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Report: Kansas hires former Iowa assistant Kelton Copeland

IMG_6598by:Nick Kosko•07/24/24•

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Joseph Cress/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK

Kansas reportedly hired former Iowa assistant coach Kelton Copeland as an analyst, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

“Sources: Kansas has hired former Iowa assistant Kelton Copeland as an analyst,” Thamel wrote on Twitter. “He will assist with the wide receivers, as a late addition to the 2024 staff. Copeland has worked at Iowa, Northern Illinois and South Dakota.”

Copeland joined the Iowa staff back in 2017 following four years at Northern Illinois. With his wealth of experience, it appears he’ll be a solid addition to Kansas.

Albeit a late decision, Copeland is a veteran presence, even as an analyst. Once Iowa overhauled its offensive staff at the end of the year, Copeland was a casualty of changes.

Kelton Copeland added to Kansas staff

Kansas is on the up and up, so it’s a good time for Copeland to join the program under head coach Lance Leipold. The latter recently signed a new contract back in February.

After numerous rumors about Leipold possibly jumping to another job, he’s staying in Lawrence, a place where he repeatedly said he wanted to finish his career.

If you go back to November, it looks like Leipold wasn’t kidding about wanting to finish his coaching career with the Jayhawks.

“It’s something we’ve been extremely — in fact, I was talking with Travis Goff on Monday,” Leipold said on his radio show Hawk Talk. “And he said, ‘Can you believe it’s only been two and a half years?’ I said, ‘Well, in many ways it seems like five or more because of the progress of the team on the field, but also how comfortable our family (is) and have been welcomed by everybody, and how much we enjoy being here.

“This is the only interview (I’ve done today). And that’s the way it’s going to be. The one thing that happens during this time of year, is there’s a lot of speculation on things that are happening that are not accurate, as I’ve said for a long time, Travis Goff and Chancellor (Douglas) Girod have treated Kelly and I extremely well and our family. It is our plan and expectation that we want to be here and this is going to be the last job we have.”