LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Travis Goff can imagine what it was like to see Kansas footballers leaked to Memorial Stadium when they were first hired as athletic director. It was about five years ago that the Jayhawks were a laughing matter in college football.
Players leave the door from the Anderson Family Football Complex and keep a shepherd like a cow through a series of metal barriers. Finally, they entered a century-old stadium, crumbling from above via an inflatable tunnel.
“This is a really specific indication of how far the program has come,” Goff said.
He spoke this week from a perch overlooking the rebuilt Memorial Stadium, a product of $450 million investments not only on the football program but also across the north side of campus. Kansas was forced to play home games last year at Children’s Mercy Park, home of the MLS club that sports Kansas City, and Arrowhead Stadium, home to the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs.
The product will finally be on display on Saturday night when the Jayhawks will be opening season against Fresno State.
All these efforts have resulted in stadiums featuring several levels of seating on the west and north. This will be redoing the East from this season onwards.
And yes, a new tunnel that takes players from the currently affiliated soccer complex to Gameday’s stadium.
“When you talk about facilities, or when you show up physically, I think you have a correlation between past locations,” Goff said. “Now you’re thinking about the entrance to our tunnel directly from the locker room. I think the lighting and cameras, audio and everything worthy of a program of this size really portrays how far Kansas soccer has come.”
Many athletic managers have been trying to renovate and replace Memorial Stadium for many years. Just as many soccer coaches have tried to rebuild a program that did not win more than three games at any point in the 12 years.
However, Goff was able to carry out the stadium project with the support of the Kansas administration and several well-ambitious donors. Along the way, Goff also hired Lance Raypold. Lance Lepold took care of the return of the football program.
The Jayhawks have gone bowl games in two of the last three seasons, but missed out on a three-game winning streak in last year’s finale.
Neither Goff nor Leipold admitted that the temporary nature of last year’s programme was reflected in the record of losing that he played all his games on roads and home games in the Kansas City area. But both of them easily acknowledge how much they look forward to playing games again on campus.
“Last year was great. There was no excuse. We had a huge crowd, a great environment,” Goff said.
Thanks to recent House settlements and revenue sharing in Division I athletics, national budgets are becoming thinner and thinner, and large-scale capital improvement projects could become increasingly unusual. However, in the past few weeks, the Lawrence City Board has agreed to a $94.6 million tax incentive package to help close the football stadium, but the $300 million donation from Kansas alumni David Booth also includes money allocated to the facility.
“Now, clearly, we can’t question whether Kansas is all involved in football,” Goff said.
This week, there was still talk of activity around the stadium, even if the gemedae were approaching. The sign was still up, the desks and tables were locked in place, and a computer system was installed to run the concession stands.
On the field, Leipold took the players with him in some practice.
“There are still a lot of people out there who are still doing little things here. There are so many things that can be distracted. Our job is to get ready to play,” Leipold said. “It’s exciting. Hopefully, energy is something we can thrive, and that’s what we do. But our job is to prepare ourselves for a football game.
“We don’t want to downgrade all the excitement about this game, the energy and athletics department and the efforts our donors and fans have worked on it. But our job is to find a way to play our best football and win the game.”
___
Get polling alerts and updates for the AP Top 25 throughout the season. sign up here. AP College Football: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-football-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-football
