KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / MONDAY, AUGUST 16, 2010 / SPORTS / 9B
ATHLETICS
Perkins plays chaotic role in Kansas' hectic summer
BY COREY THIBODEAUX
ctibodeaux@kansan.com
It's still a year away, but the University is not any closer to finding a replacement for Athletic Director Lew Perkins.
Perkins announced his retirement this summer, effective Sept. 4, 2011. A spokesperson from the chancellor's office said no names or candidate qualities have surfaced.
"I have loved my time here at the University of Kansas and I will continue leading Kansas Athletics over the course of the next year," Perkins said.
Ryan Waggoner/KANSAN FILE Kansas athletics director Lew Perkins pulls away from Allen Fieldhouse as members of the media follow. Perkins announced that he will retire after the 2010-11 school year
"It's not as if only one person was on the plane."
He initiated a meeting this summer with Chancellor Bernadette Gray-Little and in that meeting, he announced his retirement. Gray-Little said she had not pushed him to retire or resign at any time, nor did she expect him to make this decision.
JIM MARCHIONY Associate athletic director
As if the summer was not eventful enough for Perkins, the Kansas City Star recently released the amount of money he spent on air travel over a period of 22 months.
in a press conference over the summer. Since Perkins' announcement, conference realignment talks have played their final note of 2010 and two former Kansas Athletics employees plead guilty to miss prison charges for their roles in the ticket scandal.
But with all the distractions surrounding Perkins, she said this would be a benefit when it comes to solving the issues such as the ticket scandal investigation.
"I believe that part of his decision to retire may have been to allow him to focus on things that need to be done," Gray-Little said
Even when the team took the bus, the story said, Perkins was up in the air spending $150,000 from July 2008 to May 2010.
Associate athletic director Jim
forward to that day. And these weren't recent discussions.
Marchiony defended Perkins.
"It's not as if only one person was on the plane," he said. "You have to take into account what all those people's time is worth."
Perkins does a lot of fundraising and the flights are part of that, Marchiony said.
"I'm not talking about the last two months," Self said in June. "I'm talking about in the last year or so, I knew that the day would
Men's basketball coach Bill Self said he knew Perkins would eventually retire but was still surprised by the decision.
Self said he had conversations with Perkins, where Perkins talked about what he was going to do when he retires and looking
come."
Perkins went through a lot this summer, dealing with the ticket scandal, being blackmailed (then cleared of wrongdoing), and the near-implosion of the Big 12. But,
"He won't walk away or run away from any battle or fight and you guys know that being around
Self said, his departure was not because he wants to avoid these problems.
him," Self said. "It was just something that he felt in his heart it was something to do."
Edited by Tim Dwyer
REALIGNMENT
Ryan Waggoner/KANSANFILE PHOTO
Kryan Waggoner/RANKSANFILE Ph.
Chancelor Bernadette Gray-Little answers questions about the retirement of athletics director Lew Perkins. Perkins ended his tenure at the University of Kansas with the end of the 2010-11 school year
Fans disagree with Big 12's guidelines
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kansan.com
It's been one hell of an offseason for the Big 12. For about a week in June, it seemed as if the conference wouldn't survive beyond 2012 — proving the ancient Mayan calendar right in the process.
Colorado and Nebraska defected for the Pac-10 and Big Ten, respectively, and it seemed like Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas A&M were only a signature away from following them.
Under the new plan, five schools — Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State, Baylor and Missouri — have pledged financial support to three others — Texas, Oklahoma and Texas A&M — if they fall short of the revenue that was promised them by other conferences, rumored to be $20 million per year.
Big 12 Commissioner Dan Beebe proposed a plan that eventually saved the Big 12, but he did so with major ramifications that garnered plenty of negative reactions.
"五 schools got together and we tried to develop a business plan, like anything else," Perkins said. "Think about this in the simplest analogy I possibly can. You have a coach and he just won a national championship or is the best coach in the country, and other suitors come after
Kansas athletics director Lew Perkins said he analogized it to paying more money to a successful coach entertaining offers from other schools.
that coach. Your institution has a responsibility to try to keep that coach."
Beebe's plan was an 11th hour desperation move to save the conference, and while it did work, it raised plenty of questions.
Beebe had to reprimand Texas Tech football coach Tommy Tuberville after Tuberville voiced some of those questions in an interview with Rivals Radio.
"I don't think this conference will last long because there is too much disparity between all the teams," said Tuberville, who most recently coached in the SEC at Auburn. "In the SEC, for instance, Vanderbilt makes as much money in the television contract as Florida. Everybody is good with it. Everybody is on the same page."
"We have a 10-team league right now, but I just don't know how long that's going to last, to be honest with you," Tuberville said in the interview.
Tuberville cited the imbalance of funds that could be brought about with the new deal: no school in the Big 12 reached the $20 million mark last season.
"Tuberville's comments were unfortunate and contrary to the very strong feelings of unity expressed publicly and privately by the Big 12 Board of Directors and athletic directors," Beebe said.
Beebe assured fans that Tuberville's attitude was an isolated one, but questions still linger among fans.
Edited by Anna Nordling
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
Gather together and sing Kumbaya. Get a better appreciation for each other as people and players. Maybe gain a few basketball insights.
Coach John Calipari spoke of those objectives as Kentucky prepared for a three-game exhibition series in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, that begins Sunday.
Kentucky heads to Canada for three games
"I think we should shoot the ball better and all that," Calipari said Friday. "But what we're doing on this trip is let's come together, let's learn about our team, let individuals learn about themselves and let me learn about them.
"That's what this is about."
Calipari jokingly noted the importance of winning since the three games will be televised in "22 states." The games, which will
begin Sunday, and will continue Monday and Tuesday at the University of Windsor's St. Denis Centre, will be televised on Kentucky's Big Blue Sports Network, Fox Sports South and Fox Sports Ohio.
"Is Fox
Calipari mentioned one basketball insight that might be learned: which UK player will want to take the clutch shot? The UK coach noted the many times John Wall or others came through in the clutch last season.
“There’s going to be some baskets (where fans will say) that was the basket,” Calipari said. “Did he make it or miss it? How did he respond to it?”
"Is Fox California taking it?" Calipari quipped.
But, really, the trip is not about beating the University of Windsor (Sunday and Tuesday) and the University of Western Ontario (Monday).
"If we go up there and we really learn about our team, and they beat us, they're better than us," Calipari said. "Just as long as we learn, we'll be fine."
One reason UK runs drills that have a winner and a loser is to condition players to carrying that onus, he said.
JOHN CALIPARI
Kentucky basketball coach
When a reporter asked about the trip serving as a bonding experience for a group of mostly newcomers or veterans assuming enhanced roles, Calipari said,
"What you said is the No. 1 thing."
In that regard, the trip is went timed. NCAA rules permit such pre-season trips only once every four years. The Canadians invited Kentucky last year, but an NCAA rule forbidding incoming freshmen to participate before the beginning of classes contributed to UK's decision to pass.
University of Kentucky coach John Calipari answers a question during a news conference held in the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N. Y., March 26, 2010.
That would be especially important with a group of highly decorated freshmen who came to Kentucky on the strength of a recruiting pitch largely based
When the NCAA changed the rule to allow incoming freshmen to play if they pass three hours of summer classes, UK agreed this year.
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
"Last year's team was like that (he clasped his fingers together in a two-handed fist)," Calipari said.
UK's coaches fostered that togetherness by having the players watch movies and using the analogy of coal miners who rely on each other in their dangero
on the individual goal of getting to the NBA as quickly as possible.
underground work
"We're trying to get them to be together that way and respect each other," Calipari said.
Kentucky acknowledges that the competition will be largely unknown. Earlier this year, Windsor Coach Chris Oliver noted his team's ability to play competitively with NAIA schools.
One of UK's veterans, DeAndre Liggins, noted that winning is part of the objective.
"Oh, we want to win," he said. "We want to win all three games."
In preparation for the trip, Friday's practice was UK's 17th in the permitted 10 days. Learning the dribble-drive offense has been the focus of much of practice, Darius Miller said.
Then he added, "the ultimate goal is to learn and get better."
With three low-post anchors last season, Calipari played to that obvious strength and used a lot of pick-and-roll action. All three — Patrick Patterson, Daniel Orton and Marcus
Cousins — are NBA rookies now.
Calipari said he anticipated about 90 percent of UK's scoring effort to be a product of the dribble-drive, which he said contrasted to a 30-percent reliance last season.
"As simple as it might look to people, it's difficult to run. Nobody's ever played that way in their life."
Miller described the practices as "a lot of just trying to get down the offense.
The variance from conven
"Everything has to be perfect timing, really, for it all to work," Miller said.
tional basketball complicates the learning process, Miller said. The dribbler must beat his man and be confident of where his teammates are ready to receive passes.
The practices and the trip to Canada can enhance Kentucky's ability to learn.
"It's kind of like a head start on everything," Miller said. "And I definitely think that's going to help us."