Next Kansas AD hire one of the most important in school history

On the surface, it would seem the main objective of Kansas’ future athletic director would be to help fix football – a challenge that has plagued previous KU athletic directors for the past decade.

While that is and should be a top priority of the next AD, football is not the only athletic department whose success hinges upon this crucial hire.

The search committee – headed by Chancellor Girod, national search firm TurnkeyZRG, and four select KU alumni advisors – is set to announce the new athletic director any day now.

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This new hire comes at a critical juncture in KU’s history with four of the major sports programs all needing to be addressed in one way or another, potential punishment looming from the NCAA, and the never-ending possibility of conference realignment.

Football and conference realignment

This one is obvious. Kansas football hasn’t seen a winning record since the 2008-09 season and has hired and fired four head coaches along the way.

They are coming off a winless season – their second in the past five years – and multiple assistants and staff members left the past few months for other programs.

Then just when things can’t appear to get any worse, head coach Les Miles becomes a national story for his role in the sexual misconduct charges during his time at LSU, gets fired, and so does former KU Athletic Director Jeff Long.

The new AD’s job with football will be to come in and stop the bleeding. It will be to stabilize the program, ensure the right head coach is leading the charge, and secure the confidence of the KU fanbase (and donors) that things are moving in the right direction.

If conference realignment happens again, which is very well possible, the football program has to start being competitive.

Football is the money maker in college athletics, and even though KU has one of the elite basketball programs in the country, it might not be enough to land KU in a favorable spot should conference realignment talks come up again.

Kansas hasn’t gotten a football head coaching hire right in a long time, but the new AD must. Winning brings fan support, donor support, and it will allow the new AD to better position KU in potential future conference realignment discussions.

Basketball and the NCAA investigation

Priority number one with KU basketball for the new athletic director will (or should) be to keep Bill Self happy and get his contract worked out.

As of right now, Hall of Famer Bill Self – arguably KU’s greatest or second greatest coach of all-time behind Phog Allen – is only signed through the 2021-22 season. That’s unheard of for a coach of Self’s stature.

The new AD needs to establish a good relationship with Self and immediately figure out a way to extend him into the latter part of this decade.

This new AD hire is also important because they will need to show poise and control with the NCAA infractions case currently levied against KU.

The case is currently being handled by the Independent Resolution Accountability Process (IARP). The IARP is a committee made up of non-NCAA employees who will determine whether the many Level 1 violations charged against Kansas and Self are warranted.

Back in February, Self said he expects a decision late summer or early fall, so the new athletic director needs to be prepared for what may happen if those violations are upheld.

Keeping care of Kansas basketball is a big deal around these parts.

Women’s basketball

The women’s basketball team at Kansas just wrapped up its sixth season under current head coach Brandon Schneider.

In those six seasons, Schneider’s teams have amassed just one winning season. They have only 14 total conference wins in those six years and have never reached postseason play.

I wrote about this a month ago, stating that Schneider’s time should be over. The new AD needs to make that a reality.

READ MORE: Brandon Schneider’s time with Kansas WBB should be coming to an end

I realize that Schneider’s contract runs through March 2022 – thanks to former AD Sheahon Zenger giving Schneider a completely unwarranted contract extension in 2018 – but it’s time. The women’s team will always come in second in a popularity contest with the men’s squad, but that doesn’t mean we should settle for them coming in ninth or last place in the Big 12 every year.

Whether it is now or in a year from now, the new AD will have an important decision to make about the future of our women’s hoops program.

Baseball

The Kansas baseball team is in its 19th season under head coach Ritch Price. Price is the all-time winningest coach in program history with over 500 wins and has been instrumental in upgrading the baseball facilities at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.

However, Price’s coaching record averages just slightly over .500 during his time at Kansas, and his teams have never won a Big 12 conference championship.

His teams also have just one Big 12 Tournament title (2006) and only three NCAA Tournament appearances in his 19 seasons – the last one coming in 2014.

And just recently, Price was arrested for a DUI and suspended for two weeks by previous AD Jeff Long.

Despite all of Price’s contributions, it appears as though it may be time for a fresh change in leadership. The new athletic director will need to take a hard look at the current and future direction of the baseball program.

This job will be a tough one for any incoming AD. With so many challenges lying ahead that will shape the future of Kansas Athletics, that makes this hire one of the most important in school history.