Memphis, Tenn. — On the eve of officially guiding the Kansas football team onto the field for its first bowl game in 14 years, KU coach Lance Leipold was asked if he had any special pregame speeches planned for his players.
“You know me better than that, don’t you,” Leipold responded with a smile.
There’s no doubt that the second-year Kansas coach will have some important words for his team before they take the field for the 4:30 p.m. kickoff against Arkansas at Simmons Liberty Bowl Stadium. But the goal, Leipold said, is for those words to be reminiscent of all of the other pregame speeches and scouting-report reminders that he gave this team during the Jayhawks’ 6-6 season.
After four weeks of practices, countless film sessions and enough of a deep dive on all of the things Arkansas does and does not do, Leipold believes that the players have more than enough incentive to go play well and do not need him to shout and scream or bang his head into a locker to get them fired up.
Throughout his 20 minutes with the media during Tuesday’s news conference at the Hilton DoubleTree Hotel in downtown Memphis, Leipold repeated one hope when discussing his team’s preparedness for Wednesday’s game.
“Hopefully it shows when they go out and play tomorrow,” he said on multiple occasions.
Leipold’s aversion to any rah-rah speeches comes from both his perspective of how those types of gestures are portrayed nationally and also his time as a player, which he said was “many moons ago.”
“I’ve always tried to remember what the coach said in the locker room for a pregame, fire-up speech, if I could remember it by the time I hit the field,” Leipold said. “That’s good movie stuff and some other things, but I hope by then their opportunity to play in their 13th game and in the only game on (TV), all those things should motivate young men to play well for themselves and for the program. So, I think that’ll take care of itself.”
“I just want, for both teams, let’s have a heck of a football game, play it the way it’s supposed to be played and see what happens,” Leipold said.
After his time on the podium was finished, Leipold was asked to pose for a quick photo with the Liberty Bowl trophy, which is a replica of the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, where the bowl game originated. Leipold’s not exactly a huge fan of photo opps like these, but he understands their importance and his obligation to participate.
Roughly 30 minutes earlier, after his own Tuesday press conference, Arkansas coach Sam Pittman was asked to pose for the same photo. Rather than just standing behind the trophy the way Leipold did, Pittman actually rang the bell. Leipold passed.
“I’d rather ring it after we win it,” he said.
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