{"id":110323,"date":"2025-08-01T13:11:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-01T13:11:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/110323\/"},"modified":"2025-08-01T13:11:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T13:11:14","slug":"leipold-wants-ku-k-state-to-alternate-hosting-high-school-state-championships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/110323\/","title":{"rendered":"Leipold wants KU, K-State to alternate hosting high school state championships"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Kansas head coach Lance Leipold speaks during the Big 12 NCAA college football media day in Frisco, Texas, Wednesday, July 9, 2025.<\/p>\n


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The Kansas state high school football championships overseen by KSHAA in 2024 took place at three separate host sites: Emporia State University (6A, 5A and 4A), Hutchinson Community College (3A, 2A and 1A) and Greensburg-Kiowa County High School (8-player D-I, 8-player D-II and 6-player).<\/p>\n

In previous years, state championship games were dispersed among an even greater number of host locations, with Pittsburg State, Topeka-Hummer Sports Complex, Salina District Stadium, Fort Hays State and more in the mix.<\/p>\n

University of Kansas football coach Lance Leipold has a plan to introduce the state\u2019s Division I football stadiums in Lawrence and Manhattan.<\/p>\n

He said he has talked to Kansas State coach Chris Klieman about alternating KSHSAA state championships between the newly renovated David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium (\u201cwhen the stadium is complete\u201d) and K-State\u2019s Bill Snyder Family Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll these things can tie together down the road,\u201d Leipold said on Thursday. \u201cPossibly my idea was (at) whichever site the KU-K-State game would be played, the other school would host that year, and try to formulate that way. But we don\u2019t play the last weekend (of football season) \u2014 I know there\u2019d be scheduling things there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leipold stressed that he has nothing against the lower-division sites that have hosted state championships in years past but that he thinks the games should take place at Football Bowl Subdivision stadiums, as \u201ca great exposure, a great experience for young men.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the Kansas HS Football History website, Lawrence hasn\u2019t played host to state title games since it hosted the 6A and 5A championships in 2003, while Manhattan hasn\u2019t done so since hosting those same levels in 1998.<\/p>\n

The topic of high school football came up as Leipold was discussing KU\u2019s ongoing fall camp because of a recent addition to the David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium renovations. The KU football team posted on social media an image from the new stadium of a row of 10 helmets from teams that had won state football titles in 2024 (apparently nine from KSHSAA and one from the Kansas Approved School Championships) below text displaying the message \u201cChampions are born in Kansas.\u201d <\/p>\n

KU deputy athletics director and football administrator Collin Sexton wrote in a post on X that the display was \u201cone of the best touches in the entire stadium\u201d and that Leipold \u201cmade sure it happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leipold, who previously coached at Wisconsin-Whitewater, explained on Thursday that he was inspired by an atrium area at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe coaches association in the state of Wisconsin is a very strong organization,\u201d Leipold said. \u201cThey give a lot of recognition for different things in that area, and they\u2019ve kind of made it multi-use.\u201d<\/p>\n

And so he wanted KU to emulate it in some sense.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain as we\u2019ve talked about since our arrival, recruiting the state and recognizing the efforts of the high school programs, the high school coaches and all those things were going to be important to us,\u201d Leipold said.<\/p>\n

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\"Author<\/p>\n

Written By Henry Greenstein<\/p>\n


\n Henry is the sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com, and serves as the KU beat writer while managing day-to-day sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (B.A., Linguistics) and Arizona State University (M.A., Sports Journalism). Though a native of Los Angeles, he has frequently been told he does not give off “California vibes,” whatever that means. <\/p>\n

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