Kansas AD Perkins to leave Jayhawks

LAWRENCE, Kan., June 10 (UPI) -- University of Kansas Athletic Director Lew Perkins will retire next year, the school said Thursday.

Perkins, who was the athletics director at Connecticut for 13 years before joining Kansas in seven years ago, will leave the position effective Sept. 4, 2011.

The Jayhawks have had a roller coaster ride in recent years, with highs of the 2008 national championship and six consecutive Big 12 regular-season basketball titles for the men's basketball program and success on the football field that included a 12-1 season in 2007.

The Kansas athletics budget more than doubled to $55 million a year under Perkins.

But the football program suffered a scandal that led to a $3 million buyout settlement to Coach Mark Mangino last season and a recently disclosed ticket irregularities problem that is part of a federal investigation.

"I have loved my time here at the University of Kansas and I will continue leading Kansas athletics over the course of the next year," Perkins said. "At this time, my greatest priority is working on conference alignment issues …"

Kansas is one of a handful of teams seeming left in the Big 12 Conference, as Colorado had been accepted in the Pac-10, which is looking at five other Big 12 schools, and Nebraska is apparently joining the Big Ten.