Jeff Long out as Kansas AD
Update: KU chancellor Douglas Girod has announced the move. Booster and prominent alum Kurt Watson will step in as interim AD while the school searches for a permanent replacement. Once that person is in place, KU will then hunt for a head coach.
We will immediately begin our search for a new athletics director. I will lead the process with the assistance of a search firm and four alumni advisors, each of whom have experience in collegiate athletics: Linda Ellis Sims, Ray Evans, John Ballard and Wayne Simien. Each of these loyal Jayhawks will bring tremendous expertise and passion to the search, and I know their counsel will benefit the process. We will move quickly but judiciously, and my hope is to have a new athletics director in place within the next few weeks.
Once a new athletics director is in place, that individual will determine next steps related to our football coach position. To assist the new athletics director make that determination once he or she arrives, I am assembling a committee of advisors who will be ready to help when called upon.
I understand time is of the essence and that our football student-athletes are eager to know who will be guiding them. But we are making long-term decisions on an athletics director and a football coach, and we cannot sacrifice the quality of a search simply for expediency. While there will be a lot of speculation regarding potential candidates for both searches, I urge Jayhawks to have faith in the process and in those who are devoting their time to assist.
Kansas will pay Long $125,000 per month through next February. Total separation payments will equal $1.375 million.
A day after giving a press conference about the direction of the head coaching search after reaching a settlement with Les Miles, Jeff Long is out as Jayhawks athletic director.
There had been a lot of speculation about whether Long would be entrusted with the hire, and now it appears clear: He will not.
Brett McMurphy was among the first to report.
A number of outlets have followed up to confirm the news.
Pete Thamel adds that there is an all-staff meeting coming up to inform athletic department staff of the move.
Long and Kansas agreed to a settlement of almost $2 million with Miles, according to details shared yesterday. When Long was asked about their responsibility to pay when it seems clear that Miles lied and said "No" when asked if there was anything in his past that could embarrass Kansas, he caught a lot of heat when he responded by dancing around the question and sharing: “That’s really a legal question as to how he could or couldn’t respond at that time,” Long told reporters yesterday. “That was his response. That is debatable whether that’s a lie, and I will leave that to our legal people to dice that out.
Earlier today, our own Zach Barnett laid out the strengths (yes, there are a few) and weaknesses of what many consider to be the toughest job in Power Five football in Lawrence.
Kansas now finds themself needing to hire an athletic director and head coach with spring ball right around the corner, and every other open FBS job filled with their pick of 10 full-time assistants and most of their support staff.
Newly hired offensive coordinator Mike DeBord, who is a college coaching veteran with previous head coaching experience from 2000-03 at Central Michigan, was appointed the acting head coach while Long determined who would be best to lead the team on an interim basis. Now that decision will also fall on someone else.
Stay tuned to The Scoop for the latest.
