A communications breakdown between Kansas University and Free State High officials Friday at Memorial Stadium has been resolved.
Prior to its football game Friday night against Shawnee Mission West, Free State was not allowed to use the visitors locker room under the stadium’s east stands. The problem was that Free State coach Bob Lisher and athletic director Steve Grant were unaware of the unavailability until they arrived.
After a story in Tuesday’s Journal-World about the mix-up, KU athletic director Lew Perkins called Grant, apologized and waived the $3,700 fee KU charges the Lawrence school district for use of the stadium.
“He was really apologetic,” Grant said about Perkins.
This is the first year the Firebirds have scheduled all their home games at Memorial Stadium, although they occasionally have played games there in the past.
The visitors locker room was unavailable to the Firebirds because Jacksonville State, KU’s Saturday opponent, already had placed its equipment inside. Lisher and Grant were assured there would be no recurrence because KU has no more home games that conflict with Free State games at the stadium.
Jim Marchiony, KU associate athletic director for external affairs, was also apologetic about the communication problem and endorsed the fee waiver.
“This is our way of apologizing for our mistakes,” Marchiony said.
Earlier, Perkins had said he would rather Free State not use the stadium in the future because of potential damage and liability problems. However, Free State officials are hopeful Perkins will change his mind. The agreement was reached before Perkins became Kansas AD last July.
“I’m really encouraged,” Grant said. “We just love playing up there, and our fans love it. We’ve just got to figure out a way to make it work.”
Free State’s remaining home games are against Olathe North on Oct. 10, Lawrence High on Oct. 24 and Washburn Rural on Oct. 31. All three of those teams will use a tent in the south end zone as staging and halftime areas because the KU locker room has been declared off limits.
