New Buffalo Head Coach Pete Lembo Cites Friendship With Lance Leipold As Resource

"I'm a humble guy, but please don't mistake that for a lack of confidence."

It's a line that Pete Lembo used early in his opening address as the 28th head coach of the University of Buffalo football program this week. The former Memphis assistant wasn't short of words in his time at the podium, but used quite a bit of time to thank people that helped him reach this new opportunity. Of particular note for fans of Buffalo football, Lembo thanked current Kansas and former Bulls head coach Lance Leipold.

"We had a common mentor, Somebody that Lance worked with, and then I worked with at Dartmouth College...a guy named Roger Hughes," Lembo noted. "He connected the two of us, so we've been friends since back in the mid 90s."

Hughes is the current president of Doane University in Nebraska, where he was the offensive coordinator in the mid 1980s. Leipold was an assistant coach at Doane in 1989.

Hughes was the offensive coordinator at Dartmouth from 1992 to 1999, before he became the head coach at Princeton. Lembo was tight ends coach at Dartmouth from 1994 to 1996. 

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From 2015 through 2020, Leipold compiled a record of 37-33 with three bowl wins as the head coach of Buffalo, in addition to leading them to a program record 10 wins in 2018. Prior to Leipold's hire at Buffalo, the Bulls had just two winning seasons since their move to FBS in 1999.

Lembo and Leipold overlapped as MAC head coaches for one season in 2015, when Lembo was in his final season as the head coach of Ball State. 

"Our relationship grew during my time at Ball State and when Lance first got here," Lembo noted. "We've certainly done a great job keeping in touch and I know Lance will be a great resource for me. He already has been to a degree. He's pretty busy himself right now too...But Lance is a terrific guy. I'm grateful for him and our friendship."

Lembo inherits a program that went 3-9 last season. 2023 Buffalo head coach Maurice Linguist resigned to accept an assistant position under Kalen DeBoer at Alabama. Linguist was 14-23 at Buffalo and won the Camellia Bowl. 

Buffalo open the 2024 season on August 29 against the Lafayette Leopards.