Fireworks aren’t allowed within the city limits anymore so now the only legal explosions in Lawrence are backfiring cars, overheated electrical transformers, disgruntled spouses and athletic directors’ salaries.

When Bob Frederick was hired as Kansas University’s AD in 1987, he was making $74,000 a year. When Frederick left 14 years later, his salary was $166,000.

Boom.

When Al Bohl was hired to replace Frederick in 2001, Bohl was paid $255,000 a year.

BOOM.

When Lew Perkins was brought in Tuesday as Bohl’s successor, Perkins’ annual salary was pegged at $400,000.

BOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!

Does that mean if Perkins leaves in two years his replacement will command $600,000 a year? Or more? I wouldn’t be surprised, and Monte Johnson wouldn’t, either.

Twenty years ago when Johnson was KU’s athletic director, he was earning about $60,000 a year and didn’t have a contract. Johnson could walk out the door or KU officials could lock him out of his office. That’s the way it was and, Johnson told me, “That’s the way I liked it.”

Now retired and living in Lawrence, Johnson begrudges Perkins not a penny of what he will be earning to oversee the $27 million KU athletic department.

“It’s market forces at work,” Johnson said. “The good ones are able to command those packages. I don’t know if it’s right or it’s wrong. It’s a fact of the market place.”

Johnson cited an instance of a friend at a school that hired an AD about a year and a half ago at a base salary of $400,000 with incentives that could propel his income to about $650,000.

“That school would be comparable to KU in that it has a strong basketball program and it possesses the potential for a good football program,” he said.

Johnson, who still dabbles in banking and real estate investments and remains are ardent KU booster and benefactor, changed the face of Kansas University men’s basketball in the early ’80s when he fired Ted Owens and lured Larry Brown away from the NBA. Today there’s no way a major university can touch what an NBA coach earns.

“For so many years pro basketball coaching salaries were reasonable,” Johnson said. “Then somebody broke the barrier and now pro coaches are making as much as the players.”

Similar forces have driven the price tag of proven major college athletic directors through the roof. No telling where it started — the evolution might be fodder for a masters thesis — but as Johnson said: “Once it starts, it doesn’t seem to stop.”

Perkins was AD at Wichita State while Johnson was overseeing the Jayhawks’ athletic department so the two aren’t strangers.

“What Lew has done since then has earned him the right to be paid at a high level,” Johnson said. “Some of these athletic directors are running $25 to $75 million corporations. Is that out of line? I don’t think so.”

It’s only out of line if the athletic director doesn’t generate the resources needed to reach the level of success that prompts people to feel so good about their school that they’re willing to whip out their checkbooks.

Perkins didn’t beat around the bush during his introductory media session Tuesday. Sure, he wants to put more people in the seats at football, baseball and women’s basketball games, but he also wants your money if you have a KU diploma.

“One of the things people need convincing of is that a true Jayhawk fan will do anything for the university,” Perkins said. “They have to understand that we have to be very, very supportive of football and all the other sports. You just can’t pick one sport and tell me you’re a supporter. A real supporter is someone who’s committed to all the athletic programs at the university.”

Moreover, Perkins added, “There’s no reason why in the state of Kansas and at this great university we can’t go out and get more funding.”

Actually, you and I both know there are reasons. Serious reasons. But they’re paying Perkins the big bucks to convince you those reasons don’t really exist.