Although Kansas University Athletic Director Sheahon Zenger has said he is putting off making any decisions about the university’s next football coach until the end of the current season (Sunday, Nov. 30), it’s likely he will be doing a great deal of homework on this assignment prior to KU’s last game, against the Kansas State Wildcats (Saturday, Nov. 29).

At least he should.

As one knowledgeable and experienced observer noted, “This will be an opportunity for KU to break out of six years of futility. However, fans do not realize how difficult it is and will be for KU to find the right coach, a coach that can hire good assistant coaches. The athletic director must gather or appoint a relatively small group of smart people, not cronies who are major fiscal contributors, perhaps a former football player, to help him identify the right man.”

He pointed out that timing for KU is excellent because the bar now is so low and it is a crucial decision in that Kansas football is on the verge of being the laughingstock of the conference and perhaps the nation.

The observer noted once a university football program slips into a multi-year losing skid, it becomes even more difficult to correct the situation. He said Notre Dame went through five coaches between 1994 and 2014, and Minnesota hasn’t won the Big 10 football title since 1967.

How long will it be before KU football teams routinely have winning records?

It’s clear a winning program requires a group effort involving the chancellor, the athletic director and the coach. If that’s the case, what is lacking at KU?