Kansas University spent $143,493 in the past two years to outline violations in its athletics department, officials said.

The money, paid to the Overland Park law firm Bond, Schoeneck and King, came from the KU Athletics Corp. budget and not from state funds. It paid for a report issued last month outlining violations in football and men’s and women’s basketball that led to self-imposed probation by the university.

“There’s no question that NCAA rules compliance is at the top of our list in terms of priorities,” said Jim Marchiony, an athletic department spokesman. “Nothing on the field matters unless you’re in compliance with NCAA rules.”

Attorney Rick Evrard, a former NCAA compliance officer, spent two years looking into KU’s compliance with national athletics rules. His investigation revealed recruiting violations including cash graduation gifts from donors to KU men’s basketball players and improper monitoring of correspondence work and illegal transportation of student-athletes in the football program.

KU self-imposed several penalties, including loss of women’s basketball scholarships and the limiting of football junior college recruitment. The NCAA is expected to determine this fall whether those restrictions are sufficient or whether further punishment is necessary.

Marchiony said KU may pay Evrard more during that process.

“I think until the NCAA finishes its review, there will be times where we’ll definitely need to use him,” he said.

The way KU handled the investigation was different from 1988, the last time the university was punished by the NCAA for athletics violations. By self-reporting the violations, KU was able to put itself on probation and possibly avoid harsher punishments such as limits on postseason play.

Lynn Bretz, a KU spokeswoman, said no records exist showing how much the university spent on attorney fees in 1988. That’s because those violations were handled by on-staff attorneys at KU, who didn’t keep records for how much time they spent on a particular case.

Marchiony declined to comment directly about the 1988 violations. But he said that in general much has changed about NCAA compliance since then.

“Schools are much more proactive now in compliance issues,” he said. “They’ve been taught No. 1, they have to stay on top of this, and No. 2, it’s better to investigate and take care of your own problems. It’ll have a better effect on the Committee on Infractions than if the NCAA enforcement staff has to go out and pull teeth.”