Mayer: K.C. media whiffed on penalty

By Bill Mayer     Oct 20, 2006

Pardon my snickers about how some Kansas City scribes and throats are bleating in pain because Kansas University wasn’t nailed harder and higher on the cross by the NCAA.

They kept citing inside sources that KU was going to get the equivalent of a trans-Siberia exile, maybe even postseason abolitions. It rankled them tremendously when the Jayhawks fared so well. Disappointment is a mild term. Why? Because they had programmed a deadly hammer that didn’t drop.

KU self-reported a lot of stuff in July 2005, then worked up a presentation for the NCAA the past summer. One writer litanized past malfeasances by schools such as Baylor, Oklahoma, Missouri and Colorado and concluded: “In the eyes of the NCAA, Kansas’ transgressions are potentially worse, and from that perspective it’s difficult to see this ending well for the Jayhawks.”

Except it did, far better than many guessed. Drooling “analysts” waited for lethal shoes to drop, to make themselves look good.

I’m not blessed by a single inside source of stature, but I think I can finger two people who figured prominently in how well Old KU fared: Lew Perkins and Rick Evrard – one the athletic director who threw himself upon the mercy of the court and got a whopping compliment for his renaissance job, the other a noted Kansas City attorney who worked for some time in the NCAA enforcement structure and has to know where a lot of bodies are buried. Evrard handled some touchy legalese for Perkins when Lew was AD at Connecticut. The UConnection continues.

Love him or not, Lew, the $625,000 man at Kansas, has been around administration a long time and doubtless had some markers he could call in. Earned his pay this year, huh? Wouldn’t want to go to court against Evrard! Sharp, lotsa connections.

Postseason and television bans? The NCAA was probably protecting the Big 12 more than Kansas when it declined such. Think money. Who’s the financial bell-cow for the basketball loot shared with league teams? As Sammy Davis used to say: Do da name Kansas mean anythin’-to-ya? KU is no TV or bowl darling for football, but it’s brought in a few bucks under Mark Mangino.

As far as “lack of institutional control,” I’m as perturbed as anyone when KU has anything to do with giving unqualified jocks answers to tests and faux eligibility. Some marginal guy doesn’t make it, gets chased; what does he do but blame somebody else, like KU, as a bandit. Surprised? Rejected people invariably “get even,” or try.

As for the Bohl of Weevils under Al, he shifted money to make money, and his two-year AD tenure was ludicrous. “Compliance doesn’t sell tickets”? He thought that way. Made a lot truly good people look bad. Roy Williams’ departure? Roy’s vamoose was cooking for a long time, whether or not he crushed Dove Bohl. And lookee who KU got to take over.

Critics contend Mark Mangino and Bill Self were cavalier, even arrogant, in their reaction to the penalties imposed. They’re just pragmatic.

I’ve seen KU get hare-lipped unfairly by silly penalties for too long to agonize over what happened. I’m glad it was so bland because things are on the right track now.

As for those media weepers and moaners in K.C., maybe it ain’t right, but it’s so.

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