Kansas has fired AD Sheahon Zenger effective immediately, KU chancellor Douglas Girdon announced in a memo to Kansas faculty on Monday. He will receive a $1.4 million buyout.
"Sheahon has been a loyal Jayhawk, and our athletics department has improved in many areas under his leadership," he wrote. "But Athletics continues to face a number of challenges, and progress in key areas has been elusive. To achieve the level of success we need and expect, I have determined a change in leadership is necessary."
Zenger had run the KU athletics department since 2011. He fired Turner Gill after a 5-19 start in two seasons and hired Charlie Weis to replace him; Weis was dismissed after going 6-22 in two and a half seasons -- and then received $5.625 million in buyout payments through December of 2016. David Beaty was hired to replace Weis at the conclusion of the 2014 seasons. Beaty is 3-33 in three seasons, including a 1-26 mark in Big 12 play.
"In addition, earlier today I spoke with Coach Beaty and shared my expectation that he will continue recruiting hard and getting his team ready for the season," Girdon wrote in the memo.
Zenger signed Beaty to an extension at the conclusion of the 2016 season, which kept him under contract through 2021 and will pay him $1.7 million in 2018.
Deputy AD Sean Lester has been appointed interim AD, and prominent KU alum Drue Jennings and Korn Ferry consultant Jed Hughes have been brought in to lead the search for Zenger's full-time replacement.
As always, stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.