A KU Football Twitter Fight 🥊

• 🏈 Twitter fights and defining the rebuild

• 📝 Quick Links: KU Hoops Injury

• 🔒 Surprise Hoops Recruiting Visit

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EVERYTHING IN THIS NEWSLETTER IS BASED UPON WHAT I AM HEARING FROM PEOPLE I TRUST. PLEASE DO NOT MISTAKE THIS FOR FACT OR FOR ACTUAL JOURNALISM, WHICH HAS VERIFICATION STANDARDS THAT I HAVE NOT ADHERED TO. I DO NOT GUARANTEE THE ACCURACY OF THE CONTENT.

Monday Night KU Twitter Fight 🥊

Note: I was going to write an analysis of KU football’s offensive play calling today. I’m pushing that to later in the week, because I think the following is an important conversation. I hope you don’t mind.

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We’ve come a long way… and sometimes it’s easy to forget that.

Some context: It’s been a tense few days for KU fans.

The disappointing offensive performance against Illinois caused a stir on social media. That panic was amplified Monday afternoon when a tweet appeared to come from the Twitter account of Lance Leipold’s wife, Kelly Leipold, expressing frustration about fan support. The tweet was quickly deleted, but a screenshot made the rounds.

Kelly Leipold later distanced herself from the post in a public statement, but the conversation that followed sparked an emotional reaction among KU fans.

Whether the tweet was real or not, it highlights a key issue: fan support when things aren’t going well.

And that’s a conversation worth having right now.

KUHearings’ Take:

I understand the frustration — both from fans and (potentially) the Leipold family. The message itself wasn’t entirely wrong, but it came at a bad time.

Rebuilding Kansas football was never going to be an uninterrupted path to success. In fact, how KU responds to adversity is part of what will define this rebuild. 

• As I’ve said many times before, I believe Leipold cares deeply about fan support. It’s critical to the long-term viability and success of the football program.

  • Fan support is a critical factor in conference realignment. The Big 12 Commissioner just said as much on Big Noon Kickoff.

• Part of what makes Leipold a good coach for KU is his relentless drive to push for improvement, even when progress is already happening.

• Despite that clear progress, look at the seating chart for KU vs. TCU at Arrowhead Stadium.

• If you’re Leipold, how do you not feel frustrated seeing that?

  • Honestly, KU wants a coach who hates seeing empty seats.

    • Leipold has come to KU and fought for every inch, whether it's on the field, in recruiting with NIL, or in pushing for better resources to build a sustainable football program. He refuses to settle.

• At the same time, KU has provided unprecedented support to Leipold.

  • The school is building a new football stadium that will cost well over $500M when it’s complete.

  • The coach has gotten three raises in two years while flirting with (and turning down) other jobs.

  • KU sold out seven of the last 12 homes games in Lawrence. The fans are buying in — and let’s be real, it’s no longer a cheap ticket.

    • When fans are buying in, they’re going to be upset after losses. That’s completely fair.

      • I don’t blame anyone for being upset about the Tweet. KU has stepped up.

• This is not the same Kansas football program that struggled for years. Leipold has elevated the program, and with that comes higher expectations.

  • However, those expectations mean both the coach and the fans have to be in it for the long haul.

    • It means the coach shouldn’t have to worry about fan support after his first non-conference loss in three seasons.

    • And it means the fans shouldn’t have to worry if the coach will leave every offseason.

This brings me back to the tweet. If the Leipold frustration is real — and I believe it is — I get it. The timing of the post was wrong. But I’m not sure the message should be ignored.

At its core, it’s a reminder: We’re not there yet.

The next few weeks are critical for KU football. The team is scaling new heights, and these are the exact moments where the program has historically fallen.

That’s why it’s so important to have a coach who will obsess over making sure KU doesn’t fall off the ledge again. Even if it pisses off a few people along the way.

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🏀 ICYMI: KU Hoops PG Shakeel Moore suffered a broken foot. I shared this with VIP in yesterday’s newsletter. You can read the latest here.

🏈 Kansas OC Jeff Grimes addressed the media Tuesday. Here’s his press conference. And here are three quick quotes that stood out. 1, 2, and 3.

🏈 You can watch Lance Leipold’s press conference ahead of the UNLV game here.

Surprise Hoops Recruiting Visit

Kansas met with its top target Darryn Peterson on Monday. But I believe he wasn’t the top target the Jayhawks visited while they were on the West Coast.