In the aftermath of a second consecutive 5-7 season that left the Kansas football team one win shy of a bowl appearance, head coach Lance Leipold vowed to examine every aspect of the program to see what areas the Jayhawks most needed to address to get over the hump.
Last Thursday morning, following his first meeting with the media during Spring Ball 2026, Leipold took a little time to explain what went into that and what he discovered.
Some of it, he said, they’re implementing already during spring practices, which began early last week and will run through the mid-to-late part of April.
This is the latest point in time that Leipold has started spring practice at KU and, he said Thursday that the decision to push it back was, in part, a response to the overall analysis of the program that kicked off the offseason.
“It gave us a full eight weeks in the weight room,” Leipold said, noting that the extra time with strength coach Matt Gildersleeve gave the newcomers a shot to be better prepared for practice. “And I think we've seen some great dividends off of that, and changes in body composition and strength and a lot of different things there.”
"(We're looking at) everything that we are doing. From how we can tweak things (in) recruiting, to how we run practice, to how we go about our days in the office and how we put together game plans.”
— KU football coach Lance Leipold on the offseason & spring practice
Change for change’s sake is not something Leipold has ever been interested in. Back at Buffalo, during a 2-10 season in Year 2 for him there, Leipold said an administrator approached when the team was 2-8 and asked him if he was going to make any staff changes.
Leipold interpreted the question to be more specific than its vague packaging, believing that the administrator wanted to know if he planned to fire then-Buffalo offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki.
“And I said no and then Andy became one of the hottest coordinators in the country,” Leipold said. “So, when you’re looking at it, you’re trying to tweak, but I try to take a holistic approach to what we can do better.”
One thing Leipold discovered — and has implemented — is more situational football in practices. Or, as he called it, “playing football.”
He said it’s a tough balance to strike because, while the goal is to better simulate live-action, Saturday-afternoon type of stuff, his players know that another snap is coming in 40 seconds no matter what the outcome of the current one is.
“We’ve been doing that. We’ll continue to do more,” Leipold said. “This isn’t just a team run period. This isn’t just a team pass period. These are going to be down-and-distance (situations), more competitive type situations that we’re going to look at.”
He thinks that better overall depth — especially on defense — will allow his team to capitalize on that approach this spring.
“As you look for those (things you can do better), sometimes analyzing, critiquing, fourth-quarter losses, is it guys (are) on the field too much? What are we doing? How do we practice? Everything’s there,” he said.
He noted that this wasn’t just a case of him asking the players and his coaching staff to be different. He, too, is pushing himself to be different in the way he organizes and attacks every opportunity.
“Sometimes it can be if you’re stubborn or not,” he said. “And I can be stubborn.”
“(But we’re looking at) everything that we are doing,” he said. “From how we can tweak things (in) recruiting, to how we run practice, to how we go about our days in the office and how we put together game plans.”
Asked if this is the most scrutiny he’s ever cast toward his own program during an offseason, Leipold said it was close, noting that there was a 7-3 season at D3 Wisconsin-Whitewater that inspired a similar offseason approach, all in the name of winning and getting better.
As for the KU players, returning wideout Cam Pickett said the Jayhawks appreciate the extra emphasis put on the little details that, review showed, might have cost KU a couple of games last season.
So, how has the coaching staff prioritized that emphasis?
“It’s not more talking. It’s more doing,” Pickett told R1S1 Sports. “Talking is only talking. So, we just make sure that whether it’s things in the weight room, running routes, it’s those things over time that can separate us.”
“We still focus on indy because you’ve got to develop individually,” he added. “But football’s played with 11, so that’s what we’ve been focusing on.”
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