Lance Leipold gives more on the Jeff Grimes hire, playing UNLV

Head Coach Lance Leipold has a lot on his plate as bowl practices begin for the Jayhawks ahead of their match up with UNLV on Dec. 26. Leipold discussed transitioning new offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes in, the transfer portal and getting the team ready for the bowl game through everything else that needs to be focused on in December.

After being hired earlier this week, Grimes arrived at Kansas on Friday night. There is a lot that needs to happen before he can throw himself into the role of offensive coordinator, and Leipold is letting the process play itself out.

“He's watched his first practice,” Leipold said. “We've got some recruits here. He's going to meet some of them briefly, but he's just trying to get the lay of the land. He's going to watch and learn, see our practice. He's going to have a chance to evaluate our personnel."

They will not waste much time and Grimes will soon be out on the road recruiting.

"We're going to get him out and meet some of our recruits," Leipold said. "And again, we moved very fast on this. Okay, some of this is 72 hours at a time, and we'll continue to, but he'll be involved in watching and being part of this, that we're hoping to make this an easy transition for everyone.”

When searching for their next offensive coordinator candidate, Leipold had other members of the staff meet with Grimes, even though the ultimate decision came down to himself. He was looking for someone who could pick up where the offense left off, and can use the current personnel the way that they have had success.

“I told the team today when I introduced them, my first responsibility was to add to our program for their sake and to make sure it was somebody that could fit,” Leipold said. “And again, we've talked a lot in these rooms. We've talked a lot in different areas about alignment and how important that is and what has really helped this program move forward as quickly as it has. And I feel that Jeff Grimes is the perfect fit to help us continue on that path.”

When he was let go by Baylor on Nov. 26, Leipold spoke to Grimes about coming to Lawrence to watch bowl practices before Andy Kotelnicki took the job at Penn State. It was easy for Leipold to look in his direction when Kotelnicki did leave.

“I was extremely excited for his interest,” Leipold said. “When he was let go, I reached out to him, invited him up and said, ‘did you want to come up? And you, if you want to come up and watch some bowl practice, I'd love to get a chance to just talk with you and why.’ And he had said that were already talking in those regards before the position opened up.”

Even though Grimes’ tenure at Baylor ended on a down note, Leipold knew he was still the coach that he wanted, despite the struggles he had last year.

“If you look back after the ‘21 season, Jeff Grimes was one of the hottest coordinators in the country,” Leipold said. “Okay, well, that was a team that's picked to take last and won the league. You look at their team this last year, they played a lot of young players and with young players, unfortunately can cause inconsistencies and not always the success they are now.”

With the Rebels on the schedule for next year and now the bowl game, Leipold has gained a good amount of respect for what they have accomplished, especially offensively.

“A great year by them, one of their best years in, I don't know what they say, 30 years or so,” Leipold said. “They do a great job on offense. Schematically, there are some things that principles are a little bit and they use option game like we do. They've got a stable of backs that can make people miss. They've got an excellent receiver, a very good tight end that they use.”

Leipold also mentioned how impressed he has been with redshirt freshman quarterback Jayden Maiava, who has thrown 14 touchdown passes in 13 games.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Jayhawks are seeing some familiar looks from last bowl season, as Barry Odom, the head coach for UNLV was the defensive coordinator for Arkansas for their season leading up to the Liberty Bowl. Now the Jayhawks will get to see Odom on the opposite sideline.

“Part of this was coach Odom was at Arkansas last year,” Leipold said. “Right around this time is when he got the UNLV job. So you kind of look back at those Arkansas games from the regular season a year ago in our bowl prep and you can see some things that again that carry over to what they're doing this year.”

The Jayhawks are a double-digit but Leipold said they have to be ready to play.

“They're a dangerous team and we've got to be ready,” Leipold said.