When Dr. Doug Girod set out with the search firm and Drue Jennings to find the next person to lead Kansas athletics a few characteristics had to be at the top of list.

One, was finding someone who knows about college football. Another was raising money to get the Raise the Chant campaign moving. And the last would be finding a proven AD with Power Five experience who can step right into the job and have it rolling on day one.

Girod wasn’t looking for that associate AD at a big school who had never made decisions. He was targeting a sitting AD who knows how the system works.

Jeff Long was on our very first list of candidates we released. He made all the sense in the world. He’s been the AD at two, Power Five programs and familiar with the Midwest. He understands football and has raised money.

Before Long got into college administration he was a quarterback at Ohio Wesleyan. After his playing days he was a GA at Michigan and Miami (OH) before getting a full-time job as a tight ends coach at Duke.

Long has been an associate AD at Virginia Tech, Oklahoma, and Michigan. All schools who have a strong football tradition. He has seen the wrong’s and right’s of how a football program should be managed.

Just three years ago Long was named the Sports Business Journal AD of the Year. In eight of his 10 seasons at Arkansas they finished in the Top 25 in the Learfield All-Sports standings. Last year Sports Illustrated called him one of the top five athletic directors in the country. He was the first chairman of the College Football Playoff in 2013.

Girod got the best man with high-level qualifications he could find. And someone like Long wouldn’t come at a cheap price tag. Some people will scoff at the $1.5 million per year payout. But Girod wasn’t going to be able to get a proven candidate in this day and age much under that.

Long will be introduced next Wednesday and will officially start on August 1. Don’t expect Long to go through a learning curve because he’s a seasoned veteran and knows how to run an athletic department.