Kansas football’s coaching search will benefit from AD Jeff Long’s departure
KU AD Jeff Long is out and a new era for Kansas football will emerge as the Jayhawks get the wheels turning on a coaching search.
The Kansas football news-storm continues this week, as AD Jeff Long is reportedly done with the university just two days after the mutual parting of ways with former head coach Les Miles.
The full message from Kansas Athletics on Long’s departure can be found here.
Can confirm that Jeff Long is out as KU's AD. @Brett_McMurphy had it first. More to come... Unprecedented time for KU, which soon will be searching for a new AD and head football coach.
— Matt Tait (@mctait) March 10, 2021
Long was hired by Kansas in 2018, where he inherited a troubling football program. It may even surprise fans that he’s out the door so quickly, but it could be for the best.
While it seems Kurt Watson will fill in as interim director, for the time being, new leadership at the head of Kansas Athletics will hopefully be a positive transition going forward.
While losing a leader of any athletics program is a tough pill to swallow, Kansas fans should feel much better about the football coaching search now that Long is out the door.
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After Miles parted ways with Kansas on Monday night, it was announced that Long would be looking to an outside firm to assist in the hiring process.
The former AD was pressed with multiple questions ranging from his knowledge of Miles’ past misconduct, to his time with Arkansas in the SEC. Considering the past week’s news, this was a bad look for Long and Kansas.
Now it seems Long won’t have any influence on the decision, which also means it could be a lengthy wait for KU to make the hire.
Kansas will look to recent OC hire Mike DeBord for the time being, but it’ll be interesting to see whether or not another staff member will take up the role heading into spring practices.
The bottom line is: Kansas needs a new head coach. Now with Long out of the process, it opens up some avenues for a legitimate hire.
Plenty of names have been thrown around, such as KU alumni and NCAA coach Kevin Kane.
More. Why Kevin Kane should be the next head coach at Kansas. light
While it’s all speculative now, we should expect Kansas to put this search into gear by the end of the month. They have very little time before spring practices and with a promising roster, it’ll be important for the program to fall on its feet before summer arrives.