Now that another dismal Kansas University women’s basketball season is over, it’s speculation time.

Who will be the Jayhawks’ next head coach?

Your guess is as good as mine, but interim coach Lynette Woodard likely won’t be handed the job on a full-time basis, and KU athletic director Lew Perkins will hire an assistant coach from a successful program (i.e. UConn).

As he seeks a replacement for longtime coach Marian Washington, Perkins likely won’t toss nickels like manhole covers in his first high-profile hire.

Perkins spends first and asks questions later. In the Big 12 Conference, he has the highest administrative payroll north of Tex-Mex Country, and he won’t let dollar signs prevent him from luring a proven winner to Mount Oread.

I don’t think gender is a factor. I expect him to target the best candidates, period.

When an opening exists, the first names to crop up are alums like Cheryl Burnett.

Burnett, who played for KU under Washington from 1977 to 1980, took Southwest Missouri State to two NCAA Final Fours, thanks in large part to her recruitment of Jackie Stiles from tiny Claflin. Then Burnett abruptly left the Springfield, Mo., school after 15 years, took a year off and was hired by Michigan less than a year ago.

In her first year at Michigan, Burnett guided the Wolverines to a 14-17 record and a 6-10 finish in the Big Ten. She is available right now, but would Burnett leave Ann Arbor, Mich., after just one season? Probably not.

Burnett is a proven winner, but she isn’t regarded as a players’ coach. When word surfaced two years ago that Minnesota was interested in hiring her, four UM players sent an e-mail to the school’s athletic director saying they would quit were Burnett hired. Soon thereafter, Burnett pulled her hat out of the Gophers’ ring.

Burnett is the lone former KU player qualified for the vacancy, so that forces us to shift to the next logical priority — geography.

At the top of that category are Kurt Budke of No. 7-ranked Louisiana Tech and Jeff Mittie of No. 18 Texas Christian.

Budke is a Salina native who owns degrees from Washburn University in Topeka. He was a successful head coach at Allen County CC in Iola before moving to a juco in Texas and later to tradition-rich Louisiana Tech as an assistant coach. Budke succeeded the legendary Leon Barmore two years ago.

Mittie, a Blue Springs, Mo., native, went to Missouri Western in St. Joseph. Now in his fifth season with the Horned Frogs, Mittie is hardly unknown to Perkins.

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Last March, while Perkins was still AD at UConn, Mittie took TCU to Connecticut for a third-round NCAA Tournament game and led at halftime before bowing to the eventual national champions. The Frogs were only the sixth team in five seasons to lead the Huskies at the half of a home game.

Obviously, it would take a lucrative offer to lure Budke away from one of the nation’s traditional powers. Mittie, however, might be more amenable to accepting the challenge of rebuilding the KU program.

During the last three years, Kansas has had the best men’s basketball team and the worst women’s team in the Big 12 Conference. The men have compiled a 42-6 record in regular-season league games over that stretch; the women have been 5-43.

Along the way, the KU women have tumbled to the bottom in Big 12 attendance. Officially, the Jayhawks averaged about 1,500 fans a game, but on most nights the crowds were in the tomb-like 700-800 range.

Whoever takes over the Kansas women’s program must believe he or she can compete with nationally ranked teams like Texas, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Colorado and Baylor.

More important, the new coach has to be convinced the administration will provide the resources necessary to make it happen. With the potential for additional revenue from women’s basketball unlimited, Perkins isn’t likely to pinch pennies in that regard.

So let the speculation and the dawning of a new Kansas women’s basketball era begin.