AMHERST, N.Y.-Monday afternoon in Alumni Arena Lance Leipold was introduced as the new head football coach for the University at Buffalo. He takes over for Jeff Quinn who was fired during the season and replace Alex Wood who was the interim head coach.
Leipold comes to UB from Wisconsin-Whitewater where he was incredibly successful posting a won loss record of 106-6. He has won five national championships and he will coach the team as they compete for a sixth national title. Leipold is a five-time winner of the American Football Coaches Association Division III coach of the year award.
UB athletic director Danny White said when he introduced the Bulls new head coach said "We were targeting successful head coaches and head coaches who have won. Coach Leipold was at the very top of the list at an early juncture.Not only does he have a compelling background beyond that in our conversations it became evident to me this is a man of high character. In short, he does it the right way."
Leipold told Two On Your Side's Stu Boyar "this is an important step because its the task at hand but this isn't about me, its about this program and this university. I'm honored to have this opportunity to be the new head football coach. We need to put things together and give everyone what they deserve in this area, something for people to get excited about and most importantly give those players a great experience, a great opportunity for success."
Leipold comes from Division III. UB is a division IA program. He said "It's football the players are just bigger and a little faster. But it's still football. Everyone's going to be on a learning curve. I'd like to think all of my experiences have helped me prepare for this opportunity."
Leipold played quarterback at Wisconsin-Whitewater and is excited to have a successful starting quarterback in Joe Licata returning for his senior season. "Anytime you have a returning starting quarterback that has been that productive its a great starting point. A thousand yard rusher, there's a lot of good building blocks there and we just need to keep filling in the pieces and equally important building depth." Senior quarterback Joe Licata told Stu "I looked up his quarterback's stats from this season. He had 41 touchdowns and six interceptions. That's the one stat I'm very concerned about is touchdown to interception ratio and you know if we can cut down the interceptions and turnovers that's obviously a huge part of the game."
Leipold said a conversation with former UB coach Turner Gil had an impact on his decision to come to UB. "I've always valued not just Turner Gil the football coach but the person, where he would put his family and give himself an opportunity and that weighed pretty heavily with me in a positive light."
