Kansas Athletics: Looking back on year one under AD Travis Goff

It’s been nearly one year to the day since Kansas alum Travis Goff returned to his alma mater to take the reigns as Athletic Director, and what a year it’s been.

The hire was lauded by many KU fans when it was announced, and for good reason.

Goff had incredible fundraising experience that KU desperately needed – especially for football. At Tulane, Goff led a $70 million fundraising campaign following Hurricane Katrina that allowed the university to build its first on-campus football stadium.

At Northwestern, he helped raise $460 million for athletics and increased their annual fundraising efforts from $6-8 million to $60 million throughout his tenure. During his time at Northwestern, Goff was also mentored by former President of Athletics & Recreation and now-ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips, making him a prime candidate for an AD position.

And to top it all off, Goff was a Kansas boy (born in Dodge City) and a former KU graduate who first got his feet wet in college athletics by working for the Williams Fund after he graduated.

In just one year, Goff has left his mark on nearly every athletics program in one way or another. Let’s take a look at some of the ways he’s impacted Kansas Athletics in a short amount of time.

Football

Priority number one for Goff coming into the job was no secret – hire a head football coach.

The debacle with Les Miles capped off a decade of bad hires and questionable decisions, one after another. It had to be fixed.

The program appears to be on the right path thanks to Goff’s hiring of Lance Leipold last spring.

Although the Jayhawks went just 2-10 this past season, you could see by season’s end that progress had been made.

The team was competitive, they were in games late, and that’s all you could ask for in year one under a new regime that had no full offseason to work with the team.

The highlight of the season came when the Jayhawks beat the Texas Longhorns in Austin for the first time in school history and ended KU’s abysmal 13-year Big 12 road losing streak.

https://twitter.com/KU_Football/status/1380317994467913730?s=20&t=hDobDw0Xa3335V3Bv5dSHA

Under Goff, the football stadium is also seeing improvements.

KU Athletics announced last month the new Touchdown Club in the south endzone of David Booth Kansas Memorial Stadium. The 5,500 square foot Touchdown Club nearly doubles the seating capacity from the previous structure and will feature five unique seating options, all-inclusive food and beverages, and in-seat service beginning this upcoming season.

Goff’s next big task will be to raise funds for a full-scale renovation of the stadium – something each of his predecessors have failed to do. But based on his track record, I think it’s safe to assume that announcement is more of a “when” than “if.”

Women’s Golf

Goff’s second hire at KU came in July 2021 when he announced Lindsay Kuhle as the new head women’s golf coach.

By all accounts, Kuhle was an excellent hire due to her consistent success as head coach of women’s golf at the University of Denver.

At Denver, Kuhle led a program that won seven conference titles and qualified for the NCAA Tournament in each of the eight seasons when it was held. Kuhle was also named the Summit League’s Coach of the Year seven times during her tenure.

Among the Jayhawks’ tournaments this year, the team has finished as high as third overall, and is getting set to compete in the Big 12 Tournament starting April 22.

Women’s Basketball

Heading into this season, the KU women’s basketball team was in need of a major turnaround. Head coach Brandon Schneider was entering his seventh year as head coach with little success to show for it and was entering the last year of his contract.

He delivered in a big way.

The Jayhawks finished the year 21-10 overall and fifth in the Big 12. That record was good enough to earn them their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2013, where they walloped Georgia Tech 77-58 to earn their first NCAA Tournament win since 2013 as well.

Schneider was named Big 12 Coach of the Year and three Jayhawks received All-Big 12 honors.

As a result, Goff awarded Schneider a four-year deal that keeps the head coach in Lawrence through the 2025-26 season.

Assuming Schneider can maintain and build upon the success he had this year, that contract looks very good for Goff and KU.

Men’s Basketball

Kansas basketball is a winning machine under Bill Self, as evidenced by their storybook national championship run this season. You couldn’t ask for the program to be in better hands.

Luckily for Goff, that means little is needed on his part other than keeping the head honcho happy and facilities up to date.

One way he’s done that so far is by keeping Self’s assistants well-compensated through recently-announced, one-year rolling contracts for Kurtis Townsend, Norm Roberts, and Jeremy Case.

Roberts’ base salary is $520,000, Townsend’s is $500,000, and Case’s is $250,000.

Townsend has been Self’s right-hand man for 18 years, and except for a stint as head coach of St. John’s and one year as an assistant at Florida, Roberts has been with Self since his days at Oral Roberts. Case was a former player under Self who was part of the 2008 national championship team.

Each of these coaches have a lot of history with Self and rewarding them for the work they do to support Self and this team was an excellent, proactive move by Goff.

Name, Image, and Likeness

One of the biggest wins for KU Athletics under Goff’s leadership this past year has been the creation of the Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) program for student-athletes.

The Jayhawk Ascend program helps KU student-athletes understand the parameters of NIL and how they can use it to their advantage. The program is also designed to help student-athletes prepare for life after graduation.

"“With the initialization of Name, Image and Likeness and the notoriety that comes with being a student-athlete at KU, Jayhawks Ascend will elevate our student-athletes and allow them to flourish in this new day and age in college athletics,” said Goff during the announcement."

This program will help KU remain competitive in the current landscape of college athletics. With the new NIL and transfer rules put in place by the NCAA over the past year, KU has to be able to offer enticing NIL deals to get some of the best talent.

The Jayhawk Ascend program initiated under Goff will allow KU to do that.

Bright Future

From hiring a head football coach to riding down Massachusetts Street in a championship parade, it’s been an exciting year from start to finish.

Kansas Athletics appears to be in great hands with Goff, and if the coming years are anything like year one has been, we’re all in for one heck of a ride.