Meet Lew Perkins, the athletics director at the University of Kansas. He was paid an astounding $85,000 a week in 2009, part of a package that was negotiated when he left Connecticut in 2003 to take over as the big bossman in Lawrence.
He made no apology for his salary when asked about it in April by the Kansas City Star.
"It is what it is," he said. "It was all based on when I got hired, negotiated from day one. ... It was all part of the deal of me leaving Connecticut to come here."
Kansas officials defended Perkins' salary, saying that the bulk of it came from general athletics revenue, including supporters' donations.
Many of those same boosters are now outraged after Kansas unveiled a report Wednesday that detailed the illicit distribution of more than $1 million worth of prime tickets to basketball and football games.
A group of six employees allegedly hatched the lucrative ticket-scalping scheme, and the news is expected to get worse. The FBI and IRS have ongoing investigations, and Yahoo! Sports reported that the scalping operation extends beyond Kansas to other schools, including Oklahoma.
So where does this leave Perkins? Clueless, but still employed.
"I accept responsibility, not for any criminal activity, but because I am the athletic director and it happened during my watch," said Perkins, whose department has 14 associate athletic directors and another 21 with titles as either an associate athletic director or assistant athletic director.
"I thought we had just about every safeguard in place, but nobody picked up on it. I certainly didn't."
He added: "There was a curveball thrown and I didn't see it. I missed it. It got by me."
Guess you get what you pay for these days. Unless, of course, you're a Jayhawk booster — or the athletic director.
Somewhere, Al Bohl is sitting back, with a cigar and a brandy, laughing at KU for their latest mess under Perkins.
And KU fans thought Perkins was a better upgrade as A.D..
Posted by: RHS76 | June 07, 2010 at 07:55 PM