Many individuals heaped praise on KU’s new athletics director Thursday, including coaches of KU’s revenue producing sports Roy Williams and Terry Allen.

“I’m very pleased. I’m thrilled. I’m going to be very supportive. I’ll work my butt off for him,” Williams, KU’s men’s basketball coach, said after attending a 30-minute meeting between the former Fresno State athletics director and all of KU’s coaches.

Williams met Bohl for the first time on Wednesday, after Bohl interviewed for the job.

“I had a chance to talk with him,” Williams said, noting, “I’m glad this period of uncertainty is over. I’m certainly looking forward to working for Al Bohl. This is a tremendous place and I know he’ll do his absolute best to provide the leadership and support that everyone wants.

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“This is an exciting day for him and his family and I know we have many successful years ahead.”

KU football coach Terry Allen also met with Bohl and the other three finalists for the job on Wednesday.

“I’m very excited about the appointment of Al Bohl as athletics director at the University of Kansas,” Allen said. “He has a very impressive football background and I feel he will be a tremendous asset in providing leadership in our department.

“I look forward to working with Al and helping him become a Jayhawk.”

Here’s what some others had to say about Bohl on Thursday:

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Marian Washington, KU women’s basketball coach: “I’ve heard he’s a tremendous fundraiser and am really excited about his philosophies. He obviously has a lot of strengths. This department is very anxious to move forward. We’ll have to see how he leads us.

“Jennifer (Jackson), one of our players, was a member of the search committee, which was a tremendous experience for her. She thought Reggie Robinson did a great job in chairing the committee. She said she was really impressed with Dr. Bohl.”

Jennifer Jackson, search committee member: “I went home last night feeling the chancellor couldn’t make a bad choice.”

She was referring to chancellor Robert Hemenway, who met with the search committee from 9 p.m. until 10:30 p.m. Wednesday. Hemenway heard the committee’s final comments on finalists Bohl, Doug Woolard (Saint Louis), Kathleen DeBoer (Kentucky) and Mike Hamrick (East Carolina).

“He (Bohl) was very good in the interview. He had a lot of good things to say. His experience at Toledo and Fresno State speaks for itself. His experience can make our athletics department take another step forward,” Jackson said.

“Obviously he has proven experience in football. He did a great job. Gender equity is very important to him. He’s a proven fundraiser. I think he’ll do a great job.”

Jackson is satisfied with the search committee’s role in the process. The committee basically took 20 candidates compiled from a consulting firm and cut the list to four one afternoon with the chancellor.

“I definitely think we did (have input),” Jackson said. “The chancellor took our opinions into consideration as well as making his own decision. I don’t think we were split at all. We were impressed with the quality of the candidates. We never ranked them. It would have been tough for us to rank them. They were that good.”

Ross Randall, KU men’s golf coach: “In meeting with him, I noticed he is very positive and enthusiastic. He made us (coaches) all feel he did his homework about us. He knew some things about us.

“He stressed how much money he’d raised. He was the fundraiser at Ohio State at one time. He’s done a really good job with football and facilities at Fresno State. What do we need? Football, fundraising and a few more facilities. Sounds perfect to me.”

Randall is a graduate of San Jose State.

“I personally have seen a resurgence of their (Fresno State) athletics department in the last few years. My old golf coach (at San Jose State) said Fresno State does the best job of fundraising in the state of California.”

Ray Bechard, KU volleyball coach: “It’s easy to see why Dr. Bohl has been highly regarded. He appears to have a lot of energy and enthusiasm. He’s ready to roll up his sleeves and get after it.

“It’s apparent he wants a well-rounded athletic program. If we do a good job as coaches with our programs it’s easy to see we’ll gain his support. I am excited the search committee feels they found a top quality candidate. We had outstanding individuals on that search committee involved in the process. I’m sure they’ve done a great job.”

Richard Konzem, KU associate athletics director: “A great choice. I feel great about it. He faced a lot of problems there (at FSU) and handled them very well. From everything I’ve heard I’m confident he can face and meet any of the challenges we have here, too.

“My son’s godfather is Terry Johnson, who was our ticket manager and is now at Fresno State. He and I talked yesterday when I’d seen Dr. Bohl’s name in the paper. I got really good reports back. I’m very pleased.”

Konzem was asked if he was interviewed for the AD job.

“No I was not interviewed.”

His reaction to that?

“I think we hired a great candidate, somebody with Div. 1A football experience who clearly had a good background as an assistant AD at Ohio State. He’s been an athletics director and obviously an outstanding one.”

Kevin Weiberg, Big 12 commissioner: “Al has a lot of experience in the business. He’s a person who has great values in terms of intercollegiate sports. When you look at his performances at Fresno State and Toledo, during his tenure those schools were in the upper echelon of their conferences. From his past experiences I think he will hit the ground running at the University of Kansas. He works well with coaches and administrators.”

Archie Griffin, Heisman winner, Ohio State University: “I always enjoyed working with Al when he was here. He was a terrific person to be around. He is full of fresh ideas and is a great leader. He is a terrific family man and a good friend.”

Nick Saban, LSU football coach: “Al Bohl hired me at Toledo and I feel he’s the most supportive AD I’ve ever worked with during my career. He’s very knowledgeable, an outstanding fundraiser and cares about all the sports. He’s a great choice for Kansas.”

Chancellor Robert Hemenway: “We talked for about an hour and a half about a wide variety of things, not so much about the specifics of the athletic department, but about how to have a successful program. I felt very good about the interview because I felt like his vision, my vision and the vision that most people have for KU athletics are congruent.

“I felt very comfortable that he has the kind of skills and experience to enable us to get to where we want to be. I do believe we are starting today a new and exciting era for KU athletics. I look forward to Al’s leadership in that direction.”

Search committee chair Reggie Robinson: “I’m just really pleased how the process worked. First of all, I think the chancellor put together a terrific committee. People wondered how effectively a committee of 16 people could lead this process and I think that they did a tremendous job.

“I would say the process was as we hoped it would be when we started it. It was fast, but careful; methodical, but not lumbering. I think we proceeded at the kind of pace in which we needed to proceed.

“We made sure we did all the things we needed to do along that pace and handle the process the way that we wanted to handle it.

“We had a big pool of candidates. There were a lot of people interested in this job. It is a great opportunity and I would not say that any candidates zoomed to the top. We established a process in which we methodically gathered more information about candidates that looked attractive to us.

“Ultimately, there were four candidates that came out of this process and the chancellor was able to choose whom he felt was the best for this program at this time. Our job as the search committee was not to choose the athletics director for the University of Kansas. The search committee was there to provide a process that would give the chancellor excellent candidates to choose from, and I think our process was successful in that regard. I think the chancellor chose an excellent candidate from among four excellent candidates.”

Andy Katz, ESPN: “Al will continue the line of integrity at Kansas that was fostered under Bob Frederick. He has deep roots in the upper Midwest and should feel right at home at Kansas. He cut his teeth at Ohio State, matured even more as an athletic director at Fresno State and should be ready for the challenge of leading one of the top 25 athletic programs in the country.”