Minutes after announcing his resignation as Kansas University’s athletics director Thursday morning, Bob Frederick was asked what he’d like his legacy to be.

“Obviously, I’ll always be proud of the fact I did hire Roy Williams,” Frederick said. “I felt like I’m proud of many of the other coaches I hired. But I don’t think that there’s any one thing. The national championship in ’88 that was a big thrill.

“But I feel kind of like, I think it was Stan Musial when he retired. He was asked for his biggest highlight, and he said just putting on his pants and cleats and playing every day. Just the opportunity to work with young people that’s what means the most to me.”

Few can question Kansas’ academic success under Frederick. KU boasts 41 academic All-Americans, a claim surpassed by just five other colleges private or public nationally.

Frederick listed 1997, when Jayhawks Jacque Vaughn and Jerod Haase were two of the five men’s basketball All-Americans, as one of his career highlights.

“We’ve had some good people, kids who came in here at the beginning who struggle and turned it around, and kids who were successful from the beginning,” Frederick said. “If you pinned me down to one thing, I’d probably say the academic All-Americans that we had.”

The Jayhawks’ athletics performance under Frederick has been a mixed bag.

KU won the NCAA men’s basketball championship in 1988 and won more games than any program in the 1990s, but Kansas hasn’t been to the Final Four since 1993.

Kansas made NCAA history in 1992-93 by becoming the first school to win a football bowl game, go to the Final Four and go to the baseball College World Series in the same school year, but has repeated just one of those feats a bowl win in 1995 since.

KU’s athletics performance has tailed off lately. Kansas hasn’t had a winning football season since 1995, its women’s basketball team has never advanced past the Sweet 16 and its baseball team never has qualified for even the Big 12 tournament and that excludes Kansas’ other minor-sports failings.

Chancellor Robert Hemenway tried to paint a rosy picture of KU athletics, but, when asked bluntly about Kansas’ athletics health, he dodged.

“I think the athletic department is a pretty strong place,” he said. “I saw 16,300 people in Memorial Stadium last summer attesting to the strength of athletics at KU. I think our athletic department is the same as any athletic department. All the athletic departments I’ve been around are not fully satisfied until every team wins conference championships every year. And that’s maybe the way it should be. If you have a commitment to excellence, that’s what is going to be your goal.”

Whatever his ultimate legacy, Frederick knows he forever will be linked with Williams, the relatively unknown North Carolina assistant who became the winningest coach in the ’90s.

Frederick hired Williams on the recommendation of former UNC coach/KU player Dean Smith, then helped convince Williams not to return to his alma mater last summer.

Frederick even borrowed from Williams’ summertime announcement to stay at Kansas.

“To turn a phrase that Roy Williams made famous last summer,” Frederick said. “I want to say I’m leaving.”

The announcement, delivered with a grin, was met with stony silence.

“That was funny,” Frederick said with a laugh.