Woodling: Perkins called ‘relevant’ in football

Dennis Dodd, senior writer for CBSSportsline.com, lists Kansas University athletic director Lew Perkins at No. 49 on his list of the 50 most relevant people in college football.

Dodd’s ranking was based mostly on Perkins’ ushering of UConn into NCAA Division I-A football prior to taking over at KU, but he added that Perkins “didn’t do badly in his first full year at Kansas, either. The Jayhawks got to their first bowl game since 1995 under Mark Mangino.”

In another vein, Perkins no doubt would rank much higher on a mythical list of the most relevant people in bureaucracy. Since taking over at KU a little more than a year ago, Perkins has more than quadrupled the Jayhawks’ senior staff.

The KU athletic department directory lists eight associate ADs and six assistant ADs. And that doesn’t even include the director of medicine, the chief financial officer or the director of ticket operations. Moreover, Perkins currently is advertising for someone to oversee all of the department’s travel.

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Lawrence High product Kevin Hooper started miserably with the bat after shifting about a month ago from the Florida Marlins’ Triple-A franchise at Albuquerque, N.M., to the Yankees’ top farm club in Columbus, Ohio.

However, the 27-year-old Hooper since has pushed his batting average over .200. Hooper, who played in college at Wichita State, has been playing mostly second base at Columbus, but also has seen duty at shortstop.

Hooper was hitting .277 at Albuquerque when the Marlins designated him for assignment in late May.

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Lee Stevens, the last LHS product to play in the major leagues, has lived in suburban Denver since retiring in April of 2003 while playing Triple-A ball in Indianapolis.

“Right now he’s coaching girls softball,” says Lynn Harrod, who was the Lions’ baseball coach when Stevens played.

Harrod, now assistant principal at South Junior High, also reported that Stevens and his second wife became parents of a daughter a couple of months ago. Stevens, who turned 37 last Saturday, has two sons by his first wife.

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Each year, the National Assn. of Collegiate Directors of Athletics awards a cup to the school with the best overall sports performances. Once again in 2004, Stanford was the winner.

Where did Kansas finish in the points compilation? The Jayhawks were 65th. Among Big 12 Conference schools, only Iowa State ranked lower — much lower, in fact, in 121st place.

Texas — big surprise — led the Big 12 schools by finishing 12th, two spots ahead of Oklahoma. Texas A&M was third in 21st place followed by Nebraska 29, Oklahoma State 35, Missouri 46, Baylor 47, Colorado 49, Kansas State 56, Texas Tech 62, Kansas 65 and Iowa State 121.

Curiously, while Missouri wound up 19 slots ahead of Kansas, the Jayhawks still won the manufactured, sponsor-inspired Border War competition between the two geographic rivals.

If you’re interested, the NACDA Top 10 were, in order, Stanford, Michigan, UCLA, Ohio State, Florida, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, California, Penn State and LSU.

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No announcement is likely until after the football season begins, but you can bet the farm the Kansas-Texas Tech game on Sept. 25 at Memorial Stadium will be televised. Why? Because it’s one of only three games scheduled that day involving Big 12 teams and the only one matching two conference schools.

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You read it right. Kansas is scheduled to meet Georgia Tech in men’s basketball on New Year’s Day 2005 in Allen Fieldhouse. For the last three seasons, KU has had a game on Jan. 2, but the Jayhawks have played on Jan. 1 just four times — the last time in 1948 — and never in Lawrence.

Of course, that could change. KU’s men’s basketball schedule is never cut in stone until late July at the earliest.