Kansas opens up the vault for new AD Jeff Long

Published 3:18 pm Thursday, July 5, 2018

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Beep, beep, beep — it’s the noise loudly resonating through Lawrence, Kansas, where the University of Kansas backed up the proverbial Brinks truck and shoveled money from the vault for its new athletic director.

In need of an athletics upgrade, mainly on the football side since Kansas basketball is doing just fine, the school on Thursday hired former Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long with a five-year contract and a hefty price tag of $1.5 million annually. 

Long replaces Sheahon Zenger, who was fired in May when Kansas Chancellor Doug Girod cited “progress in key areas has been elusive,” referencing the need for change at the top of the athletic department.

The salary — Kansas is on the hook for just $200,000 while Kansas Athletics, Inc. covers the rest with private funds — instantly propels the Kansas job to fifth nationally and second in the Big 12 behind Oklahoma’s Joe Castiglione. The longtime leader of the Sooners’ athletic department received an extension in May that exceeds $1.5 million.

By Long’s standards, the salary isn’t far off — he made $1.2 million at Arkansas in 2016-17. It is, however, a new trend at Kansas.

Zenger was among the lowest-paid athletic directors at public Big 12 institutions, according to a database compiled by AthleticDirectorU.com.  Only Kansas State’s Gene Taylor ($500,000) and Oklahoma State’s Mike Holder ($644,372) came in lower than Zenger’s $700,000 annual salary for the 2017-18 fiscal year. In June, Oklahoma State announced a raise for Holder that will pay him $950,000.

Long’s contract contains an interesting nugget that calls for a contract extension “equal to the length of the penalties” should Kansas be placed under any federal, state, NCAA or Big 12 investigation restrictions or probation for the football, men’s basketball, women’s basketball or women’s volleyball programs. This protects Long against potential sanctions that may have occurred prior to his hiring, such as an FBI probe that alleged the guardian of men’s basketball player Silvia De Sousa accepted payments as part of a nationwide bribery scandal.

Kansas has its protections, too. Long would owe the school a $3 million buyout should he leave before the start of his third year. That figure dips to $1.5 million prior to the fourth year and $1 million before the start of his fifth year.

Long comes from the Castiglione administration tree, having served as an associate athletic director at Oklahoma in the early 2000s. He spent time as an athletic director in the Big East and Southeastern Conference at Pittsburgh and Arkansas, respectively, and holds the distinct title as the first chairman of the College Football Playoff selection committee.

At Arkansas, Long made notable football hires by bringing in Bobby Petrino and Bret Bielema, the latter of which fizzled out last year amid a 4-8 campaign. Long spearheaded a fundraising campaign in 2011 that called for $320 million in facility upgrades over a 30-year period. In 2015, he was named SportsBusiness Journal and SportsBusiness Daily Athletic Director of the Year. He was fired in 2017 when Arkansas Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz said Long “lost the support of many of our fans, alumni, key supporters, and members of the university leadership, support that I believe is critical in our pursuit of excellence.”

He didn’t last long on the open market, as Kansas chose to bring in an experienced administrator with a football background.

Long’s immediate priority is elevating an ailing program that hasn’t won more than five games in a decade. The Jayhawks have just one double-digit win season since joining the Big 12 in 1996.

Zenger had a reputation for his failed football coaching hires, most notably Charlie Weis in 2011. Weis’ tenure ended after a miserable 6-22 campaign. Zenger then hired David Beaty, who is 3-33 in his first three seasons. Kansas football coaches had a 10-62 record under Zenger’s seven-year watch.

“Jeff has a record of integrity, experience in hiring coaches, ties with other Bowl Championship Series schools, effective fundraising and a willingness to lead on national issues affecting college athletics,” said Drue Jennings, a Kansas alumnus who helped Girod lead the search process. “We can be proud that he’s joining us at KU, and we can be confident that Kansas Athletics is in good hands under his leadership.”


Isabella covers Big 12 athletics for CNHI newspapers and websites.