wednesday,november12,2003
sports
the university daily kansan
3B
Athletics Department reshuffles director positions
By John Domoney
jdomoney@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The musical chair-theme continued in the Athletics Department as Athletics Director Lew Perkins announced more staff changes on Friday.
Andrew Steinberg was moved from compliance auditor to director of marketing, and Brad Nachtigal was promoted from director of facilities and event management to assistant athletics director.
Terry Hines took over the role of compliance auditor, adding it to his duties as associate athletics director for legal affairs.
Gary Kempf rounded out
the changes,
becoming
assistant athletics director
for traditions.
Steinberg, a graduate of the University of Kansas Law School, will oversee the marketing
Kempf
department after serving as the compliance auditor since December 2002.
The goals for his new job are to enhance the gamedy atmosphere, develop relationships with corporate sponsors and enhance the experience for fans in all sports, Steinberg said.
While trying to market Kansas
sports programs and student athletes, Steinberg said he valued fan input.
Nachtigal said he was excited about creating a plan to enhance athletic facilities in his new role as assistant athletics director.
The plan, which will include short- and long-term goals, is in response to current athletic facilities that Nachtigal said were ranked in the middle of the Big 12 Conference.
He said he had experience with gameday operations and fans as the former director of facilities and event management, and he said he relished the opportunity for more responsibility in his job.
Hines, who joined the Ath
letics Department last year, will now be in charge of legal affairs and compliance.
He graduated from Davidson College in North Carolina in 1991, and he received a juris doctorate from the University of North Carolina Law School in 1996 and a masters of sports administration from Ohio University in 2000.
Kempf has spent the last 26 years at the University as a coach or administrator.
Hines came to the University after stints in the athletics departments at Ohio University and Davidson College.
As the new compliance auditor, he will work to educate Jayhawk coaches about NCAA regulations on a variety of issues, including recruiting. He said he noticed a growing concern for compliance issues in
collegiate athletics.
After 24 seasons as coach of the women's swimming team and 18 seasons as coach of the men's swimming team, he became assistant athletics director following the 2001- 2002 academic year.
In his role working with KU traditions, Kempf will work with the K-Club, a group for former athletes; the KU Hall of Fame; and the Williams Fund.
"My intent has always been to do whatever it takes to help the Athletics Department," Kempf said.
Kempf graduated from Kansas in 1976 after he joined the swimming team as a freshman in 1972. He won seven individual Big Eight titles and helped lead the Jayhawks to three conference championships.
Kempf said a major part of his job will be listening to outside input from alumni and fans who hope to preserve Jayhawk traditions.
The Associated Press
After the latest round of changes in the Athletics Department staff, Steinberg said he sensed a new movement.
"For the first time since I have been here," Steinberg said. "I think we have a vision and cohesiveness combined with a sense of direction."
Policies force Allen family to change seats in Fieldhouse
—Edited by Katie Bean
LAWRENCE,-Milton "Mick" Allen, Jr., the grandson of legendary University of Kansas basketball coach Forrest "Phog" Allen, lost his prime seats at Allen Fieldhouse, and he isn't sure how long he'll be able to keep the new seats he was given seven rows higher up.
"I can't say for sure, but there's a possibility that we'll either lose or have to give up our tickets—tickets that have been in our family since 1955," Allen said.
Allen's grandfather coached for 39 seasons at Kansas, where he compiled 590 victories and a
national championship in 1952. And Phog Allen is the namesake for the fieldhouse.
Allen said his four tickets—fourth row, across from the Kansas bench—were in jeopardy because university policies prohibit sons and daughters from inheriting their parents' tickets.
Allen's father, longtime Lawrence city attorney Milton "Mitt" Allen, died in 1988. When his mother, Isabel Allen, died last spring, the family's tickets went up for grabs.
Allen said he was not bitter over being moved from his previous seats, but he was a bit miffed about how the change came about.
"what happened was they sent me the order form like they had before and I sent in the $2,400 for four tickets," said Allen, who said he has missed no more than four or five games since 1970. "Several weeks went by and I noticed the check hadn't cleared, so I called and they said this was a change-of-ownership situation and that a committee would determine who would get them.
"I was told someone would be getting back to me," he said. "But another four weeks went by and I still hadn't heard anything, so I called again. And that's when they told me my seats had already been sold."
He said he wasn't given the opportunity to match or bid against the new ticket holder's offer.
"That hurt, definitely," he said. "You know, I can understand why they did it, and I know they need the money, I am not naive about this. But it was handled in such an almost-cavalier manner. That's what bothers me."
He said he's not sure if he would be able to keep his tickets next year if the University of Kansas Athletic Corporation follows through on plans to adopt a point system for determining who is sold which tickets.
Though the switch is only in the
discussion stage and has not been approved, several season ticket holders, including Allen, have been told to expect to pay $5,000 for every pair of season tickets in the prime seating area and $10,000 for every four tickets.
Earlier this year, 121 season ticket holders who had fallen behind in their payments to the Williams Fund were sent letters telling them they had to put up $5,000 or $10,000 to keep their seats. Five of those 121 are plaintiffs in a lawsuit accusing the corporation of abusing its authority.
If he's pressed for $5,000, Allen, an attorney in private practice, said he would try to come up with
the money,but he didn't know for how long.
Jim Marchioni, associate director of athletics at the University, said he looked into the handling of Allen's season tickets and came away with the impression that Allen "was taken care of very, very well."
Allen insists he wasn't mad.
"It was handled in a way that, for me, was hurtful," he said. "And he is right, I was taken care of, and I'm not alienated from the university. I'm not mad, and if they go to the $5,000 deal, I'll still be a fan, a huge fan. But it will be difficult to be as unequivocal about the Jay Hawks as I am now."
---
---