Zenger was unable to put a winning football product on the field in his eight-year tenureUNIV. OF KANSAS
Univ. of Kansas Chancellor Douglas Girod said that a report of KU cheerleader hazing and the FBI probe involving college basketball "had no impact" on his decision to fire AD Sheahon Zenger, according to Jesse Newell of the K.C. STAR. Girod said, "Football's most certainly the most prominent challenge that we have right now." The KU cheer team "was put on one year's probation" in September '17 for hazing, according to the school's latest organizational conduct status report. Former Adidas Dir of Global Sports Marketing for Basketball James Gatto was "cited last month in a federal indictment as part of a group that conspired to illicitly funnel payments to two KU players, believed to be Silvio De Sousa and Billy Preston, in order to secure their commitment to the school and to Adidas upon entering the NBA." Girod, when asked if both incidents played any part in Zenger's termination, repeatedly said "none whatsoever." Girod said that he "spoke with some of the athletic department's top donors and boosters" before making the decision (K.C. STAR, 5/22).
DOING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE: Girod said that he expected that KU would have a new AD named "by the end of the summer." Girod: "I've tried to spend this year understanding the model, being as supportive as I could be in trying to understand the directions we were heading with athletics. A lot of good things are going on there, but I think we've just lost some of our momentum, and that being the case, it was time for a leadership change." Asked if other organizational changes were coming for KU athletics, Girod said that he "didn't expect any but that he was 'sure we'll take a hard look at our athletic operations and decide where we need to go from there" (LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD, 5/22).
FOOTBALL IS KING: In Lawrence, Tom Keegan notes KU football is in the midst of its "worst stretch in history." Girod "can be questioned for waiting this long." He "wasn't ready to make the move at the end of the football season because he hadn't given Zenger and his tree-shaking staff time to show that they could turn 3-33 into gigantic donations." Credit Girod with "getting around to doing what had to be done" (LJWORLD.com, 5/22). In Dallas, Chuck Carlton wrote under the header, "Kansas Firing AD Sheahon Zenger Shows Football Is Still The Only Measure Of Success That Matters" (DALLASNEWS.com, 5/21).
