Wichita State president shocks fans with Shockers football helmet

WICHITA, Kan., Feb. 3 (UPI) -- John Bardo caused a storm Wednesday in Kansas, and it wasn't a tornado.

The Wichita State University president posted a photo of a Shockers football helmet on his Twitter account.

"So this arrived... #GoShox," Bardo said in the tweet. He followed that tweet with another saying: "Meeting with consultants today to talk about athletics. Excited for future possibilities at Wichita State."

He also asked: "And what's a football team without a marching band?" That post included photos of marching band uniforms.

Wichita State University hasn't fielded a football team since 1986.

Bardo "explained that funding for football facilities alone could be in the ballpark of $70 million," according to KSN-TV. He also said that "any consideration would have to include strong financial support from the community, saying that costs would not be placed on students," according to KSN-TV.

Interim Athletic Director Darron Boatright told KWCH: "It's the next step in our process that we're taking and studying the sports that we sponsor here at Wichita State. The activities on campus, our facilities, if we're up to standard with all the facilities we have, looking at the possibility of having a new fall sport and this is the first major step since Dr. Bardo's announcement in mid-December."

Boatright also told KWCH that the school met with an Atlanta consulting firm Wednesday, to begin a "roughly four month feasibility study," according to KWCH.

In 42 seasons, the Shockers managed a 167-254-12 record. The team also was conference champion five times and went 0-3 in bowl games.