Jeff Long out as Kansas Jayhawks athletic director following Les Miles scandal
Jeff Long is out of his job as University of Kansas athletic director, one day after he defended his hiring of football coach Les Miles.
Long’s departure was announced to KU Athletics staff during a meeting Wednesday afternoon. Kurt Watson will serve as KU’s interim AD.
KU chancellor Douglas Girod said he spoke with Long “at length” on Tuesday night. Both he and Long described the move as a resignation.
“While I know he would have loved to stay here many more years, I respect his selfless decision to step down so that we can move Kansas Athletics in a different direction,” Girod said in a statement.
Said Long in a statement: “Even though this is extremely difficult for me, this is what is best for KU, for me and for my family, and I am at peace with this decision.”
Girod said KU would move “quickly but judiciously” to hire a new AD, with his hope that the hiring would take place in the next few weeks. Girod said he will lead the process with the assistance of a search firm and four alumni advisors: Linda Ellis Sims, Ray Evans, John Ballard and Wayne Simien.
Long, who started with KU in August 2018, barely made it halfway through his five-year contract that paid him $1.5 million annually. His original deal also had a clause that would add years on his contract if any of KU’s major sports programs were put on probation or found to have committed NCAA violations before his arrival; the Jayhawks men’s basketball team and coach Bill Self are currently facing a NCAA infractions case where five Level I violations are alleged.
KU released Long’s separation agreement Wednesday afternoon; he will be paid through March, then will receive a $1.375 million buyout, in the form of $125,000 monthly payments from April 2021 through February 2022.
Long came under fire in recent days following the revelation of sexual harassment allegations against Miles while he was coach at LSU in 2013. Miles, who was hired by Long in November 2018, was accused of kissing an LSU student worker twice in his parked car while also suggesting at times they go to a hotel or his condo, with the two parties eventually signing a settlement agreement that was first reported by The Times-Picayune and New Orleans Advocate last week.
Another LSU student worker also came forward to say she was “very upset” about something that took place when she was alone with Miles. She requested a meeting with Miles, and during it, another LSU Athletics employee reported that she was “completely traumatized.”
The two accusations were enough that former LSU athletic director Joe Alleva even suggested to his school’s president in 2013 that Miles should be fired because of his alleged conduct against female student workers, according to an investigation released Friday into how LSU responded to Title IX complaints.
Following that report’s release, KU Athletics and Miles reached a $2 million settlement Monday to mutually part ways.
That brought into question how much Long knew about those Miles allegations before he hired him ... and also how set he was on landing Miles in 2018. Long admitted in a deposition that a film crew hired by KU Athletics for a documentary was shooting footage in Miles’ house before he had been given — or had accepted — KU’s coaching job. Long explained that by saying the crew “took the chance (the hire) was going to be Les Miles, and they felt like the opportunity to be with someone of Coach Miles’ stature, it was worth their risk of going there should he get the job.”
Long, in that deposition, also could not accurately recall the names of the other three coaches he had in-person interviews with.
In an opening statement Tuesday afternoon during a Zoom press conference, Long detailed his version of the vetting that was done on Miles prior to his hiring in 2018. In addition to “multiple background checks,” Long said he asked Miles directly in the interview process whether there was anything from his past that could potentially embarrass himself, the university or the program; Long reported that Miles said, “No.”
KU also spoke to LSU athletic department employees before hiring Miles, Long said, to see if there was anything the school should know. Long said KU received no indications of any issues.
The two main attributes Girod was seeking when hiring Long were this: an ability to build a football program and also energize a fanbase that will need to give money if KU Athletics hopes to raise its proposed $350 million for a Booth Memorial Stadium renovation.
Neither went as planned. KU’s football program, while making strides in recruiting, went 3-18 under Miles in two seasons before needing to undertake another coaching transition that could push the window back even further. Meanwhile, KU’s football stadium project has been pushed back with no real momentum recently.
Long also had other moves that made him unpopular with parts of the fanbase as well.
After firing former coach David Beaty, Long withheld his $3 million buyout after KU Athletics reclassified the termination as “for cause” after an investigation alleged one of Beaty’s non-coaching staffers engaged in impermissible coaching activities outside of NCAA rules.
Beaty sued KU Athletics for his buyout, and after 15 months, the two sides settled for $2.55 million, with KU Athletics spending more than a half-million in legal fees on the case. Discovery for the lawsuit also brought about some unwanted media attention, which included the release of public depositions that included allegations that Long had made crass remarks of a sexual nature about an elderly female donor and a female school staffer.
Long also was criticized by some following 2019’s Late Night in the Phog, when rapper Snoop Dogg shot fake $100 bills out of a money gun at the KU bench while four scantily dressed dancers performed on stripper poles around him.
Afterward, Long sent an original statement that said he took “full responsibility for not understanding what acrobatic dancers are in today’s entertainment world.”
That comment was later altered.
“We made it clear to the entertainers’ managers that we expected a clean version of the show and took additional steps to communicate to our fans, including moving the artist to the final act of the evening, to ensure that no basketball activities would be missed if anyone did not want to stay for his show,” Long said. “I take full responsibility for not thoroughly vetting all the details of the performance and offer my personal apology to those who were offended. We strive to create a family atmosphere at Kansas and fell short of that this evening.”
Long also was quick to apologize for KU’s role in a bench-clearing brawl with Kansas State during a January 2020 men’s basketball game at Allen Fieldhouse. K-State’s athletic department did not follow with any similar statement.
“The conduct of a few of our student-athletes at the conclusion of tonight’s game vs. Kansas State was simply unacceptable and not reflective of who we are,” Long said then. “I would like to apologize to the Big 12 Conference, Kansas State University, Gene Taylor, Bruce Weber and all fans for the lack of sportsmanship from members of our team this evening.”
Before arriving at KU, Long previously was athletic director for Arkansas, Pittsburgh and Eastern Kentucky.
This story was originally published March 10, 2021 at 2:46 PM.
