Jeff Long is the Kansas sports director, he said in a statement posted on the university’s website on Wednesday, calling his departure “in the best interest of our student athletes and the program”.
Long’s departure comes less than 48 hours after the school separated from football coach Les Miles on Monday night amid accusations of inappropriate behavior with female students while he was the head coach of LSU. Long said on Tuesday that the university was unaware of any wrongdoing in Miles’s past before hiring him as head coach in 2018.
“Jeff and I talked at length last night and, although I know he would have loved to stay here many more years, I respect his selfless decision to step down so that we can move the Kansas Athletics in a different direction,” Chancellor of Kansas, Douglas A. Girod said in a statement Wednesday.
Kansas donor Kurt Watson, former IMA Financial Group president and chief operating officer before retiring in 2017, will serve as interim athletic director, Girod said. The university plans to hire a recruiting firm to assist in hiring a new athletic director and then hire a football coach.
“Student-athletes have always been the priority and this decision today is based on the same premise,” says Long in the statement. “Values are not just beliefs – they are defined by actions. Of course, my continued service as Director of Athletics would serve only as a distraction for the nearly 500 incredible boys and girls in our athletics department, as well as the excellent coaches and staff. who supported them. Last night, I talked at length with Chancellor Girod about my thinking process, as well as with my wife, Fanny. , and I am at peace with this decision. “
Long worked alongside Miles during his days together in Michigan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Long hired Miles as the Kansas head coach in 2018, after Miles was off the field for three seasons. Miles, who won a national championship at LSU in 2007, was fired at LSU four games in the 2016 season after the Tigers started 2-2.
Long said during his virtual press conference on Tuesday that he asked Miles directly during the 2018 interview process if there was anything in the past that could potentially embarrass the university or the KU program.
“And he said no,” said Long. “We also did our due diligence, talking to individuals within the LSU athletics department to see if there was anything we should be aware of for Coach Miles’ tenure at LSU and we have received no indication of any problems.”
Long said that in early February, Miles’s camp alerted Kansas to a legal dispute in Louisiana, but was unable to share information about it. Long said he asked Miles if there was anything they should be concerned with from the reports, and Miles said he didn’t.
“At that point, we requested copies of all reports related to Les Miles while he was at LSU,” said Long. “Miles’ legal counsel gave us several reasons why they would not be provided to us. On February 24, we learned some details of the allegations when The Advocate published its opening article followed by the USA Today article the same day, which happened a secret agreement and a sexual harassment investigation in 2013. “
Miles was three years old and about $ 8 million left in a five-year contract that he signed with Kansas in November 2018. The two sides agreed to $ 1.99 million, according to the school.
Long was named athletic director of Kansas in 2018, after serving in the same position in Arkansas from 2008-17. His first stint as an AD was in Pittsburgh from 2003-07.