“The people I talked to around the university were speechless. Almost in denial.”Bob Fescoe, on the stunned staff at KU once it was made know that Bubba (Cunningham) had turned down the Kansas AD job, 610 AM
GH: This was a bombshell for the Kansas City market. Media everywhere had reported this as a “done deal.” Some in the media, like the Kansas City Star and AP, were more cautious. Radio and television talking heads though dived in as if Bubba was signed, sealed and delivered – despite repeated comments from Bubba stating he was still the AD at Tulsa and that nothing had changed. Read on.
“I’m going to stamp up for my fellow members of the media here. Just because it’s not true on Thursday, doesn’t mean it wasn’t true on Tuesday.”
Kevin Kietzman, 810 AM
GH: This quote should be etched into every journalism classroom from Honolulu to Miami as an example of what professional journalism is NOT. Truth is truth. It doesn’t have an expiration date like sour cream. Those who reported that Bubba was signed and would be KU’s next AD were incorrect because they jumped the gun. Jumping the gun is not good journalism. It’s fun. It creates buzz. It is also tempting as hell. But it ain’t truth no matter how you spin it once proven false.
Kevin Kietzman, 810 AM
GH: This quote should be etched into every journalism classroom from Honolulu to Miami as an example of what professional journalism is NOT. Truth is truth. It doesn’t have an expiration date like sour cream. Those who reported that Bubba was signed and would be KU’s next AD were incorrect because they jumped the gun. Jumping the gun is not good journalism. It’s fun. It creates buzz. It is also tempting as hell. But it ain’t truth no matter how you spin it once proven false.
“Bubba (Cunningham) was hired. He was scheduled to be introduced on Saturday. However, Bernadette (Gray-Little) got involved. Oh my did she get involved. The chancellor at KU really messed this one up wait til you hear what she did. When you agree to terms on a contract with someone, you better have those same terms on paper.”
Bob Fescoe, Twitter
GH: Fescoe is one of those in the media who spoke too soon and is now looking for others to blame. He attempted to build up a news story for his Friday show to paint BGL as the villain. I’m not a BGL fan but Fescoe knows even less about what happened in her meetings with Bubba than he did about his premature hiring.
Bob Fescoe, Twitter
GH: Fescoe is one of those in the media who spoke too soon and is now looking for others to blame. He attempted to build up a news story for his Friday show to paint BGL as the villain. I’m not a BGL fan but Fescoe knows even less about what happened in her meetings with Bubba than he did about his premature hiring.
"We don’t have real deep pockets. This is not a great time for large expenditures outside the academic realm. What we did was within our means, and I don’t think, quite honestly, the offer that we put together was the deciding thing. The deciding thing was the fact that (Bubba Cunningham) sees Tulsa as a great place to live and raise a family. He has a great situation here at the university.”
Steadman Upham, President of Tulsa University
GH: We may never know why Bubba made the choice to stay. But it appears from Upham’s comments that it wasn’t Tulsa oil money that kept him in place.
Steadman Upham, President of Tulsa University
GH: We may never know why Bubba made the choice to stay. But it appears from Upham’s comments that it wasn’t Tulsa oil money that kept him in place.
“He was making roughly around $500,000 a year here. In my conversations with (Bubba), he always seemed really intrigued with the University of Kansas.”
Eric Bailey, writer for the Tulsa World, who is widely credited with breaking the original story that Bubba was all but signed at Kansas, 610 AM
GH: $500,000? I think that’s what Lew Perkins spent on private jets to Ames and Stillwater last year.
Eric Bailey, writer for the Tulsa World, who is widely credited with breaking the original story that Bubba was all but signed at Kansas, 610 AM
GH: $500,000? I think that’s what Lew Perkins spent on private jets to Ames and Stillwater last year.
“By declining the Kansas offer, Cunningham avoids the inheritance of problems plaguing the Jayhawk athletic department. And by staying at TU, Cunningham remains stuck with two headaches. Cunningham and his staff are challenged with the task of coaxing more than 15,000 fans to watch a TU program that is about to make its sixth bowl appearance in eight years. … Ultimately, to Upham’s delight, tiny TU defeated mighty KU in the Bubba Cunningham derby.”
Bill Haisten, columnist, Tulsa World
GH: Yes, Kansas has some internal problems left over from the Lew Crew – and I am not an expert on Tulsa or its fine university. But I can’t think of any reason Bubba doesn’t make this jump. Kansas has Bill Self and one of the nation’s most storied basketball programs. The football facilities are brand new and state-of-the-art. The fan base is wealthy and passionate. The town of Lawrence is one of the best cities in the Midwest to raise a family. I think Bubba screwed up big time.
Bill Haisten, columnist, Tulsa World
GH: Yes, Kansas has some internal problems left over from the Lew Crew – and I am not an expert on Tulsa or its fine university. But I can’t think of any reason Bubba doesn’t make this jump. Kansas has Bill Self and one of the nation’s most storied basketball programs. The football facilities are brand new and state-of-the-art. The fan base is wealthy and passionate. The town of Lawrence is one of the best cities in the Midwest to raise a family. I think Bubba screwed up big time.
“Guys, this is embarrassing for Kansas. … What is unquestionably true is that the people in charge said we want him and he said, ‘No thanks.’ ”
Nick Wright, 610 AM
GH: I think it’s far more embarrassing for Bubba. Kansas will be fine. Who cares about this outside our area? Kansas University did not just become a second-rate school just because some Bubba turned down the AD job.
Nick Wright, 610 AM
GH: I think it’s far more embarrassing for Bubba. Kansas will be fine. Who cares about this outside our area? Kansas University did not just become a second-rate school just because some Bubba turned down the AD job.
“The last time Kansas was in the market for a new athletic director, it didn’t get its first choice, either, and was rejected by an athletic director from the same city. After Al Bohl’s departure, then-chancellor Robert Hemenway first offered the job to Oral Roberts athletic director Mike Carter, who when pressured for an answer, declined because of family considerations.”
Tom Keegan, Lawrence Journal-World
Tom Keegan, Lawrence Journal-World
“The last time this happened we lost Roy Williams. And how did that turn out for us?”
Caller Matt, 610 AM
Caller Matt, 610 AM
“I just don’t think it’s a top 30 job. I don’t think people around the country are going to be as shocked as we are. Basketball isn’t that different from wrestling when it comes down to it. It’s all football oriented.”
Caller, 610 AM
GH: Football does rule college athletics but that doesn’t explain why Bubba would choose Tulsa over Kansas. Despite all of Tulsa’s football success, they are drawing only 15,000 to their home games. Whoever named Bubba knew what they were doing.
Caller, 610 AM
GH: Football does rule college athletics but that doesn’t explain why Bubba would choose Tulsa over Kansas. Despite all of Tulsa’s football success, they are drawing only 15,000 to their home games. Whoever named Bubba knew what they were doing.
“Kansas University senior basketball player Mario Little was arrested early Thursday on charges of battery, criminal damage and criminal trespassing, according to Douglas County Jail records. Lawrence police said he was arrested after an altercation with several people and was accused of pushing his girlfriend into a sink about 3 a.m. Thursday at an apartment in the 1200 block of Ohio Street.”
George Diepenbrock, writer, KUSports.com
George Diepenbrock, writer, KUSports.com
“That’s kinda the trifecta right there. What do they say, nothing good happens after midnight?”
Nate Bukaty, reporting that KU’s Mario Little was arrested early Thursday morning for criminal trespassing, criminal damage to property and battery, 810 AM
GH: Bubba’s story knocked Mario Little’s arrest into the backseat. But neither are as disturbing to me as the drive-by shooting at Marcus Denmon’s cousin’s funeral with some of the Mizzou team and staff in attendance. What a whacked world it is we live in.
Nate Bukaty, reporting that KU’s Mario Little was arrested early Thursday morning for criminal trespassing, criminal damage to property and battery, 810 AM
GH: Bubba’s story knocked Mario Little’s arrest into the backseat. But neither are as disturbing to me as the drive-by shooting at Marcus Denmon’s cousin’s funeral with some of the Mizzou team and staff in attendance. What a whacked world it is we live in.
“Moralists out there make me laugh. So you come into bedroom, your girl is with another guy, you don’t push her out of the way and beat his ass?”
Nick Wright, Twitter
GH: I just go find another girlfriend since this one obviously isn’t who I thought she was. Maybe I’m a different cat but all through my single years (I made it to almost 30) I never pined for a girl who favored another guy. There are just way too many girls out there to allow the wrong one to screw up your life. Little is an idiot to let this happen in a fishbowl like Lawrence. I feel no pity for him.
Nick Wright, Twitter
GH: I just go find another girlfriend since this one obviously isn’t who I thought she was. Maybe I’m a different cat but all through my single years (I made it to almost 30) I never pined for a girl who favored another guy. There are just way too many girls out there to allow the wrong one to screw up your life. Little is an idiot to let this happen in a fishbowl like Lawrence. I feel no pity for him.
“Getting some tweets from people saying that the former KU (basketball) manager Little allegedly pushed is getting harassed. Come on. That’s just sad.”
Brady McCollough, of The Kansas City Star, Twitter
GH: Sad but true. People will almost always favor the bad guy they know over the victim they do not.
Brady McCollough, of The Kansas City Star, Twitter
GH: Sad but true. People will almost always favor the bad guy they know over the victim they do not.
“The last 12-14 months at Kansas have been about as bad as it gets in terms of multiple negative headlines.”
Jason King, of YahooSports, Twitter
GH: Amen.
Jason King, of YahooSports, Twitter
GH: Amen.
Greghall24@yahoo.com and Twitter / greghall24
KU Athletic Department = FACEPLANT OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS
KU has turned into a regional if not national punchline, regardless of their basketball prowess. Brawls between scholarship athletes. Coach fired for player abuse. NCAA Tourney disaster. Fraud and embezzlement on hoops tix. Lew Perkins’ humiliating exit. Orange Bowl ticket debt. Mario Little. Greasy turd of a football program. NCAA Probation. Lack of Institutional Control. The fact that KU fans aren’t wearing bags over their heads in public is a testament to their pompous arrogance and utter lack of understanding where they really stand in college athletics. As bad as things got for KState (Prince debacle) and Missouri (Clemons debacle), both pale in comparison to the absolute FIASCO KU has become. Oh and don’t forget, the ticket fraud stuff isn’t over yet. The FBI still has an axe to swing…so does the IRS.
What a Mess!
The most telling thing about this whole deal was revealed in the moments after it was first mentioned that the likely candidate had the name, Bubba.” Recall hearing all the folks that were trying to justify having a guy named Bubba?
KU fans are the most esoteric and nose-in-the-air arrogant boobs in the entire region. “It’s embarassing to have an AD that is named in such an uncouth manner….wait a minute, What!? He doesn’t want us??!! How can that be?”
Thanks for the entertainment guys.
What those two guys said…
Agreed.
not a good job
Who would want that job? The basketball coach is your boss at KU. When they fired Roy Williams’ boss he bailed.
“Basketball isn’t that different from wrestling…”
lol…
I think KU discovered that sad reality last summer…
I said it a long time ago…..
Bubba says no….
LIttle has to go…to jail…! 7 KU players on the team who had no fathers.
Rampant use of pot by the basketball players…plus other drug use…
Self deciding to move away from a complete 4 year program for players letting one year and gone
players into the program….
Lew’s bullshit….FBI and IRS investigation…which when the feds get a hold of the indicted there will surely
be other adminstration people fingerd and who will lawyer up…
You can go back to my first posts when lew had problems and i was the first and only writer in
kc and the nation to say this these problem were systemic and were part of a larger problem
and that in the end it wuld lead to serious legal and ethical problems thru out the program.
I was the first to point out that this school…once proud was headed down the road that had plagued
the MU program and that they needed new hard core tough enforcement of rules.
KU is in a downward spiral. Maybe winning the national championshio will cure all its ills….
probably not…it will just allow the disease to spread!
And when 2 minor school AD’s….and I mean small time school AD turned the ku job down……KU stooping
to havae to hire one from Oral Roberts and Tulsa….KU having to settle for minor league ad’s…much as
they settled for a minor league/small time/unheard of/ football coach (uncle tom turner)…thats a telling
issue for them.
Get out of the shit KU….you’re ruining a great name…and I have a feeling the soon the shit will realy hit the
fan on getting these recruits and bill self will be packing his bags and heading south sooner than we
thought….could he be getting ready to go to Oklahoma State? I
‘m sure the thoughts crossed his mind.
Really
I said it…you are an idiot! KU never hired the Oral roberts guy and does it matter where they are from? Off hand can you name another AD? Their one and only job is to raise funds! We really don’t know if the job was ever offered to Bubba, now do we? Only reports, which were obviously never true.
KU is a national joke??/? Funny in Ca recently and not one person there knew anything about issues at KU, only that the BB team is good. Now this was the same in Chicago and Atlanta. These huge stories here really died by the time the get to the 314 area code.
I know JOJO you predict and lot of shit in your head and proclaim you are awesome and you write columns about it. Do us all a favor google column and new story and then never use those words again.
BTW you still owe me $1,000 bitch
could it be?
is that really lew perkins as one of the party invading mutants in weird science? you know the one…