happy, which won’t be easy.
Kansas Football Expectations
Kansas entered the 2024 season with massive expectations, a ranking in the Top 25, and as much momentum as any program could have in the offseason. Everywhere you went, the basketball school and their legions of fans kept talking about the Jayhawks football team and how they believed they were a national contender and playoff-hopeful participant.
Add that to the fact that the majority of the juniors, a year ago, came back to school to finish what they started when they arrived in Lawrence. They did that based on expectations and their belief in Leipold.
That’s all gone after back-to-back losses against Illinois and UNLV. It’s clear this football team was overhyped, and the thought of playing in a significant bowl game won’t happen this year.
It all came flooding back once this play happened https://t.co/PBJ577v4Sb
— Mike Vernon (@M_Vernon) September 14, 2024
Instead, they’ll get another mid-December matchup in a lesser bowl game (provided they can win six games this season). Questions will arise about the decision to keep a struggling quarterback on the field and a new offensive coordinator who appears out of touch with the talent he has at his disposal.
Kansas Personnel
When Leipold hired Jeff Grimes as his new offensive coordinator in December, the hire was met with some skepticism. Jim Zebrowski was brilliant calling the bowl game last season, with Jason Bean under center in the team’s Guaranteed Rate Bowl game against UNLV.
He did a fantastic job replacing Andy Kotelnicki, who departed for the same position at Penn State. His departure might have been the beginning of the end for Kansas’ high-powered offense.
Despite the wisdom of passing over Zebrowski for Grimes, Kansas entered the season as a legitimate Big 12 champion candidate. However, the wheels have come off, and what happens next will determine the success or failure of Kansas football now and in the future—yes, losing two straight games matters.
Climbing the Mountain of Expectations is the tallest task for a program in a massive rebuild. The coaching staff faces significant challenges, particularly with Jalon Daniels‘ six interceptions in the last two games and the disappointment of their 1-2 start heading into Big 12 play.
At the heart of their struggles, Grimes’s adaptability to simplify the offense until he finds a groove for his quarterback is the most disappointing aspect of his game-day coaching decisions.
He has continued to force-feed Daniels when he should rely on one of the top running backs in college football. Devin Neal should be the focal point of his offense. Add that to the fact that his offensive formations are perplexing, considering the world of talent he has in senior wide receivers Lawrence Arnold, Quentin Skinner, and Luke Grimes.
Still, it’s apparent to the human eye that Daniels is not the player he was before the back injury, and he may never regain his old form. Grimes was an expensive hire with success at BYU and Baylor, but when you hear he refused to look at the Illinois film to prepare for UNLV and view possible things he could detect to correct, that tells me his old-school approach to offense will not work at Kansas.
Kansas Football’s Next Steps
Leipold has moved mountains, but now he’s faced with the biggest decision of his career, which is more significant than football. His university is undergoing a massive facility upgrade, recruits are lining up to play at Kansas, and boosters have gone all in for Kansas, but they must keep winning football games. They can’t lose to inferior teams, and if that continues, the transfer portal, which has benefited Kansas, will become a black hole of departures.
At the core of that support for the program, which included several raises for Leipold and his staff and updated facilities, they need more funds to complete the next phase of the stadium upgrade. In 2025, the team will play in a beautiful stadium on one side and an eyesore on the other.
Now, he’s faced with changing his offensive coordinator and quarterback to save the season. It might not work, but there’s more at stake at Kansas than people realize.
Leipold might not have a choice now because boosters and recruits will make big decisions based on what happens next at Kansas.
It’s unbelievably unfair to Leipold that he’s in this position with so many giant leaps and mountains he’s moved to this point to demand a shakeup, but this is why he’s getting big dollars from Kansas.
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