In an effort to maximize the Kansas University football team’s potential, KU athletic director Lew Perkins has hired Donnie Duncan to serve as a consultant to the athletic department and its dealings with the football program.
“He’s looking around and looking at how we do things and talking to us,” associate athletics director Jim Marchiony said. “This is an effort to create a business plan, a road map for this football program for the future, to make sure that we’re supporting the coaches and players the best way possible.”
Duncan will make $5,000 a month for his work, which is considered temporary but could last years. Marchiony said there was nothing specific or urgent Duncan was looking into, but that “it’s just an overall look at things.”
Duncan already works for the Big 12 Conference as director of football championships, and he brings a load of experience around college football.
The hiring is tied to the five-year strategic plan Perkins released in January 2006 toward the advancement of the athletic department.
“Football was a major part of that,” Marchiony said.
Marchiony insists that Duncan’s help doesn’t mean that KU’s administrators have shortcomings of experience when it comes to football.
“It has less to do with our experience as much as it has to do with his vast experience,” Marchiony said. “It’s an effort by Lew to make sure we’re doing everything we can.”
¢Facility snag: KU is awaiting architectural renderings of the Anderson Family Football Complex, which was scheduled to break ground last month.
As of Friday, no noticeable work was being done on the south side of Memorial Stadium, where the complex will be built.
“We’re still waiting for the architect to come up with renderings that we feel comfortable enough going with,” Marchiony said. “The work isn’t behind. It’s just that the renderings are behind. They’ve told us we’ll get them soon.”
