Kansas University athletic director Lew Perkins said Friday his past seven months with the university have been filled with creating “productive chaos.”
Perkins kicked off the first in a series of luncheons with the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce at the Holiday Inn Holidome. The series is aimed at fostering an already strong relationship between the chamber and KU Athletics Corp. Interaction between KUAC and the chamber will lead to economic value by bringing more visitors to Lawrence, chamber President Lavern Squier said.
“Our business community thrives off the university,” Squier said.
Excited by the accomplishments of the football team and women’s soccer and volleyball teams, Perkins said he is looking forward to continued success.
“This is an awesome place,” he said.
Perkins touched on more than business during his speech, however, including a request to the 75 guests to be positive about KU and support all sports programs – not just football and men’s basketball. Perkins also touched on facilities and recruiting.
“We need to have a game plan for our facilities,” Perkins said. Future plans include improvements to Allen Fieldhouse with a recent $12 million donation from the Ward family and several anonymous donations. Facilities upgrades, he said, may help bring better recruits to Kansas.
“We need to start attracting players to come here,” Perkins said.
That will involve doing more in-state recruiting, recruiting in new areas and getting a few especially strong recruits for women’s basketball and other programs. Strong recruits can attract more recruits like them.
When someone asked Perkins about the KU band playing the Wheaties song in defiance of NCAA rules, Perkins told the laughing crowd, “Shhh. I don’t know how that happened.”
The next KUAC and Lawrence Chamber of Commerce luncheon is March 19 with baseball Coach Ritch Price. For more information, visit www.lawrencechamber.com.
