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).
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.
University of Kansas football coach Lance Leipold has a plan to introduce the state’s Division I football stadiums in Lawrence and Manhattan.
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 (“when the stadium is complete”) and K-State’s Bill Snyder Family Stadium.
“All these things can tie together down the road,” Leipold said on Thursday. “Possibly 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’t play the last weekend (of football season) — I know there’d be scheduling things there.”
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 “a great exposure, a great experience for young men.”
According to the Kansas HS Football History website, Lawrence hasn’t played host to state title games since it hosted the 6A and 5A championships in 2003, while Manhattan hasn’t done so since hosting those same levels in 1998.
The topic of high school football came up as Leipold was discussing KU’s 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 “Champions are born in Kansas.”
KU deputy athletics director and football administrator Collin Sexton wrote in a post on X that the display was “one of the best touches in the entire stadium” and that Leipold “made sure it happened.”
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.
“The coaches association in the state of Wisconsin is a very strong organization,” Leipold said. “They give a lot of recognition for different things in that area, and they’ve kind of made it multi-use.”
And so he wanted KU to emulate it in some sense.
“Again as we’ve 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,” Leipold said.
