Members of the Kansas University Athletic Corporation board won’t have to ask Al Bohl to talk about the Fresno State flap today.

Bohl, KU’s athletic director since last summer, says he’ll bring up the subject of his former school’s financial woes during today’s KUAC board meeting at Parrott Complex.

“More important,” Bohl said, “I want to talk about the system we have at Kansas. Fresno State isn’t Kansas and Kansas isn’t Fresno State. Kansas has a great system.”

Fresno State’s athletic department has been forced to trim $200,000 from this year’s budget after discovering that operating revenues were less than expected. A budget review confirmed improper overstatements of revenue during the last three years, a period when Bohl was the Bulldogs’ AD.

Apparently, money from the sale of seat licenses for the school’s football stadium and the new basketball arena, the Save Mart Center, were transferred from the reserve fund to the operating fund without the knowledge of the FSU athletic board.

In the wake of the discovery, two FSU staffers  the business manager and an associate AD  were placed on leave. One has since retired.

In response to questions about whether he knew about the improper transfer of funds, Bohl has steadfastly replied: “I’m proud of everything I did at Fresno State with fiscal matters,” and that “to the best of my knowledge, everything was being handled properly.”

Susan Williams, a professor of engineering, is chair of the KUAC board’s finance committee.

“Al has said he hasn’t done anything wrong,” Williams said, “and at this point I believe him, and I’d like to hear him reiterate that. But I don’t think there will be anything enlightening in what he says.”

Williams said she and the other members of her committee rely on Susan Wachter, the athletic department’s chief financial officer, and Theresa Klinkenberg, KU’s director of administration, for answers to budget questions.

“I don’t pretend to be a finance person,” Williams said. “If something catches our eye, we ask questions about it. From my perspective, we have to rely on people who are trained in that area, and (Wachter and Klinkenberg) are very knowledgeable.”

Wachter and Klinkenberg meet weekly to discuss day-to-day operations of the athletic department.

“I think all of us are interested in what he has to say,” said Renate Mai-Dalton, an associate professor of business who is also on the board’s finance committee. “I have no indication he has done anything wrong. I hope everything was done correctly, for our sake.”

Another member of the finance committee, Jack Clevenger of Kansas City, Mo., is also glad Bohl will speak up.

“I think it’s important to hear his take,” Clevenger said. “I think it will clear the air and that ultimately we’ll be able to be comfortable that it can’t happen here.”

Still, if it is determined in the final FSU audit, expected to take at least another month, that Bohl approved of the improper transfer of funds, the revelation could tarnish his reputation and perhaps limit his credibility and effectiveness at Kansas.

The fact Bohl was awarded bonuses of at least $10,000 in each of the years when reserve funds balanced the FSU budget does not reflect well upon him, either. No such clause exists in Bohl’s pact with KU.

“I don’t know of any bonuses,” Klinkenberg said. “I do know the chancellor expects the corporation to live within its means.”

Bohl was hired to rejuvenate a football program that has been struggling since 1995. His first step was to fire coach Terry Allen and hire Mark Mangino, a successful assistant coach at Oklahoma and Kansas State. Bohl has spent a lot of money for both salaries and facilities in his attempt to light a match under Kansas football.

Funds to invigorate football, Bohl says, will come mostly from increased emphasis on solicitation of potential donors.