photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

The Kansas Jayhawks celebrate winning the Big 12 Tournament final against TCU at CPKC Stadium Saturday, Nov. 9, 2024 in Kansas City, Mo.

The year in University of Kansas athletics was one of wild reversals of fortune.

Teams like KU soccer and women’s basketball experienced some of their lowest lows and highest highs in the span of just a few weeks, ultimately rallying on their way to postseason success.

Meanwhile, some of the biggest headlines of 2024 came from longstanding records that fell across the department, from running back and Lawrence native Devin Neal’s accomplishments on the gridiron to a trio of consecutive titles on the golf course.

Here’s a look back at the prominent storylines that defined the year in KU sports.

photo by: AP Photo/Charlie Riedel

Kansas’ Wyvette Mayberry, left, Elle Evans (21) and S’Mya Nichols (12) pose with the Kansas mascot during the NCAA college Big 12 women’s basketball media day, Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2024, in Kansas City, Mo.

Jan. 31 and on: KU women build around S’Mya Nichols

The Kansas women’s basketball team opened its 2023-24 season 10-10 and looked, if not dead in the water, exceptionally unlikely to match the postseason heights of its previous two campaigns.

Then, as head coach Brandon Schneider has relayed numerous times since, KU made freshman guard S’Mya Nichols its “primary decision-maker” — on a team that started a senior and three super-seniors around her — and won 10 of its remaining 13 games. The lone losses were at Baylor and then to two teams that became No. 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament in Texas and USC.

That was just the beginning of the program’s gradual remodeling in Nichols’ image.

Transfers like Elle Evans, of North Dakota State, mentioned the opportunity to play with rising sophomore Nichols as a big factor in the decision to attend KU. This fall, Schneider cited both Nichols’ presence and her work as a recruiter in helping the Jayhawks land one of the best recruiting classes in program history, with three nationally regarded players in Jaliya Davis, Libby Fandel and Keeley Parks and a high-upside play in Tatyonna Brown. And even off the court, Schneider has spoken about consulting Nichols on simple decisions like what players should wear on road trips.

Meanwhile, Nichols has continued to play at an extremely high level. In late November she scored at least 20 points in five straight games.

photo by: Kansas Athletics

Kansas women’s golf coach Lindsay Kuhle

Sept. 25, Oct. 8, Oct. 20: KU women’s golf wins three straight events for first time ever

After concluding the 2023-24 season by earning a second straight at-large bid to NCAA regionals — KU had previously reached regionals only once prior to head coach Lindsey Kuhle’s arrival — and finishing one spot short of a trip to nationals, the Jayhawks caught fire in the fall.

Having previously won one team event under Kuhle back in February, KU took three titles in a row, at the Golfweek Red Sky Classic in Wolcott, Colorado (Sept. 23-25), the Marilynn Smith Invitational in Lawrence (Oct. 7-8) and White Sands Bahamas Fall Invitational on Paradise Island (Oct. 18-20).

Part of what made the run so impressive was the variety of golfers who took the lead. In Colorado, senior Lily Hirst tied for fourth place in the competition by shooting a 7-under 209. In Lawrence, junior Amy DeKock and senior Johanna Ebner took part in a four-way tie for second at 3-under 213, with Ebner shooting one of the lowest 18-hole scores in team history (a 66) in her second round.

In the Bahamas, KU was tied for fourth place entering the final day of play. The Jayhawks then became the only team to shoot under par on that day, passing Baylor, Purdue and Texas A&M for the momentous title.

“What a tournament, what a trip and a once in a lifetime experience for these ladies,” Kuhle said in a press release. “… We knew we had a chance to win if we had four scores under par and that was our goal. We believed until the very end.”

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas forward Lexi Watts is dog-piled after scoring the game-winning goal in overtime against West Virginia during the Big 12 tournament at CPKC Stadium on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024 in Kansas City, Mo.

Oct. 13-Nov. 9: Lie’s squad hits stride for eight straight wins, Big 12 title

Inheriting a program that had won one conference match the prior year, KU soccer coach Nate Lie didn’t necessarily face high expectations in his first year on the job after coming over from Xavier. But the program had a high-pressure style Lie knew he wanted to instill and a baseline goal of making the Big 12 tournament at CPKC Stadium in Kansas City, Missouri.

While the Jayhawks showed some early promise, they didn’t look consistently like a team that knew how to win. They settled for a 2-2 draw on Aug. 22 while outshooting Tulsa 30-6. They gave up a late equalizer to South Florida on Aug. 29 and a late winner to Iowa State on Sept. 12 in Lie’s Big 12 debut, both after the 84-minute mark. A 3-0 home loss to Oklahoma State that dropped KU to 2-4 in league play was the low point.

The Jayhawks recovered to tie BYU but still sat in 12th place in the league — their preseason projection was a tie for 12th — with only a dozen teams set to make the conference tournament.

They proceeded to win four straight matches, including three on the road, to soar into sixth place and earn not just a place in that tournament but a more favorable spot.

Holding on for dear life against lower-seeded Arizona State in the first round was a promising sign. But what followed was unthinkable: In the span of a week, KU took down the No. 3, No. 2 and No. 1 teams in the conference to win the tournament outright.

The Jayhawks avenged an earlier loss to West Virginia on a 101st-minute golden goal by Lexi Watts. Four days later, they scored twice off corner kicks against the league’s top defensive team, Texas Tech, and weathered 30 minutes on the back foot to reach the title game. And then, after KU’s signature press forced a mistake by TCU, Makayla Merlo scored her first and only goal as a Jayhawk on a penalty kick to beat the seventh-ranked Horned Frogs and win KU a title.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas wide receiver Quentin Skinner (0) and Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels (6) celebrate with Kansas running back Devin Neal (4) after Neal’s third touchdown of the day during the third quarter against Colorado on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024 at Arrowhead Stadium.

Nov. 9-30: KU football mounts late-season charge, falls short in anticlimactic finale

A once-promising Kansas football season hit one low point after the Jayhawks gave up three late touchdown drives at ASU and fell to 1-5 entering a bye week, then rock bottom when they fumbled away the Sunflower Showdown to drop to 2-6 ahead of their second open date.

To reach a third straight bowl game for the first time in program history, they would need to win four straight games. Inconveniently for KU, however, the first three matchups were against three of the Big 12’s top teams in 2024: Iowa State, unbeaten BYU on the road and Colorado.

In a development that only made sense in the context of a broadly inexplicable KU season, the Jayhawks beat all three but stumbled at the finish line and lost by four touchdowns to Baylor on Nov. 30.

Against ISU, Jeff Grimes and the offense came to play, as quarterback Jalon Daniels accounted for 363 yards and three total touchdowns and the running back Neal became KU’s all-time leading rusher. At BYU, the defense took center stage with a late-game stand near the goal line, and it helped that the Jayhawks got some good fortune when a punt by Daniels hit a Cougar in the head.

And then, facing an offense led by two of the nation’s top players in Shedeur Sanders and Travis Hunter on senior day, KU played its best overall game of the season and kept Sanders off the field altogether. The Jayhawks controlled the time-of-possession battle, largely thanks to either the best or second-best game of Neal’s career, a dominant 287-total-yard, four-touchdown showing.

It all came crashing down the next week in Waco, Texas, as KU gave up more than 600 yards in a stadium where it has still never won, sending out a memorable senior class on a sour note.

photo by: Nick Krug

Kansas head coach Lance Leipold congratulates Kansas running back Devin Neal (4) following the Jayhawks’ 37-21 win over Colorado on Saturday, Nov. 23, 2024 at Arrowhead Stadium.

Best of the rest

Jan. 11 and on: Devin Neal announces return to KU, rewrites record books

It’s hard to imagine now, but the Jayhawks could have gone through the season without Neal at all. When he took the field against Kansas State on Nov. 18, 2023, he thought it would be his last-ever home game as a Jayhawk. Instead, he came back to KU for his senior year and finished his career with school records for rushing yards (4,343), rushing touchdowns (49) and 100-yard rushing performances (20).

March 5: Redwine selected for Olympic team

KU track coach Stanley Redwine was picked to lead the U.S. men’s track and field team at the 2024 Olympics in Paris over the summer. Ever humble, he said of the selection, “Being around those athletes, there’s not a lot that they really need from me, but I will get more out of it than they will.”

Injured players Kansas guard Kevin McCullar Jr. and Kansas center Hunter Dickinson watch the second half from the sidelines on Wednesday, March 13, 2024 at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. Photo by Nick Krug

March 11-23: Protracted injury saga hampers tournament run

The KU men’s basketball team struggled with depth all season, but its issues were never more pronounced than at the worst time, in the month of March. Head coach Bill Self declared on his “Hawk Talk” radio show on March 11 that center Hunter Dickinson, who had recently suffered a dislocated shoulder, and guard Kevin McCullar Jr., who had dealt for nearly two months with a bone bruise to his knee, would sit out the Big 12 tournament with an eye toward getting healthy for the NCAA Tournament.

Dickinson came back, but on March 19, Self said upon arriving in Salt Lake City that McCullar would miss the NCAA Tournament due to injury. He later made a lengthy social media statement to defend McCullar from criticism. The depleted Jayhawks had just enough to scrape by Samford but got blown out by Gonzaga in the second round, inspiring Self to pursue a far greater level of depth in the offseason.

photo by: Carter Gaskins/Special to the Journal-World

KU’s Devin Loudermilk clears his high jump to take first place at the Kansas Relays at Rock Chalk Park on Saturday, April 20, 2024.

May 9-11: Four athletes win outdoor track and field titles

Junior Alexander Jung (decathlon), junior Devin Loudermilk (high jump), sophomore Anthony Meacham (pole vault) and junior Dimitrios Pavlidis (discus) won Big 12 championships in their respective events, with Jung breaking a 27-year-old KU record.

May 21-24: KU baseball does just about everything in Big 12 tournament

Head coach Dan Fitzgerald’s second trip to the Big 12 tournament could best be described as eventful. After a brutal sweep at Texas derailed their postseason chances late in the regular season, the Jayhawks slipped past Kansas State in a nailbiter, missed golden opportunities in a 7-5 loss to top-seeded Oklahoma, blew a 9-0 lead to TCU and still won, then the same day blew a 6-0 lead to OU and lost.

photo by: Missy Minear/Kansas Athletics

KU athletic director Travis Goff speaks during the beam ceremony at David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium in Lawrence on Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024.

Sept. 19: KU holds topping-out ceremony for football stadium construction

The university marked a key milestone at the approximate halfway point of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium construction with the lifting of the final steel beam, what is known as a “topping-out” ceremony.

Nov. 12: Self becomes all-time winningest coach

Self passed the legendary Phog Allen as the winningest coach in Kansas basketball history with his 591st victory, a 77-69 takedown of Michigan State in Atlanta. In his usual style, Self downplayed the accomplishment, citing the higher number of games played per year and the program tradition that Allen helped to establish, from which Self has benefited.

Dec. 6-8: Weekend transforms KU football coaching staff

Speculation about defensive coordinator Brian Borland’s future began to swirl after KU’s season-ending loss to Baylor, but the news on Dec. 6 that offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes was leaving for Wisconsin came out of nowhere. By the following morning, though, Daniels had announced plans to return for another year and co-offensive coordinator Jim Zebrowski had been named Grimes’ replacement. Then, the following day, Borland retired and was replaced by co-defensive coordinator D.K. McDonald. Throw in the rehiring of Matt Lubick two days later and it was one of the most consequential weekends for KU football staffing ever.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas setter Camryn Turner wipes away tears after being defeated by Florida Saturday, Dec. 7, 2024 in Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena in Lawrence.

Dec. 7: KU volleyball suffers heartbreak again

For the second year in a row, the Kansas volleyball team drew a powerful second-round opponent at Horejsi Family Volleyball Arena, and for the second year in a row it fell 15-13 in a fifth set before its home fans. This time, though, the Jayhawks also had to say goodbye to a class of six key seniors who helped shape the program.