The two Kansas universities that call the Big 12 Conference home are in various stages of renewal under coaches Chris Klieman and Lance Leipold.
In Manhattan, the Wildcats took the next step in their program-wide maturation last fall, going 10-4 and upsetting TCU to win the Big 12 title game.
Down Interstate-70 in Lawrence, Leipold oversaw one of the Cinderella stories of the year, leading the Jayhawks to a 5-0 record, before sputtering down the stretch and finishing at 6-7.
Still, there’s a collective sense of optimism in Kansas sports betting that hasn’t been felt at the two programs at the same time since Bill Snyder and Mark Mangino were leading the Wildcats and Jayhawks to bowl games almost 20 years ago.
Ahead of the 2023 regular season kickoff, BetKansas.com looked at who the best coaches in the Big 12 are against the spread.
To do so, we utilized records from TeamRankings.com. For this list, only games from the coach’s current stint were included. Games played as interim coach were not included. Teams with new coaches entering the 2023 season were not included.
Big 12 Coaches Against the Spread
Kansas betting apps list Texas as the Big 12 favorite this year at +100 odds.
Where Klieman, Leipold Rank ATS
Few Big 12 coaches have fared better against the spread than Klieman, who has a 64.6% cover percentage (and a 31-17-2 record ATS) in four seasons with the Wildcats.
Leaguewide, Klieman ranks second behind TCU’s Sonny Dykes in terms of cover percentage, with the second-year Horned Frogs coach posting a 71.4% figure during his first year in 2022.
While Leipold’s ATS number isn’t quite as rosy (45.8%, good for 11th in the conference), his .320 mark in Lawrence through 25 games is higher than the school’s previous coaches (David Beaty and Les Miles) combined total of .268 between 2015 and 2020.
Leipold is the first KU coach to have a winning percentage north of .300 through two full seasons since Mangino, who departed KU with a .510 career winning percentage — finishing his eight-year tenure in Lawrence with a 50-48 record with the program.
As for the year ahead, Klieman faces a much rosier outlook than his in-state rival, with K-State holding the third best Big 12 odds of any school on BetMGM Sportsbook Kansas at +600 (to KU’s +5000 odds).
As for the two teams’ win totals in the year ahead, BetMGM Sportsbook lists KU at 5.5, while the Wildcats come in at 7.5.
