Gene Budig rarely wears his 1988 NCAA basketball championship ring.

But he donned the ring  which Kansas University earned during his tenure as chancellor  Tuesday during a return visit to campus.

“I’m hopeful the chancellor (Robert Hemenway) will have one of these in the next several months,” Budig said.

Budig, KU’s chancellor from 1981 to 1994, was on campus to promote his new book, “A Game of Uncommon Skill: Leading the Modern College and University.” He signed books at the Kansas Union and talked to about 120 people during a lecture at Joseph R. Pearson Hall.

He also attended Monday night’s home men’s basketball game and attended a meeting of the board of directors of Western Resources, on which he serves.

Budig left KU in 1994 to become president of major league baseball’s American League, a position that was eliminated in 2000. He remains on baseball’s payroll  at $650,000 a year  until December as senior adviser to baseball commissioner Bud Selig.

He also serves as a visiting scholar at the College Board  which administers the SAT exams  and teaches at Princeton University.

During his time at KU, Budig led “Campaign Kansas,” the five-year capital campaign that raised $265.3 million for KU, the university’s largest fund-raiser at the time. He also organized the effort to rebuild Hoch Auditorium after a fire.

University leadership

Budig said Tuesday the role of a university CEO is becoming more difficult in the “turbulent setting” of decreasing state funds.

But just as baseball officials have balked at large increases in ticket prices, Budig said tuition increases  which KU officials are considering  should be handled with caution.

“One has to be concerned about pricing able young people out of the educational market,” he said. “The university has the purpose of serving people of the state. You’re not serving them if you price them out of the market.”

During his speech, Budig outlined several traits that a university president or chancellor should possess, including offering a clear vision, giving credit to students, faculty and staff, having a commitment to increase diversity and possessing strong fund-raising skills.

He also said it was important to rely on student input, just as it’s important for baseball owners to talk with fans at a stadium.

“You learn a lot from the bleachers,” he said.

National pastime

The business of baseball hasn’t tainted the game of baseball, Budig said.

“There is nothing wrong with the game,” he said. “It’s a marvelous game. I’ll remind you that 73 million people bought tickets to major-league baseball games last year. That’s a remarkable number. That’s more than NBA, NFL and NHL combined.”

But he said runaway salaries and other expenses are beginning to control the game.

“Baseball is operating under a flawed economic system which threatens its long-term continuance as a dominant sport,” he said.

Despite talk of contraction, Budig said he’s confident the Kansas City Royals will remain a major-league team.

“I’m very optimistic,” he said. “That franchise has proven over the years it can attract strong numbers of enthusiastic fans when it is competitive. The challenge is to field a competitive team. (Royals owner) Mr. (David) Glass certainly has that commitment.”

The book

Budig’s book, published by the College Board and the American Council on Education, is raising funds for CollegeEd, a program that is attempting to increase the number of college students in the United States by 10 to 15 percent.

Budig mentions KU specifically only twice in the book  once in the introduction, the other in discussing the role his wife, Gretchen, played in helping build the university’s endowment. The book also includes photos of Budig and his wife preparing for 1994 commencement and Budig Hall, which was dedicated in 1997.

“It was a match that worked, culminating in 13 years of intellectual growth for me and real progress for the institution,” he wrote of his time at KU.

Despite the few mentions of KU, Budig said he relied heavily on his experiences in Lawrence for the book. He also served as president of Illinois State University and West Virginia University.

“Some of you here today played a role in the book,” he told faculty, staff and administrators Tuesday.