Report: Lance Leipold, Kansas agree to new contract, significant raise to $7 million annually

Kansas reportedly agreed to a new contract extension with head coach Lance Leipold, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel.

“Sources: Kanas has agreed to a new contract for coach Lance Leipold that features a significant raise in his average salary to more than $7 million per year, putting him in the Top 3 average salary in the Big 12,” Thamel wrote on Twitter. “Leipold has delivered back-to-back winning seasons at Kansas, and the school has prioritized keeping him.”

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.”

After taking over a rebuilding Kansas team in 2021, Leipold went 2-10. However, he went 6-7 the next year leading the Jayhawks to the Liberty Bowl.

Then in 2023, it was a breakout year. Kansas went 9-4 overall, winning the Guaranteed Rate Bowl. Don’t let the 17-21 overall record fool you.

Leipold is 163-60 overall as a head coach with Kansas, Buffalo and Division III power Wisconsin-Whitewater.

“My wife and I are extremely happy here,” Leipold said in September. “We’ve been taken care of. We have a son that’s a junior in high school. We don’t want to relocate him.”

Sounds like Kansas is in a good place with its head coach.