Jeff Long stepped down as the athletic director at Kansas in the wake of accusations of inappropriate behavior that led to the dismissal of football coach Les Miles two days earlier.
The school announced the decision on Wednesday, although Long told CBS Sports he was informed of the decision on Tuesday night.
“I’m pretty upset, but I know how the world works. I’m just sick because I tried to do everything the right way with high ethics and morals and doing the right thing for young people. That’s the only thing that disappoints me,” Long told the site.
The athletic department was told of Long’s departure at an all-staff Zoom call in the afternoon, per reports.
Kurt Watson will serve as interim athletic director.
On Tuesday, Long held a press conference announcing the decision to part ways with Miles after reports surfaced last week that a former athletic director at LSU urged the school to fire him in 2013. Allegations surfaced that Miles made sexual advances toward female students and also made comments about women in the athletic department that were sexist or insulting.
Long hired Miles in 2018 months after landing at Kansas from Arkansas. Long said Tuesday he was unaware of the investigation into Miles’ conduct at LSU. Long and Miles have a friendship dating back to the late 1980s, early 1990s at Michigan.
“I also asked Coach Miles directly during the interview process whether there was anything in his past that could potentially embarrass the university or himself or our program, and he said no. We also did our due diligence by talking to individuals within the LSU athletics department to see if there was anything we should be aware of regarding Coach Miles’ tenure at LSU and received no indications of any issues,” Long said Tuesday.
Kansas and Miles reached a $2 million settlement.
Long was barely halfway through a five-year deal that paid him $1.5 million per year. In addition to a nine-year run at Arkansas, he was also the AD at Pittsburgh and Eastern Kentucky.
