Poor Terry Allen. Kansas University’s lame duck football coach continued to twist in the wind on Saturday night, his dismissal put on hold for a day, maybe two, for reasons unclear.
That Allen is toast is a foregone conclusion. That much was as clear as the frown on Roy Williams’ face.
Never had I ever seen Williams at one of Allen’s post-game press conferences, but there Williams was leaning against the south wall of the media room under the Memorial Stadium stands as Allen faced the media, skirting questions about his future.
Not once did I see Williams, an Allen booster through thick and thin, smile. And that, as everyone around here knows, is rare for the gregarious Williams.
Williams was on hand, of course, to show his support for his friend of these five years. Chancellor Robert Hemenway was there, too, but he slipped out the door after Allen’s kid-gloves post-game radio show.
Conspicuous by his absence was athletics director Al Bohl who bolted for parts unknown before the media session even began. Most media members, for obvious reasons, had requested Bohl’s presence, but the Kansas AD apparently wasn’t in the mood to play verbal dodge ball.
Too bad they didn’t get this all over with on Saturday night.
Allen deserved better than to be left waiting at the steps of the gallows following a never-to-be-remembered 51-7 loss to Nebraska.
Allen will not coach the Jayhawks next Saturday at Texas, nor in the final two games at home against Iowa State and Wyoming. Reportedly, he is not interested in a post in the KU administration and wants to remain in coaching somewhere.
One of Allen’s top aides probably assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Tom Hayes will guide the Jayhawks as they play out the string, and then Hayes and the rest of Allen’s staff will be looking for jobs, too, unless one or more is retained by the new head coach.
We’ll soon know just how committed Kansas University is to resurrecting its football program.
Are Bohl and Hemenway going to spend the money necessary to compete in the Big 12 Conference? Until last year, KU’s football staff was the lowest-paid in the league. Kansas was left behind as coaches’ salaries skyrocketed around the country.
You can’t stand by and wring your hands and say, “We can’t afford to compete because our attendance isn’t enough to support high salaries.” It’s not a chicken-or-egg question. You pay first. You don’t wait for the attendance to grow.
The first evidence we had that KU’s hierarchy understood that the national perception of a university is based almost entirely on how its sports teams fare was when it shelled out $255,000 more money than the chancellor makes to bring in a new athletics director who had a history of producing winners.
Could Allen have saved his job with a winning season? We’ll never know. Then again, Allen really had no chance to have a winning season, not with the most difficult schedule in the country as determined by the NCAA.
Not only will KU’s new coach have the inevitable honeymoon period, he will almost surely benefit from a 2002 schedule that replaces powers Texas and Oklahoma with struggling Baylor and Oklahoma State. The other change is Texas A&M for Texas Tech, basically a wash.
I’m not sure it will do Kansas any good to let Allen go before the end of the season. Supposedly, it’s being done for recruiting purposes, yet by the time a new staff is in place it’s probably too late anyway to have an impact on securing new players.
In Allen’s case, Leo Durocher was right. Nice guys finish last. Some nice guys finish first, of course, but in Big 12 Conference football they chew the nice guys up and spit them out.
Terry Allen is a good man who never seemed to have anything good happen to him at Kansas. If there’s any consolation, he isn’t the first good man to fail at Kansas and he probably won’t be the last.
Poor Terry Allen. Kansas University’s lame duck football coach continued to twist in the wind on Saturday night, his dismissal put on hold for a day, maybe two, for reasons unclear.
That Allen is toast is a foregone conclusion. That much was as clear as the frown on Roy Williams’ face.
Never had I ever seen Williams at one of Allen’s post-game press conferences, but there Williams was leaning against the south wall of the media room under the Memorial Stadium stands as Allen faced the media, skirting questions about his future.
Not once did I see Williams, an Allen booster through thick and thin, smile. And that, as everyone around here knows, is rare for the gregarious Williams.
Williams was on hand, of course, to show his support for his friend of these five years. Chancellor Robert Hemenway was there, too, but he slipped out the door after Allen’s kid-gloves post-game radio show.
Conspicuous by his absence was athletics director Al Bohl who bolted for parts unknown before the media session even began. Most media members, for obvious reasons, had requested Bohl’s presence, but the Kansas AD apparently wasn’t in the mood to play verbal dodge ball.
Too bad they didn’t get this all over with on Saturday night.
Allen deserved better than to be left waiting at the steps of the gallows following a never-to-be-remembered 51-7 loss to Nebraska.
Allen will not coach the Jayhawks next Saturday at Texas, nor in the final two games at home against Iowa State and Wyoming. Reportedly, he is not interested in a post in the KU administration and wants to remain in coaching somewhere.
One of Allen’s top aides probably assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Tom Hayes will guide the Jayhawks as they play out the string, and then Hayes and the rest of Allen’s staff will be looking for jobs, too, unless one or more is retained by the new head coach.
We’ll soon know just how committed Kansas University is to resurrecting its football program.
Are Bohl and Hemenway going to spend the money necessary to compete in the Big 12 Conference? Until last year, KU’s football staff was the lowest-paid in the league. Kansas was left behind as coaches’ salaries skyrocketed around the country.
You can’t stand by and wring your hands and say, “We can’t afford to compete because our attendance isn’t enough to support high salaries.” It’s not a chicken-or-egg question. You pay first. You don’t wait for the attendance to grow.
The first evidence we had that KU’s hierarchy understood that the national perception of a university is based almost entirely on how its sports teams fare was when it shelled out $255,000 more money than the chancellor makes to bring in a new athletics director who had a history of producing winners.
Could Allen have saved his job with a winning season? We’ll never know. Then again, Allen really had no chance to have a winning season, not with the most difficult schedule in the country as determined by the NCAA.
Not only will KU’s new coach have the inevitable honeymoon period, he will almost surely benefit from a 2002 schedule that replaces powers Texas and Oklahoma with struggling Baylor and Oklahoma State. The other change is Texas A&M for Texas Tech, basically a wash.
I’m not sure it will do Kansas any good to let Allen go before the end of the season. Supposedly, it’s being done for recruiting purposes, yet by the time a new staff is in place it’s probably too late anyway to have an impact on securing new players.
In Allen’s case, Leo Durocher was right. Nice guys finish last. Some nice guys finish first, of course, but in Big 12 Conference football they chew the nice guys up and spit them out.
Terry Allen is a good man who never seemed to have anything good happen to him at Kansas. If there’s any consolation, he isn’t the first good man to fail at Kansas and he probably won’t be the last.
Poor Terry Allen. Kansas University’s lame duck football coach continued to twist in the wind on Saturday night, his dismissal put on hold for a day, maybe two, for reasons unclear.
That Allen is toast is a foregone conclusion. That much was as clear as the frown on Roy Williams’ face.
Never had I ever seen Williams at one of Allen’s post-game press conferences, but there Williams was leaning against the south wall of the media room under the Memorial Stadium stands as Allen faced the media, skirting questions about his future.
Not once did I see Williams, an Allen booster through thick and thin, smile. And that, as everyone around here knows, is rare for the gregarious Williams.
Williams was on hand, of course, to show his support for his friend of these five years. Chancellor Robert Hemenway was there, too, but he slipped out the door after Allen’s kid-gloves post-game radio show.
Conspicuous by his absence was athletics director Al Bohl who bolted for parts unknown before the media session even began. Most media members, for obvious reasons, had requested Bohl’s presence, but the Kansas AD apparently wasn’t in the mood to play verbal dodge ball.
Too bad they didn’t get this all over with on Saturday night.
Allen deserved better than to be left waiting at the steps of the gallows following a never-to-be-remembered 51-7 loss to Nebraska.
Allen will not coach the Jayhawks next Saturday at Texas, nor in the final two games at home against Iowa State and Wyoming. Reportedly, he is not interested in a post in the KU administration and wants to remain in coaching somewhere.
One of Allen’s top aides probably assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Tom Hayes will guide the Jayhawks as they play out the string, and then Hayes and the rest of Allen’s staff will be looking for jobs, too, unless one or more is retained by the new head coach.
We’ll soon know just how committed Kansas University is to resurrecting its football program.
Are Bohl and Hemenway going to spend the money necessary to compete in the Big 12 Conference? Until last year, KU’s football staff was the lowest-paid in the league. Kansas was left behind as coaches’ salaries skyrocketed around the country.
You can’t stand by and wring your hands and say, “We can’t afford to compete because our attendance isn’t enough to support high salaries.” It’s not a chicken-or-egg question. You pay first. You don’t wait for the attendance to grow.
The first evidence we had that KU’s hierarchy understood that the national perception of a university is based almost entirely on how its sports teams fare was when it shelled out $255,000 more money than the chancellor makes to bring in a new athletics director who had a history of producing winners.
Could Allen have saved his job with a winning season? We’ll never know. Then again, Allen really had no chance to have a winning season, not with the most difficult schedule in the country as determined by the NCAA.
Not only will KU’s new coach have the inevitable honeymoon period, he will almost surely benefit from a 2002 schedule that replaces powers Texas and Oklahoma with struggling Baylor and Oklahoma State. The other change is Texas A&M for Texas Tech, basically a wash.
I’m not sure it will do Kansas any good to let Allen go before the end of the season. Supposedly, it’s being done for recruiting purposes, yet by the time a new staff is in place it’s probably too late anyway to have an impact on securing new players.
In Allen’s case, Leo Durocher was right. Nice guys finish last. Some nice guys finish first, of course, but in Big 12 Conference football they chew the nice guys up and spit them out.
Terry Allen is a good man who never seemed to have anything good happen to him at Kansas. If there’s any consolation, he isn’t the first good man to fail at Kansas and he probably won’t be the last.
Poor Terry Allen. Kansas University’s lame duck football coach continued to twist in the wind on Saturday night, his dismissal put on hold for a day, maybe two, for reasons unclear.
That Allen is toast is a foregone conclusion. That much was as clear as the frown on Roy Williams’ face.
Never had I ever seen Williams at one of Allen’s post-game press conferences, but there Williams was leaning against the south wall of the media room under the Memorial Stadium stands as Allen faced the media, skirting questions about his future.
Not once did I see Williams, an Allen booster through thick and thin, smile. And that, as everyone around here knows, is rare for the gregarious Williams.
Williams was on hand, of course, to show his support for his friend of these five years. Chancellor Robert Hemenway was there, too, but he slipped out the door after Allen’s kid-gloves post-game radio show.
Conspicuous by his absence was athletics director Al Bohl who bolted for parts unknown before the media session even began. Most media members, for obvious reasons, had requested Bohl’s presence, but the Kansas AD apparently wasn’t in the mood to play verbal dodge ball.
Too bad they didn’t get this all over with on Saturday night.
Allen deserved better than to be left waiting at the steps of the gallows following a never-to-be-remembered 51-7 loss to Nebraska.
Allen will not coach the Jayhawks next Saturday at Texas, nor in the final two games at home against Iowa State and Wyoming. Reportedly, he is not interested in a post in the KU administration and wants to remain in coaching somewhere.
One of Allen’s top aides probably assistant head coach/defensive coordinator Tom Hayes will guide the Jayhawks as they play out the string, and then Hayes and the rest of Allen’s staff will be looking for jobs, too, unless one or more is retained by the new head coach.
We’ll soon know just how committed Kansas University is to resurrecting its football program.
Are Bohl and Hemenway going to spend the money necessary to compete in the Big 12 Conference? Until last year, KU’s football staff was the lowest-paid in the league. Kansas was left behind as coaches’ salaries skyrocketed around the country.
You can’t stand by and wring your hands and say, “We can’t afford to compete because our attendance isn’t enough to support high salaries.” It’s not a chicken-or-egg question. You pay first. You don’t wait for the attendance to grow.
The first evidence we had that KU’s hierarchy understood that the national perception of a university is based almost entirely on how its sports teams fare was when it shelled out $255,000 more money than the chancellor makes to bring in a new athletics director who had a history of producing winners.
Could Allen have saved his job with a winning season? We’ll never know. Then again, Allen really had no chance to have a winning season, not with the most difficult schedule in the country as determined by the NCAA.
Not only will KU’s new coach have the inevitable honeymoon period, he will almost surely benefit from a 2002 schedule that replaces powers Texas and Oklahoma with struggling Baylor and Oklahoma State. The other change is Texas A&M for Texas Tech, basically a wash.
I’m not sure it will do Kansas any good to let Allen go before the end of the season. Supposedly, it’s being done for recruiting purposes, yet by the time a new staff is in place it’s probably too late anyway to have an impact on securing new players.
In Allen’s case, Leo Durocher was right. Nice guys finish last. Some nice guys finish first, of course, but in Big 12 Conference football they chew the nice guys up and spit them out.
Terry Allen is a good man who never seemed to have anything good happen to him at Kansas. If there’s any consolation, he isn’t the first good man to fail at Kansas and he probably won’t be the last.
