Kansas hired Jeff Long as its athletic director on Thursday, and that’s great news for Long, an excellent administrator and so respected that he was the first chairman of the College Football Playoff committee. Long was fired as Arkansas’ athletic director last year, primarily because the Razorbacks got little traction in football competing for coach Bret Bielema, and we all thought Bielema was a super hire when Long enticed him away from Wisconsin.
Long takes over a KU athletic department that has one of the flagship sports in the NCAA – Jayhawk basketball. Alas, Long’s eventual fate will be determined by Jayhawk football.