Kansas football: Fire Zenger banner a waste of money

Many Kansas football fans are not pleased with the KU Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger. Some are calling for big changes and said so Saturday.

Over the past twenty years, Kansas Jayhawk fans have settled for interesting Athletic directors. Dr. Sheahon Zenger is tame compared to Al Bohl or Lew Perkins. As a matter of fact, I think Zenger deserves far more credit than he receives. I don’t like every decision. On the other hand, I can’t imagine trying to juggle all of his responsibilities. It is a huge task.

Huge task or not, many Kansas fans are disappointed with Zenger because of the mediocre football program. They want Zenger replaced and hired someone to fly a banner over Saturday’s Sunflower Showdown. Social media exploded with reaction to the Fire Zenger banner. Whoever paid for the stunt wasted their money.

The Kansas football program has suffered since Zenger took over in Lawrence in 2011.  While I thought hiring Charlie Weis was a creative idea, it was a huge, costly mistake.  It is especially disappointing when you look at some of the coaches available at the time. Many of them are doing well and might have been successful at KU.

I have not seen anything official but believe there are just as many fans in favor of Zenger as those against him.  I know one fan and KU employee who likes Zenger. He is in charge of the Kansas basketball program. In addition, the university recently gave Zenger a contract extension.

Survey: Zenger not among the best in the business

A recent poll compiled  by Bruce Feldman in Sports Illustrated lists the nation’s best Athletic Directors.  He considered a variety of factors in his anonymous survey of media members and among athletic directors.  He wanted to find what makes these individuals good at their jobs and who were the best. The results surprised me.

Next: KU should have won the Sunflower Showdown

Feldman considered issues that that make a good athletic director and wanted to know who did the best job. The Kansas Athletic Director is not included in the final result.  Hundreds of other athletic directors did not make the list. Zenger is tops on coach Bill Self’s list but even the Hall of Fame Kansas basketball coach knows KU needs a successful football program.