The true power of the Kansas b-ball coach.

UNT96 · April 9, 2003

KU has taken a gamble that firing the AD will keep the b-ball coach from bolting to North Carolina. Let's hope it doesn't work so they have to eat this guy's contract for nothing.

Woe is us...

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Wednesday, April 9

Bohl says Williams maneuvered to get him fired

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ESPN.com news services

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- The University of Kansas fired athletic director Al Bohl on Wednesday, a move widely viewed as an effort to persuade men's basketball coach Roy Williams to remain at the school.

"I would not resign," Bohl said. "I was fired."

Hired in 2001 to replace Williams' close friend and longtime Jayhawks athletic director Bob Frederick, Bohl clashed early and often with the popular basketball coach.

His departure has been viewed as an almost foregone conclusion since rumors surfaced in February that UCLA would pursue Williams for its head coaching job after the season.

But the speculation intensified after North Carolina coach Matt Doherty resigned before the NCAA Final Four, opening the position Williams -- a Tar Heels alumnus -- passed on three years ago after an agonizing week for both the coach and fans of the Jayhawk program.

The university has called a news conference for 4:30 p.m. ET. Bohl told the AP he would meet with reporters at his home an hour later.

"They wouldn't even let me talk with the media on campus," said Bohl, 55, who was hired specifically to repair the school's long-suffering football program.

At his news conference, Bohl will read a statement in which he accuses Williams of orchestrating his ouster.

Bohl's statement will include the following: "(The) Kansas basketball coach had the power to crush me or let me fly and he chose to crush me. This is a sad day in college athletics when a college basketball coach can hire and fire an athletic director."

Drue Jennings, a member of the KU Endowment Association Executive Committee and the KU Alumni Association Board, has agreed to serve as interim athletic director pending the outcome of a national search, the university said in a statement. Jennings, 56, will not be a candidate for the position. He received degrees from the university in 1968 and 1972.

Williams, who steadfastly refused to address questions about North Carolina before and after the Jayhawks lost to Syracuse in Monday night's national championship game, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Bohl was previously director of athletics at Toledo and Fresno State, and was credited with turning around the football programs at both schools. His major move at Kansas was firing football coach Terry Allen with two games left in the 2001 season and replacing him with Oklahoma offensive coordinator Mark Mangino.

The decision to fire Allen made Williams' displeasure with Bohl public. Williams was especially angry that Allen was fired while the season was still under way. A few months before Allen was fired, Williams was a prominent coach at an ethics seminar and endorsed a proposal urging schools not to fire a coach whose sport was in season.

"And then it happens at my very own school," Williams said at the time. "How embarrassing."

Bohl fired back publicly, saying, "Roy is the basketball coach, and I am the director of athletics. I was hired to fix this football program, and that's what I'm going to do."

When their clash became public, Bohl's support vanished among alumni and important contributors to the program.

During a pep rally at the Final Four in New Orleans, Bohl was booed by Kansas fans. He was later asked if it were possible for him to be effective while being that unpopular.

"The cheers far outweighed the boos," he snapped. "Yes, they booed. Are you kidding me? You guys have been writing it like it's a case where Bohl's got to go, so Roy's going to stay here. Hey, it's been pretty good music that we've been to two Final Fours. Those people, they don't even know Al Bohl."

Williams said Tuesday he planned to meet with North Carolina patriarch Dean Smith on Tuesday night, and it was expected he would again receive an offer to return to Chapel Hill. Bohl had pledged to do all he could to keep Williams at Kansas.

Bohl's departure may or may not influence Williams' decision to remain as Jayhawks coach or leave for the North Carolina job. Williams will be allowed the right of first refusal by Carolina and is expected to make a decision soon.

Sources said the Tar Heels would not give Williams a week to make a decision, which he took three years ago when he turned down their offer. However, they might to have to wait -- Williams is scheduled to leave for Los Angeles on Friday to attend the presentation of the John Wooden Award. He will attend with Kansas senior Nick Collison, who is one of five finalists for college basketball's player of the year honor, and Williams himself will receive an award -- the Legends of Coaching, which recognizes lifetime achievement in coaching. Past recipients include Dean Smith, Mike Krzyzewski, Lute Olson and Denny Crum.

Information from ESPN.com senior writer Andy Katz and The Associated Press was used in this report.

IronMan4 · April 9, 2003

This is a sad day in college athletics when a college basketball coach can hire and fire an athletic director.

Does this guy honestly think he could have had a power struggle with Roy Williams and come out on top? Kansas athletics IS basketball and right now Kansas basketball IS Roy Williams. He has a distorted sense of reality to think he was more powerful than Roy Williams.

This exchange on PTI pretty much shot holes in the above quote from Bohl (because it is absolutely true):

Tony: "How many college coaches could get thier AD fired?

Wilbon: "Several dozen."

It's not like this is an unprecedented event, and it won't be the last time, the "sad day for college basketball" crap would earn Bohl "Most dramatic poster" on gmg.com.