THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
5B
PERKINS
(CONTINUED FROM 1B)
don't want anybody to love me. I want people to respect me. People might not like what I do or how I've done it, but I think they'll respect how I've done it and what I've done."
When it comes down to tough decisions, Perkins number one priority is students.
"My first concern is the students," he said. "We feel they have really good seats. I also try to explain to them, if we were a private university getting a lot of money from the university, it'd be easy for people to get on midcourt."
He mentioned Duke as a private school that gives students courtside seats. Kansas receives $3 million from the state to run its athletic program out of a budget of $50 million, which means Perkins and his staff must raise $47 million to run the department.
Ontop of generating money through the priority seating plan, Perkins struck a new $26.67 million apparel deal with addidas in 2005. Previously, Kansas was affiliated with Nike, but had one of the worst contracts in the country according to Perkins.
Baseball coach Ritch Price said before Lew was here, the team was paying for all of its equipment and apparel.
"Lew is big-time." Price said.
The baseball team won the Big 12 Tournament Championship last season and finished ranked 22nd in the polls. Price gives Perkins credit for the team's success.
"In my 29 years, he is the most impressive AD I have been around." Price said. "He provided us resources KU wasn't provided before."
---
Max Urick, former athletics director at Kansas State and Iowa State, said that Perkins has done a great job adapting
details
Last year, the athletic department made a deal with Entercom's 610 Sports in Kansas City to broadcast all Jayhawk football and men's and women's basketball games. The other radio station, WHB B10, owned by Union Broadcasting, was also in the mix to potentially get the contract to carry Kansas athletics.
"We looked at 810, but 610 was a better fit," Perkins said. "We felt that they were more into college sports."
WHB president, Chad Boeger, said his station prided itself in college athletics.
"I disagree with Lew," Boeger said. "Ten years ago when we
started our station, we prided ourselves in the amount of talk about college sports. The station is owned by local Kansas Citians who attended colleges and high schools in our area."
the amount of stations carrying Kansas games," Boeager said. "If you live on the Kansas side of the state line in Kansas City, the majority of the people already listen to the Lazer."
Boeger, a KU graduate, said he was surprised that Perkins would make such a comment.
"Obviously, we would love having the opportunity to carry KU," he said. "It was a tough decision that we had to make, but we decided to move in a different direction."
Perkins said one of the factors was at night in Lawrence, people could not get WHB's signal.
"One of the big things was
Regardless, Perkins said that he was pleased with 610 and that they had "really expanded our ability to get across."
Boeger, on the other hand,
does not worry that his listeners
will switch from 810 to 610.
"We are not tied to one particular college," he said. "We cover all colleges, we try to break stories and give insightful talk."
Drew Davison
to changing role of athletics directors across the country.
"There is no doubt expectations have risen all around and it's because of the money involved," said Urick, who is now retired and living in Manhattan.
Perkins agrees athletics directors face more pressure today than when he took his first job as athletics director at the University of South Carolina-Aiken in 1969.
"There's less tolerance for imperfection," Urick said.
Perkins, however, does not feel the pressure.
"I'm too old for that," Perkins, who turns 62 in March, said smiling. "I look at it as, if I felt there was pressure, I would get out of it. Younger AD's have a lot more pressure."
Outside the games, Perkins said he loved his job because of the relationships he has made. When the Seattle Sonics and Chicago Bulls played an exhibition game at Allen Fieldhouse
earlier this year, Perkins met up with two of his former athletes from Connecticut; the Sonics' Ray Allen and the Bulls' Ben Gordon.
Perkins said he talks frequently with both Husky basketball coaches, Jim Callhoun and Gene Auriemma.
"You don't lose those types of relationships" he said.
While the job is demanding, Perkins said he made his family his number one priority. In February, he and his wife will celebrate a 39th anniversary.
"When I'm at home, it is all quality time," Perkins said. "I'll come in an hour early or I'll stay an extra hour, but when I'm home, I truly go home."
Perkins even hired his son-in-law Brandon Macneill as associate athletics director for administration. Perkins said having a business and personal relationship with Macneill was not a problem.
"It probably puts more pressure on him than it does me," he said. "If you
A good family is not the only thing Perkins has going for him, as he has built a notable staff at Kansas.
ask the majority of the people in the department, they wouldn't even know he is my son-in-law because he has done such a great job."
Perkins said that his two married daughters live in Lawrence and that he enjoyed spending time with his two orphaned children.
Jim Marchiony, associate athletics director for external affairs, worked 17 years for the NCAA before joining Perkins' staff at Larry Keaing, senior associate athletics director, was AD at Seton Hall. Sean Lester, associate athletics director for internal affairs, has been with Perkins a "lone time."
During the rest of his free time, Perkins enjoys golfing, long walks with his wife and their dog, Benson, and smoking cigars.
"I went out and got a great balance of
Perkins has a track record of hiring distinguished people to work for him. He has tutored nearly 30 athletics directors and conference commissioners during his career.
experienced people." Perkins said.
Big 12 commissioner Kevin Weiberg worked under Perkins for almost seven full years. When Perkins was AD at Wichita State, Weiberg was sports information director.
"It was a lot of fun working for Lew," Weiberg said. "He is an outstanding AD because he hires good people with good track records. He also has a track record of hiring good coaches as well."
While Perkins sits at the top of the Athletic Department's pyramid, he still has one person above him: Hemenway.
"No surprises," Hemenway said. "I let him know if there is anything going on at the University that might affect athletics, and he lets me know if there is anything going on in athletics that is going to affect the University."
Hemenway said he and Perkins meet once a week at length, but have a mutual treaty.
Hemenway said Kansas has had some very good athletics directors, but Perkins would go down as one of the best — if not the best — the University has ever had.
Perkins said he has never thought about what he wanted people to remember him for. But he said, "At the end, whenever that is, I want people to say that during Lew Perkins' time, he and his staff did a great job. They made some tough decisions, but they really improved matters at the University."
Kansan sportswriter Drew Davison can be contacted at ddavison@kansan.com.
Edited by Travis Robinett
athletics calendar
TODAY
SATURDAY
- Women's basketball vs. South Dakota State, 7, p.m., Allen Fieldhouse
Track & Field at K-State All Corners, all day, Manhattan
Men's basketball vs. Toledo, noon, Kemper Arena, Kansas City, Mo.
Gatson
Runner to watch:
Senior
Janiece
Gatson will be compet-
ting in the
600 yard
run Saturday in Manhattan. Last season, Gatson placed seventh at the Big 12 Championship meet, second at the Husker Invitational and third at the K-State All Corners meet.
SUNDAY
- Women's basketball vs. California, 2 p.m., Allen Fieldhouse
BASKETBALL
(CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Kohn scored 14 of her 16 total points in the second half and made three three-pointers, a season high for Kansas. Jacobs added a team-high 17 points.
The two didn't only contribute offensively. The Jayhawks held the Jackrabbits to only three field goals in the second half. It was the play of Kohn and Jacobs that stopped SDSU's biggest scoring threat, point guard Andrea Verdegan and forced fifteen turnovers.
"We dug ourselves in a hole and coming out in the second half, we had to fight," Jacobs said.
The first half was the worst 20 minutes of basketball the Jayhawks had played all year. As a team, they shot 26 percent and turned the ball over 14 times.
The game started with a 9-10 run by the jackrabbits with the lead of senior forward Megan Vogel, who scored the team's first five points.
Capitalizing off of SDSU mistakes, Kansas was initially able to keep it
oddly unique.
INCURABLY ODD.NET
close, Jacobs had three steals off of lazy passes from Verdegan and eight points that cut the lead to as low as 18-13 with nine minutes remaining.
The Jackrabbits then finished the half on a 15-4 run to put the score at 37-17. Verdegan hit three three-pointers in the first half and led SDSU with 11 points. As the Jayhaws trotted off the court down 20 points, there seemed to be no hope of a potential comeback.
"At that point, we were just trying to not get embarrassed at home," Henrickson said.
There was one adjustment Henrickson made, however, that helped the jahawks start the second-
half with a 21-5 run. To match the fast pace set by SDSU, Kansas started the half with three guards: Kohn, Jacobs and senior Shaquina Mosley. The three forced four turnovers early in the half.
Mosley only played six minutes in the game but according to Henryrick, the minimal time doesn't mean much.
"It wasn't anything Shaq did wrong," she said, "We just got the right group in and that rotation was pretty good."
Kohn hit a three to tie the game at 45 with 2.53 remaining but Vogel responded for SDUs with a three-repointer on its next possession.
With 32 seconds to go, the score was 48-46. Jacobs got a shot off from inside the paint but it was blocked by Jackrabbit sophomore forward Jennifer Warkenthien.
Kansan sportswriter Case Keefer can be contacted at ckeefer@kansan.com.
The Jayhawks were then forced to foul the next two times the jayrabbits touched the ball. Verdegan hit all four of her free-throws to clinch the SDSU victory.
— Edited by Natalie Johnson
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