Lance Leipold
Lance Leipold went 175–78 as a head coach, 2007–2026, at Wisconsin–Whitewater, Buffalo and Kansas. Wikipedia’s season articles record one season differently (2026, 2–3); by them his record is 175–77. Share
Eight seasons our game records don’t credit to him come from the coach’s Wikipedia article: 2007–14 at Wisconsin–Whitewater. They’re marked in the table.
- Record
- 175–78 career
- Seasons
- 20
- Schools
- 3
- Final AP top 10
- 0 seasons
- Born
- May 6, 1964
- Alma mater
- Wisconsin Whitewater 1987
- Best season
- 2023 9–4, No. 23
Season by season
| Season | School | Record | Conference finish | Bowl | AP final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Wisconsin–Whitewater * | 14–1 | 1st | NCAA Division III Championship W | 1 | |
| 2008 | Wisconsin–Whitewater * | 13–2 | T–1st | NCAA Division III Championship L | 2 | |
| 2009 | Wisconsin–Whitewater * | 15–0 | 1st | NCAA Division III Championship W | 1 | |
| 2010 | Wisconsin–Whitewater * | 15–0 | 1st | NCAA Division III Championship W | 1 | |
| 2011 | Wisconsin–Whitewater * | 15–0 | 1st | NCAA Division III Championship W | 1 | |
| 2012 | Wisconsin–Whitewater * | 7–3 | T–2nd | |||
| 2013 | Wisconsin–Whitewater * | 15–0 | 1st | NCAA Division III Championship W | 1 | |
| 2014 | Wisconsin–Whitewater * | 15–0 | 1st | NCAA Division III Championship W | 1 | |
| 2015 | Buffalo | 5–7 | 4th (East) | |||
| 2016 | Buffalo | 2–10 | 6th (East) | |||
| 2017 | Buffalo | 6–6 | T–3rd (East) | |||
| 2018 | Buffalo | 10–4 | 1st (East) | Dollar General Bowl L | ||
| 2019 | Buffalo | 8–5 | T–2nd (East) | Bahamas Bowl W | ||
| 2020 | Buffalo | 6–1 | 1st (East) | Camellia Bowl W | 25 | |
| 2021 | Kansas | 2–10 | 10th | |||
| 2022 | Kansas | 6–7 | T–7th | Liberty Bowl L | ||
| 2023 | Kansas | 9–4 | T–7th | Guaranteed Rate Bowl W | 23 | |
| 2024 | Kansas | 5–7 | 10th | |||
| 2025 | Kansas | 5–7 | T–11th | |||
| 2026 | Kansas | 2–4 (Wikipedia: 2–3) |
Each season links to the team’s season page; bowls and playoff games link to the game. Conference finishes from the Wikipedia article’s record table. * A season our game records don’t credit to him; its record is the article’s.
How his teams did
| Kind of game | Games | Record | Won |
|---|---|---|---|
| Against ranked teams | 19 | 5–14 | 26% |
| Against top-10 teams | 5 | 2–3 | 40% |
| Against rivals | 15 | 4–11 | 27% |
| Conference games | 93 | 41–52 | 44% |
| Bowls and playoffs | 5 | 3–2 | 60% |
| Decided by 8 points or fewer | 44 | 17–27 | 39% |
| At home | 62 | 37–25 | 60% |
| On the road | 62 | 22–40 | 35% |
| At neutral sites | 14 | 7–7 | 50% |
| As our Elo’s favorite | 62 | 46–16 | 74% |
| As our Elo’s underdog | 76 | 20–56 | 26% |
His own 138 games on file, 2015–2026, as played (vacated wins counted, ties as half a win). Ranks are the AP poll going into the game; rivals are the ones either program’s Wikipedia article names; favorite and underdog by our own Elo rating, which reads only scores.
Against other head coaches
| Coach | Record | Their schools | Games | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chuck Martin 2015–2020 | 3–3 | Miami (OH) | 6 | |
| Matt Campbell 2021–2025 | 3–2 | Iowa State | 5 | |
| Frank Solich 2015–2019 | 2–3 | Ohio | 5 | |
| Rod Carey 2015–2019 | 1–4 | Northern Illinois, Temple | 5 | |
| Chris Klieman 2021–2025 | 0–5 | Kansas State | 5 | |
| Terry Bowden 2015–2018 | 2–2 | Akron | 4 | |
| Neal Brown 2018–2024 | 1–3 | Troy, West Virginia | 4 | |
| Paul Haynes 2015–2017 | 2–1 | Kent State | 3 | |
| Sean Lewis 2018–2020 | 2–1 | Kent State | 3 | |
| Jeff Monken 2016–2018 | 1–2 | Army | 3 |
Lance Leipold’s record against the head coaches he met three or more times, from the games on file, as played.
Most-faced opponents
| Opponent | Games | Record |
|---|---|---|
| Bowling Greenseries | 6 | 4–2 |
| Akronseries | 6 | 4–2 |
| Kent Stateseries | 6 | 4–2 |
| Miami (OH)series | 6 | 3–3 |
| Kansas Stateseries | 6 | 0–6 |
| Iowa Stateseries | 5 | 3–2 |
| Ohioseries | 5 | 2–3 |
| Northern Illinoisseries | 5 | 1–4 |
How he was hired
Power-conference head-coaching hires since 2010, with each coach’s previous job and ties to the school as collected by hand from Wikipedia: Hiring facts: M. Schuckers, cfb_coach_analytics.
Career
| Years | Team | Job | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1987 | Wisconsin–Whitewater | Quarterbacks coach | |
| 1988 | Wisconsin–Whitewater | Wide receivers coach | |
| 1989 | Doane | Quarterbacks and wide receivers coach | |
| 1990 | Wisconsin–Whitewater | Assistant coach | |
| 1991–93 | Wisconsin | Graduate assistant | |
| 1994–99 | Nebraska–Omaha | Running backs coach | |
| 2000 | Nebraska–Omaha | Offensive coordinator and running backs coach | |
| 2001–03 | Nebraska | Assistant coach | |
| 2004–06 | Nebraska–Omaha | Assistant head coach and offensive coordinator | |
| 2007–14 | Wisconsin–Whitewater | Head coach | |
| 2015–20 | Buffalo | Head coach | |
| 2021–present | Kansas | Head coach |
Every job as the infobox of his Wikipedia article lists it (CC BY-SA), assistant jobs included.
Coaching tree
Worked under
- Barry AlvarezWisconsin
- Pat BehrnsNebraska–Omaha
- Frank SolichNebraska
- Bo PeliniNebraska
Assistants who became head coaches
- Jim ZebrowskiLakeland
- John O’GradyWisconsin River Falls
- Matt SimonNorth Texas
- Rob IanelloAkron
- Brad McCaslinBenedictine (IL)
- Jarod DodsonAlfred State
- Greg ColbyMillersville
- Chris WoodsTexas State, Mansfield, Stonehill
- Mike DeBordCentral Michigan
- Oscar RodriguezAkron, Southwestern (CA)
- John DeFilippoNew Orleans Breakers, Memphis Showboats
Worked under (4)
| Head coach | Team | Years | His job | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barry Alvarez | Wisconsin | 1991–93 | Graduate assistant | |
| Pat Behrns | Nebraska–Omaha | 1994–2006 | 1994–99: running backs coach; 2000: offensive coordinator and running backs coach; 2004–06: assistant head coach and offensive coordinator | |
| Frank Solich | Nebraska | 2001–03 | Assistant coach | |
| Bo Pelini | Nebraska | 2003 | Assistant coach |
Coached under him, later head coaches (11)
| Coach | With him | Head coach at | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jim Zebrowski | Wisconsin Whitewater, 2007–09: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks and wide receivers coach; Buffalo, 2017–20: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; Kansas, 2021–23: quarterbacks coach; 2023–24: co-offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2025: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach; 2026: passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Lakeland | |
| John O’Grady | Wisconsin Whitewater, 2014: special teams coach | Wisconsin River Falls | |
| Matt Simon | Buffalo, 2015–16: running backs coach | North Texas | |
| Rob Ianello | Buffalo, 2015–20: assistant head coach, wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator; Kansas, 2021–26: GM | Akron | |
| Brad McCaslin | Buffalo, 2016–17: defensive analyst; 2019: defensive tackles coach | Benedictine (IL) | |
| Jarod Dodson | Buffalo, 2018: defensive analyst | Alfred State | |
| Greg Colby | Buffalo, 2019: defensive analyst | Millersville | |
| Chris Woods | Kansas, 2021: senior defensive assistant | Texas State, Mansfield, Stonehill | |
| Mike DeBord | Kansas, 2021: offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach | Central Michigan | |
| Oscar Rodriguez | Kansas, 2022–23: defensive analyst | Akron, Southwestern (CA) | |
| John DeFilippo | Kansas, 2026: offensive analyst | New Orleans Breakers, Memphis Showboats |
Other assistants under him (11)
| Coach | With him | |
|---|---|---|
| Brian Borland | Wisconsin Whitewater, 2007–14: assistant head coach and defensive coordinator; Buffalo, 2015–20: defensive coordinator and safeties coach; Kansas, 2021–24: defensive coordinator | |
| Andy Kotelnicki | Wisconsin Whitewater, 2013–14: offensive coordinator; Buffalo, 2015–20: offensive coordinator; Kansas, 2021–23: offensive coordinator; 2026: assistant head coach | |
| Chris Simpson | Buffalo, 2020: co-defensive coordinator | |
| Jordan Peterson | Kansas, 2021: defensive analyst; 2022: safeties coach; 2023: defensive pass game coordinator and defensive backs coach | |
| Travis Partridge | Kansas, 2021: offensive quality control | |
| Matt Lubick | Kansas, 2022–23: senior analyst; 2025–26: co-offensive coordinator and tight ends coach | |
| Joe Dailey | Kansas, 2023: offensive analyst | |
| D. K. McDonald | Kansas, 2024: co-defensive coordinator and cornerbacks coach; 2025–26: defensive coordinator | |
| Jeff Grimes | Kansas, 2024: assistant head coach and offensive coordinator | |
| Mike Dawson | Kansas, 2024: defensive assistant | |
| Duane Akina | Kansas, 2026: nickels |
From coaches’ Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA) and each season’s article for its coordinators: an assistant’s seasons at a school count under its head coach in our records; jobs in the NFL and elsewhere, under the head coach whose own article lists the job that year. Names without a page here link to their Wikipedia articles.
Pay
| Year | School | Job | Contract pay | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Buffalo | head coachbonuses up to $380,000; buyout $787,792 | $405,500 USA Today | |
| 2016 | Buffalo | head coachbonuses up to $380,000 | $405,500 USA Today | |
| 2015 | Buffalo | head coachbonuses up to $380,000 | $400,000 USA Today |
USA Today’s coaches salary database (2014–17, from public-records requests to the schools; Rachel Ehlers’ copy): the season’s contract pay, school pay plus outside money, before bonuses.
Pay of public employees in their public job only: head coaches, and assistants in the seasons our records name them a coordinator, at public universities.
How he coached
Leipold’s teams went for it on 26% of fourth downs and on 42% of those where the model said go for it, passed on 44% of plays and took 26.7 seconds a play, 2015–2026.
| Season | School | Went for it on fourth | When the model said go | Pass rate | Seconds a play | EPA a play | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 11 g | Buffalo | 22 of 99 22% | 38% | 53% | 24.6 | +0.02 | |
| 2016 12 g | Buffalo | 16 of 105 15% | 30% | 51% | 22.8 | −0.09 | |
| 2017 12 g | Buffalo | 12 of 91 13% | 17% | 50% | 25.3 | +0.09 | |
| 2018 14 g | Buffalo | 32 of 100 32% | 47% | 43% | 25.7 | +0.06 | |
| 2019 13 g | Buffalo | 25 of 96 26% | 43% | 31% | 27.8 | +0.05 | |
| 2020 7 g | Buffalo | 13 of 37 35% | 55% | 34% | 28.2 | +0.24 | |
| 2021 12 g | Kansas | 31 of 100 31% | 46% | 44% | 28.8 | −0.01 | |
| 2022 12 g | Kansas | 20 of 75 27% | 47% | 48% | 27.8 | +0.27 | |
| 2023 13 g | Kansas | 19 of 67 28% | 43% | 41% | 28.2 | +0.21 | |
| 2024 12 g | Kansas | 16 of 66 24% | 42% | 42% | 28.3 | +0.20 | |
| 2025 12 g | Kansas | 27 of 88 31% | 50% | 47% | 27.5 | +0.09 | |
| 2026 6 g | Kansas | 18 of 45 40% | 68% | 44% | 24.9 | +0.12 | |
| All 136 g | 251 of 969 26% | 42% | 44% | 26.7 | +0.10 |
His seasons as a head coach from 2004 on, from ESPN’s play by play: fourth downs where he went for it out of every fourth-down decision; how often he went when SportsDataverse’s fourth-down model said going for it was the better call; the share of his offense’s plays that were passes; seconds of game clock per offensive play (lower is faster); and expected points added per offensive play (EPA, a measure of how much each play moved the offense toward points). The season in progress counts its games so far. SportsDataverse’s coach tendencies, from ESPN’s play by play; the EPA and the fourth-down model are SportsDataverse’s.