Coach Lance Leipold after KU football’s 5-7 season: ‘I have to do a better job’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Leipold accepts responsibility for two straight 5-7 seasons and vows change.
- Quarterback Jalon Daniels finishes career with costly interceptions and heartbroken tone.
- Kansas faces major roster turnover, 33 seniors gone and quarterback uncertainty.
Quarterback Jalon Daniels was the last of the Kansas football players to arrive at their postgame media session Friday.
He arrived about an hour after KU’s season-ending 31-21 loss to No. 14 Utah.
When he did arrive, he wasn’t his usual self. Daniels gingerly sank into a chair inside the Anderson Family Football Complex. The exuberant Daniels was much more downtrodden, and there seemed to be many thoughts running through his mind.
When asked the first question by a media member, Daniels answered in a hushed tone. He glanced at the floor, then the media member, then at the jacket of another reporter.
It was clear he took this loss extra hard.
In his last game in a KU uniform, Daniels finished 10-of-27 passing for 187 yards. He scored two touchdowns but threw three interceptions, including a pick-six in the red zone and another in the end zone.
With the loss, the Jayhawks (5-7, 3-6 Big 12) failed to make a bowl game for the second straight season.
“Heartbroken,” Daniels said. “I can’t really even put any other way to feel how I feel right now besides heartbroken, to be honest.”
He was quick to blame himself for the loss, particularly after his three interceptions led to 17 Utah points.
“Like I continue to tell you every week, I’m somebody who doesn’t really give a damn about my stats personally. I don’t care what they look like as long as the stat that counts is the win,” he said. “When my stats are the reason why I feel we’re losing, (it) leaves me heartbroken. Especially when that’s the game that we need to become bowl-eligible.”
This Kansas team will enter the offseason with a sense of unfulfilled expectations. The Jayhawks started the year 4-2 before losing five of six down the stretch. They lost a blowout to rival K-State and another close call to Arizona along the way.
The Jayhawks also finished 5-7 in 2024. It’s a concerning trend given the team has just one winning season in five years under coach Lance Leipold, who also acknowledged some missteps after the game.
“I have to do a better job,” Leipold said. “I’ve fallen short of expectations as the head coach, and I have to be better.”
So what is there to make of this Kansas football season?
On the positive side, Leipold and Daniels have brought Kansas back into relevance. Daniels led the Jayhawks to their first bowl game since 2008 during the 2022 season.
The Jayhawks won nine games the next year, with Jason Bean spending most of the time at quarterback, in 2023.
The next step is making the Jayhawks a consistent bowl team.
“I want our players to be confident enough that we should be able to be a team now playing bowl games,” Leipold said. “That’s what we want them to be, we want them to aspire to be. And that’s what we have to keep working to obtain.”
Leipold knows there’s a sense of frustration among Jayhawks fans after two straight underachieving years. He noted that KU has “underachieved by most people’s standards.”
“Some of the things that we’re all frustrated about, that you have to ask about, are being asked because it’s this close,” Leipold said. “It’s the new world of college football, where it’s going to be more bunched up, I think, is what you’re going to see.
“For us to continue to try to put ourselves in that above-(.500) line, we’ve got to continue to work and get better. That starts at the top.”
This offseason will bring plenty of change with 33 seniors, including Daniels, departing. It’s unclear who the quarterback will be next season, with the likely candidates on the roster being Cole Ballard, Isaiah Marshall and David McComb.
It’s also unclear whether the Jayhawks will retain their entire staff, as Leipold acknowledged he would take a closer look at things in the coming weeks.
He also put some of the blame on himself.
“I would say I have to do a better job as a head coach,” Leipold said. “I think we have to be better at closing out football games. As we continually look at recruiting and how we’re putting the roster together, (we have to) make sure that we do (things that fit) what we’re looking to do ... schematically (and to give) us the best chance to be successful in the Big 12.”
This story was originally published November 28, 2025 at 6:07 PM with the headline "Coach Lance Leipold after KU football’s 5-7 season: ‘I have to do a better job’."
