University athletic department audits are good and overdue

Better

late than never

One trait of an effective leader is the ability to delegate responsibilities to those in the best position to make decisions.

Let's use a large public university as example. There is not enough time in the day for the top dog to research every issue in all areas before making decisions. Wise administrators provide overall guidance to the organization and leave thousands of details to experts.

Apply that principle to athletic departments. If the university president envisions successful programs, then the best tactic is to hire an ace director and let him or her loose.

Trust is the key element in delegating authority. When our fictitious college president hires our fictitious athletic director, then there must be complete faith that the independence and authority will not be abused.

Of course, anyone following the news realizes our examples are not fictitious at all. They are based on the string of announcements coming out of Kansas State University that threaten the legacy of recently retired K-State President Jon Wefald.

It seems he put too much trust in one or more people who then turned around and bit him. The most shocking example is an agreement between Bob Krause, former athletic director and administrator, and former head football coach Ron Prince. It calls for more than $3 million in payouts to Prince in addition to the $1.2 million it took to buy out his contract and send him on his way. Wefald says he was not aware of the agreement.

A subsequent full athletic department audit revealed more problems, including undocumented payouts, loans and conflicts of interest. Kansas Board of Regents member Dan Lykins called the findings "breathtaking," according to a report in the Kansas City Star.

In the wake of these revelations, the Board of Regents voted to require that all six state universities conduct regular audits of their athletic departments.

That's a good step. But the Regents are shutting the barn door after the cattle have run out, with a couple of the bulls chewing large cuds of cash.

-- Tom Bell

Editor & Publisher

822-1491

tbell@salina.com

Join the Discussion:

Salina.com doesn't necessarily condone the comments here. Read our full online terms of service policy.

Post a comment
Your best chance of getting your comment posted:

• No profanity
• Be civil
• Everyone is innocent until proven guilty.

Comment:

Poster:

Enter text seen above:

Read our full use policy.