Kansas football's Lance Leipold reacts to Chris Klieman’s retirement
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LAWRENCE — On the same day Kansas football coach Lance Leipold was talking about his 2026 recruiting class earlier this month, elsewhere in the state there was a seismic decision made that would affect the coaching landscape.
Chris Klieman, after seven seasons serving as the head coach at Kansas State, had announced his retirement. It meant the Big 12 Conference would be moving into next year with yet another significant coaching change within the league. And now Leipold, who took over at KU in 2021, will look ahead to the future of the rivalry with someone else on the opposing sideline for the first time in his Jayhawks tenure.
“First of all, congratulate Chris on a great career and what he’s done,” Leipold said Dec. 3. “I know sometimes, especially at rival schools, people don’t understand, sometimes, the relationship part of that, and competitiveness but yet respect. Chris did call me this morning to tell me he was doing that, and wished him and his wife Rhonda the best in retirement. And it’s too bad. It’s too bad, because I think Chris has a lot of good football yet ahead of him. But when you feel like it’s time and what — the drain it takes on you personally, he just felt like it was time.”
Leipold, who had yet to beat Klieman in this rivalry, anticipated there being a lot of great candidates to take over for Klieman. A day later Kansas State officially announced the hiring of Collin Klein, a former quarterback and assistant coach for Kansas State, who has spent the past two seasons as the offensive coordinator at Texas A&M. This year, Klein helped play a role in Texas A&M reaching the College Football Playoff.
The Big 12 is also going to feature new head coaches elsewhere in the league next year, with coaching changes taking place at Utah, Iowa State and Oklahoma State. What that means for Kansas’ potential place in the league next season, will be determined in time. But in 2026 there’ll be some new faces trying to make their marks in the Big 12.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas football’s Lance Leipold reacts to Chris Klieman’s retirement
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