KU Jayhawks’ new athletic director on football coach search, Bill Self, NCAA case
Travis Goff had just stepped off the stage at the Lied Center when someone pointed out that reporters were huddled on the other side of the room around KU men’s basketball coach Bill Self.
“Smart group,” Goff said with a laugh, making his way to family and friends after a 50-minute news conference that introduced him as the Kansas Jayhawks’ new athletic director.
In truth: Goff should have plenty of time in the spotlight over the next few months. The 41-year-old takes over a KU program that will soon be facing a football coaching search, the resolution of an NCAA case that alleges major violations, and a pandemic-related budget crisis that has led to $30 million in lost revenues.
Goff provided few specific details about his plans for many of those topics during Wednesday morning’s news conference, though that was perhaps expected since it was just his second day on the job.
The Dodge City native and 2002 KU graduate did, however, make clear how much this opportunity meant to him, saying being hired to his new role was “the absolute honor of my professional lifetime.”
“This is my destination job,” Goff said.
There are plenty of issues to tackle ahead.
Perhaps most immediately will be determining KU’s next football coach. Les Miles mutually parted ways with the program last month, with KU naming Emmett Jones as the team’s interim coach to start spring practices.
Goff said he went to KU’s football practice Tuesday and had met individually with Jones and his staff.
“What I said to them is where we’re at just coming up on Day 2: I come in open-minded,” Goff said. “I come in wanting to listen, learn, absorb, understand where we’re at with this football program.”
Goff didn’t give a timeline for making a decision on whether KU would hire a head coach from the outside before the 2021 season, saying he needed to get to know the situation better.
“It would not be doing the right thing for the University of Kansas for me to have arrived yesterday with putting (my) head down and (saying) ‘This is our direction, and this is how we’re moving forward’ without the chance to spend time with Coach Jones and his staff and observe,” Goff said. “And I’ve got to listen to the individuals who know a lot more than I do today about where Kansas football’s at.”
Goff said his previous administrative experiences — he spent the last nine years as an upper-level decision-maker with Northwestern and was in Tulane’s athletic department before that — would help prepare him for what was to come with KU’s current NCAA infractions case. He also expressed confidence in the school regarding that matter.
“I think when you have the support and the foundation that the University of Kansas provides and that KU Athletics provides, there has never been a shadow of doubt in my mind that we’re going to navigate that successfully and any of the other things that lie ahead,” Goff said. “Because there will be more challenges. There’s no questioning that.”
Goff, who led Northwestern’s fundraising efforts of more than $440 million during his nine years there, spoke generally about the need to update football’s Booth Memorial Stadium. More specifically, though, he said that bringing in more donations would be vital.
“I said this very honestly and clearly throughout the interview process: philanthropic support is going to be at the forefront of moving Kansas Athletics forward,” Goff said. “We’re going to sell tickets, we’re going to fill stadiums, we’re going to do all those great things and maximize those revenue streams, but the Jayhawk community and philanthropic support is what’s going to be what moves us forward and transforms Kansas Athletics.”
Goff threw full support behind Self, who signed a “lifetime” contract extension with the school last week. The new AD said he was glad that deal was taken care of before he arrived, not because he didn’t agree with it, but instead because “it was such a clear demonstration from chancellor (Douglas) Girod and the entire Kansas community that Bill’s our head basketball coach and exactly who we need at the helm there.”
Self, who said he spoke on the phone with Goff four times in recent weeks to help answer questions, was impressed by the new AD’s opening words Wednesday.
“He was impressive over the phone. He was very, very impressive yesterday with the coaches. He had command of the room like he did here today,” Self said. “I thought he killed it today.”
Earlier this week, KU signed Goff to a five-year contract worth $700,000 annually. That’s less than half of previous athletic director Jeff Long, who joined the Jayhawks in 2018 on a five-year pact worth $1.5 million each year.
In the end, Girod said Goff won over the search committee with his previous experience and wide-ranging skill-set.
“Probably most importantly, you talk to the people that are around him, you realize this guy’s a rising star, and he is going to make the next move,” Girod said. “We wanted it to be at Kansas.”
