Sixteen months into Al Bohl’s tenure as Kansas University’s athletic director, season football ticket sales are up and so are contributions to the Williams Fund.

But there have been downers, too.

Not long after Bohl came to Mount Oread from Fresno State on Aug. 1, 2001, he was linked to an improper transfer of FSU athletic department funds. Bohl stressed he had done nothing wrong, but never denied the accusation.

Then the funds transfer brouhaha was overshadowed by news Fresno State had received a letter of inquiry from the NCAA about various alleged rules violations, mainly in men’s basketball. All of the alleged violations had been reported to the NCAA by the FSU athletic department.

Soon thereafter, it was learned Fresno State had received a preliminary letter of inquiry from the NCAA seven months before the chancellor-appointed committee charged with finding a replacement for KU athletic director Bob Frederick conducted its business early in the summer of 2001.

To this day, many people wonder why the search committee knew nothing about that NCAA preliminary letter.

John Ferraro, vice chair of that committee, doesn’t hesitate to blame Heidrick and Struggles Inc., the Atlanta-based head-hunting firm the chancellor’s office hired to furnish names of qualified prospects.

“We were operating under the assumption they’d be thorough,” said Ferraro, head of the speech and hearing department at the KU Med Center. “It causes me to doubt the credibility of Heidrick and Struggles.”

No defense

Still, the bottom line is somebody on the committee should have asked Bohl about the NCAA letter of inquiry or at least have checked with Fresno State about it.

“I don’t have any defense for that,” said Don Green, a professor of petroleum engineering who was a search-group member. “In retrospect, we should have asked the question.”

Green, who is KU’s faculty representative to the Big 12 Conference, also was on the committee that sought a new baseball coach, eventually settling on Ritch Price of Cal Poly-San Luis Obispo.

“In that search, we asked everyone the question,” Green said.

No head-hunting agency was hired to assist the baseball committee.

Ferraro believes the price the chancellor’s office paid — reportedly at least $75,000 — to Heidrick and Struggles should have assured all the i’s were dotted and all the t’s crossed.

“When people ask me if it was up to us,” Ferraro said, “my response is, âÂÂ’I would have thought (H & S Inc.) were the ones who should have told us.’ Every one of us on the committee has a day job. That’s their day job.”

Nevertheless, Ferraro understands the buck stopped with the search committee.

“I accept the responsibility,” he said, “but I don’t think any of us thought it was our charge to dig up this information. I mean, I know what to look for in a scientist, but when you’re looking for an AD, what do you look for?”

No control?

Last week, Fresno State announced self-imposed sanctions stemming from a variety of violations ranging from erroneous certifications, improper tutoring assistance and transportation, violations of complimentary admissions and a handful of incidents involving the men’s basketball program when Jerry Tarkanian was coach.

Moreover, Scott Johnson, Bohl’s successor as FSU athletic director, was ordered by the school president to compose a comprehensive rules education program for the athletic department — another way of saying Bohl had not maintained sufficient institutional control.

At least one member of that KU search committee sympathizes with Bohl, however.

“I think any athletic director could have those problems and not know about them,” said Bill Hougland, a member of the 1952 NCAA men’s basketball championship team.

Hougland, a retired business executive who lives in Lawrence, wouldn’t fault Heidrick and Struggles, either.

“I thought they gave us a lot of stuff to go over and I read it all,” Hougland said. “And the people they brought to us I thought were good. I didn’t agree with all of them, but that’s the way the process works.”

Still, every time the media reports a story involving improprieties and violations at Fresno State that occurred during Bohl’s tenure, it re-emphasizes how the KU search committee let the preliminary NCAA letter of inquiry fall through the cracks.

“I can understand that,” Hougland said.

No regrets

Incidentally, Reggie Robinson, who was chair of the AD search committee, declined comment, other than to say he doesn’t “have any regrets” about the selection process. Robinson was the chancellor’s chief of staff when he was named chair. Now he is president of the Kansas Board of Regents and, as such, said he preferred not to revisit the topic.

Last July, Robinson told the Journal-World he was comfortable about the committee recommending Bohl.

“We felt,” Robinson said, “we knew what we needed to know.”

At the same time, Ferraro said he wasn’t sure “… it would have made any difference if we had known.”

Ferraro agrees with Hougland that it isn’t unusual for athletic directors to be in the dark about infractions committed within their department. Ferraro noted, for example, that violations committed in the KU men’s basketball program resulted in an embarrassing probation that prevented the Jayhawks from defending their 1988 NCAA championship.

“It could be viewed as a sense of strength (for Bohl),” Ferraro said. “He didn’t know about it, but he did everything he was supposed to do.”

Ferraro believes that in spite of the negative publicity generated by Fresno State’s NCAA woes while Bohl was in charge, the search committee pinpointed the right man for the job and that Kansas has the right man running its athletic department.

“Yes,” Ferraro said, “I think we do.”

So does Jennifer Jackson, a former KU basketball player who served on the committee.

“If we would have known at the time (about the NCAA letter), it would have been a matter of concern,” said Jackson, now a first-year law student at the University of Alabama, “but I think Dr. Bohl has done things the right way. I still have faith in him.”

Lost luster?

Not everyone does.

Some still believe Bohl mishandled the firing of Terry Allen in 2001, sacking the popular head football coach with three games remaining and replacing him with an interim instead of allowing him to finish the season. Among the displeased was men’s basketball coach Roy Williams, an avowed Allen booster. The relationship between Bohl and Williams has been chilly ever since.

In the meantime, Bohl’s public persona as a rah-rah pitchman is wearing thin with many boosters who believe someone who is paid a CEO salary ($255,000) should project the image of a CEO, not a pots-and-pans salesman.

As an administrator, Bohl is perceived as more of a delegator than a doer. For example, instead of firing Allen in person, Bohl sent senior associate AD Richard Konzem to Allen’s house to give him the bad news.

Still, Kansas was attracted to Bohl in large part because of Fresno State’s football renaissance under his aegis. Kansas is desperate to become competitive in Big 12 Conference football and Bohl seemed like the best candidate available to resurrect KU football.

As it stands, Bohl’s future as Kansas AD is inexorably linked to the success of the football program, and so far progress has been measured in baby steps.

Until the football program revives under coach Mark Mangino, Allen’s successor, Bohl may have to overcome the perception he’s more of a liability to KU athletics than he is an asset.