Lance Leipold is at Kansas and producing big things for the Jayhawks, racing into the AP Top 25 behind a 5-0 start to the season. That comes after a 2-10 record in Leipold’s first season with the program in 2021.

On Tuesday, Leipold addressed the recent vacancy at Wisconsin created by the Badgers firing Paul Chryst on Sunday. Leipold did his best to shoot down the rumor, saying he’s happy in Kansas and was not aware of the situation in Madison until he began receiving text messages (Via ESPN):

“We’re happy here. We have no plans on going anywhere,” Leipold said Tuesday…

“Anything else is rumors,” Leipold continued. “Some of these things are happening while we’re in the film room — I didn’t even know some of the stuff Sunday until later in the evening, when I’m getting all these text messages. I had no idea.”

Leipold went on to say he has a personal relationship with Chryst and his family and commented on Chryst’s strong run with the Badgers.

“Paul Chryst is a close friend. I’ve known Paul since his late father tried to recruit me to Wisconsin-Platteville. That’s a good family, a good man,” Leipold said. “That’s a guy who averaged nine wins a year and got let go. But you know, that’s a part of what we signed up for these days. It’s a changing world in a lot of different ways and that’s unfortunate.

“And I’m not questioning anyone’s decision because there’s a lot of factors that go into these [firings] that nobody really knows,” Leipold added, “but that’s me speaking as a person and as a fan, not as a coach.”

While Leipold will do his best to shoot down rumors, fans are likely to hear his name connected to the opening in Madison throughout the coaching search.