Kansas hires former Razorbacks AD Jeff Long

Jeff Long, former athletics director for the University of Arkansas, is shown in this file photo.
Jeff Long, former athletics director for the University of Arkansas, is shown in this file photo.

FAYETTEVILLE -- Nearly eight months after he was fired for convenience at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, Jeff Long was hired as athletic director at Kansas on Thursday.

Long will be formally introduced at a news conference Wednesday in Lawrence, Kan., and will start his new job Aug. 1, according to a University of Kansas news release. Long signed a five-page term sheet agreement with KU on Wednesday.

Long will be paid $1.5 million annually as part of a five-year guaranteed agreement with Kansas -- $200,000 from university funds and $1.3 million from private funds. His annual salary at KU should offset the remaining funds owed to him through the buyout provisions in his terminated contract with Arkansas, which stipulated he was owed monthly payments to total $1.1 million annually through June 2022.

Kevin Trainor, a spokesman for Arkansas' athletics department, said Long is being paid $83,333.33 per month by the university and had been paid $625,000 in severance as of June 30.

"Based on the guaranteed compensation included in the financial term sheet released by the University of Kansas, the monthly severance payments from the University of Arkansas would be fully mitigated beginning Aug. 1, 2018," Trainor wrote Thursday in an email to WholeHogSports.com.

A Kansas news release included 14 statements from Long, KU leaders and others such as Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby and SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey.

"Jeff Long has tremendous leadership and administrative experience in major college athletics, and he is a terrific fit for Kansas Athletics as we work to ensure our student-athletes succeed on the field and in the classroom," KU Chancellor Douglas Girod said in a statement. "Those who know him describe him as a man of character who cares deeply about higher education and the student-athletes he serves. For all these reasons, we are thrilled to welcome him to the University of Kansas."

At KU, Long, 58, replaces Sheahon Zenger, who was fired in May after seven years. Girod told The Kansas City Star in May that Zenger was fired because of a lack of success in football and fundraising. The Jayhawks' football team has not had a winning season since 2008 and has won three or fewer games each of the past eight seasons.

Fourth-year coach David Beaty has a 3-33 record at Kansas, and enters the 2018 season with losing streaks of 11 games overall, 10 games in the Big 12 and 6 games at home. The Jayhawks' average home attendance of 26,641 last season was lowest among teams in a Power Five conference and less than 15 teams that compete in non-Power Five conferences or as an independent.

Long, 58, was fired Nov. 15 at Arkansas. UA Chancellor Joseph Steinmetz said in a statement at that time that Long had "lost the support of many of our fans, alumni, key supporters, and members of the university leadership," and in interviews with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, trustees Ben Hyneman and Cliff Gibson cited lack of football success as reasons for Long's dismissal.

Former Arkansas football coach Bret Bielema was fired 12 days after Long, minutes following a season-ending 48-45 loss to Missouri. Long had voiced support for Bielema during the 2017 season and had extended Bielema's contract following a 2014 season in which Arkansas went 7-6 overall and 2-6 in SEC games.

The contract extension, which gave Bielema a $15.4 million buyout for the following three years, came at a time when Bielema's two-year record with the Razorbacks was 10-15, his SEC record was 2-14 and he had four seasons remaining on his original contract that was signed 18 months earlier.

Bielema and the Razorback Foundation, a third-party guarantor, settled on a buyout earlier this year of $11.935 million in monthly installments through December 2020, subject to mitigation.

The Razorbacks hired Hunter Yurachek away from Houston as athletics director and Chad Morris away from SMU as football coach over a two-day span in December.

Former football Coach Bobby Petrino, Bielema and men's basketball Coach Mike Anderson, who was hired away from Missouri in 2011, were Long's most notable hires at Arkansas. He developed a national profile for his four-year term on the College Football Playoff Selection Committee, including two years as its chairman, and was named the national athletic director of the year by his peers in 2013.

The KU release noted Long's department-wide improvement in academics during his decade at Arkansas. The Razorbacks' average multiyear Academic Progress Rate score was 953 with three teams below the NCAA benchmark score of 925 the year before Long arrived, but 984 with all teams exceeding the current benchmark of 930 in the latest reporting period.

The Graduation Success Rate of athletes improved from 66 percent in the reporting period the year before Long arrived, to 80 percent in the latest reporting period. The GSR is a calculation of six-year graduation rates, meaning Long's full impact on the score will not be evident for another five to six years.

"Jeff has a record of integrity, experience in hiring coaches, ties with other Bowl Championship Series schools, effective fundraising and a willingness to lead on national issues affecting college athletics," said Drue Jennings, the former CEO of Kansas City Power & Light who led the search resulting in Long's hiring. "We can be proud that he's joining us at KU, and we can be confident that Kansas Athletics is in good hands under his leadership."

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File photo

Former University of Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long talks with Razorbacks running back Kody Walker before the start of an Oct. 15, 2016, game at Reynolds-Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville. Long was hired Thursday as the Kansas athletic director.

Sports on 07/06/2018

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