Thad Allender/Journal-World PhotoAl Bohl was fired Wednesday as athletic director at Kansas University, but the sacking may not have come soon enough to keep Roy Williams from leaving for North Carolina.
Bohl blasted Williams, the KU men’s basketball coach, for orchestrating his dismissal. Chancellor Robert Hemenway, who fired Bohl, disagreed with that assessment.
“This is not a Roy versus Al situation,” Hemenway said. “I’ve spent a long time looking at the situation, and there were many key reasons. I assure you this is not a conflict between Roy and Al Bohl.”
About 30 minutes after Hemenway’s announcement, Bohl met with the media in the driveway of his home on Wimbledon Drive in west Lawrence. He issued a statement blistering Williams.
“This is a sad day for college athletics when a basketball coach has the power to hire and fire a university’s athletic director,” Bohl said. “He had the choice to either crush me with his power of influence or let me fly with my visions for a better total program. He chose to crush me.”
But Hemenway insisted Williams, said to be considering the vacant head coaching job at UNC, did not force the move.
“Roy Williams has never said to me, ‘Al Bohl should be fired,'” Hemenway said, “or, ‘If Al Bohl doesn’t go, I’ll go.’ He’s never said that.”
Nevertheless, Hemenway conceded there were “conflicts” between Williams and Bohl, adding: “I don’t live in a bunker. I read newspapers.”
The bottom line, the KU chancellor said, was a realization he and his search committee made a mistake when they hired Bohl to replace Bob Frederick, who resigned in May 2001 after 14 years as athletic director. Bohl arrived in August 2001 after five years as athletic director at Fresno State University.
“I told him,” Hemenway said of a Wednesday morning meeting with Bohl, “I felt he couldn’t be successful in this job. That was the primary reason for the decision. I won’t go into the details of the assessment.”
Hemenway named A. Drue Jennings, a former KU football player and retired CEO of Kansas City Power & Light Co., as interim athletic director. Plans for a national search will be announced later.
Criticism of Bohl has been festering for months. Twice Bohl had been implicated in improprieties at Fresno State — first for the improper transfer of funds and later with an NCAA investigation. The KU committee that recommended Bohl for the position knew nothing of the investigation.
“That’s one thing I looked into,” Hemenway said of the Fresno State incidents, “but this was a decision based on Kansas University, not what happened in the past.”
During the past six to eight weeks, Hemenway said, he has talked with Bohl and many others associated with the athletic program — coaches, staff, alumni, donors and members of the KU Athletic Corp. board.
“On the basis of these conversations,” Hemenway said, “and my own evaluation of the situation, I came to the conclusion a change of leadership was needed.”
Hemenway met Wednesday morning with Bohl and offered him the chance to resign.
Bohl refused.
“I like Al Bohl as a person,” the chancellor said, “but I have to make a decision based on how effective administrators are on the job.”
Hemenway said he made up his mind to fire Bohl on the airplane while returning Tuesday from the NCAA Final Four, in which Williams’ team was beaten in the championship game.
Asked why he had waited so long after questions were raised, Hemenway replied he wanted to make sure the assessments of Bohl’s performance were fair. He also delayed making a decision because the Jayhawks were involved in the NCAA Tournament.
“Announcing a change while the men’s basketball team was still in contention for the title would have been more of a distraction,” the chancellor said.
At his news conference, Hemenway said Dick Baddour, North Carolina athletic director, had contacted him about Williams at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday.
“It’s a little hard to say whether it’s asking permission or it’s notification — but they said they would talk to Roy, and I was not surprised that they called,” Hemenway said.
While rumors of Bohl’s dismissal rumbled in New Orleans, and again Wednesday, the former Kansas athletic director blamed the media for fanning the flames.
“Truly, a lot of it was media coverage,” Bohl said. “My family and I have witnessed malicious, unfounded attacks on my character and on my model for running a business. No question I’ve been beaten up maliciously. What has changed is how I’m perceived.”
Bohl was athletic director at Toledo University for seven years before moving to Fresno State. Before that he was an assistant athletic director at Ohio State, where he earned a doctorate in 1978.
“I am very proud of my career,” the 54-year-old native Ohioan said.
Bohl is the highest-salaried KU employee on the Lawrence campus, being paid $255,000 a year. According to sources, under the termination terms of his original five-year contract, Bohl will be paid until June 30, 2004, or for another 14 months.
6Sports video: KU announces Bohl’s firing
More stories about Al Bohl’s tenure
Audio highlights from Hemenway’s and Bohl’s press conferences