10 Reasons to Hire Lance Leipold as UW Football Coach

As the University of Washington football coaching search winds down, Jedd Fisch and Lance Leipold, barring any surprises, are the names currently leading the discussion.

For those still angry or despondent that Kalen DeBoer went to Alabama, and why wouldn't he take that job — SEC, Bear Bryant, Nick Saban, a history of endless resources finally made legal, come on really? — Leipold presents almost a clone coaching replacement.

Should the UW settle on this Kansas coach to prepare the Huskies for Big Ten entry, restock the program with talent after its recent exodus of players and continue his ascending coaching career, here are 10 reasons he should come to Montlake.

1) Leipold reached 100 victories faster than any coach in NCAA history, doing so in his 106th game in 2014 — breaking the previous mark of 108 games set in 1921 by former Husky coach Gil Dobie after he had moved on to Cornell.

2) Leipold was 109-6,with 6 Division III national championships and 5 unbeaten seasons at Wisconsin-Whitewater, which exceeds DeBoer's 67-3 record, 3 NAIA titles and 3 unbeaten seasons at Sioux Falls.

3) Leipold's Jayhawks upended sixth-ranked Oklahoma 38-33 in Lawrence, Kansas, which resembled DeBoer's 37-31 victory over Texas in the Sugar Bowl. A win over the Sooners, which Fisch also has on his resume, or the Longhorns, should rate instant job consideration.

4) Speaking of bowl games, Leipold's Kansas fooball team won the Guaranteed Rate Bowl, formerly the Copper and Cactus among other names, by beating UNLV 49-36 in Phoenix on the day after Christmas, in a game the Chris Petersen-coached Huskies lost in 2015 to Oklahoma State 30-22.

5) Leipold is 59, 10 years older than DeBoer, and less likely to leave the UW job if he lands it, making Montlake his last coaching stop.

6) Hiring Leipold, who has been named as a candidate at Nebraska, Wisconsin and Michigan State, would enable him to be like any other college coach who says he's never going to leave wherever he's at, with this coach proclaiming in November, "It is our plan and expectation that [me and my wife] want to be here, and this is going to be the last job we have."

7) The South Dakota-UW connection just won't go away. In Leipold's first game at Kansas, he led the Jayhawks to a 17-14 victory over South Dakota, for the program's first win in 22 months. Leipold also beat Texas that season and finished 2-10 in his debut Big 12 season.

8) Leipold has shown he can coach in the snow, guiding the Buffalo Bulls to a 37-33 record in 2015-2020.

9) Leipold has been a patient builder, taking Kansas through 2-10, 6-7 and 9-4 seasons, and two bowl games.

10) Leipold showed he could win against West Coast football teams this past season, beating UNLV, Nevada 31-24 and BYU 38-27.

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