Maybe it's a coincidence, or just the way things worked out, but Lew Perkins can't announce his retirement without a few questions attached to it.
The Kansas AD on Thursday announced his retirement effective Sept. 4, 2011. Revealed on Friday by Tully Corcoran of the Topeka Capital-Journal was Perkins is due a $600,000 bonus on August 1, 2011, just 35 days before his retirement.
Oh, and that bonus is after taxes. For all intents and purposes, a tax-free, $600,000 bonus one month before his retirement.
Interesting, no?
While on the surface it appears scandalous, there's one thing to keep in mind: Kansas agreed to this. They knew about the bonus and they agreed to the retirement day.
Perkins survived the Mark Mangino mess, the ticket scandal (so far) and was cleared of any wrongdoing in the blackmail case.
The way things have gone recently, maybe KU's finance department is banking on Perkins screwing up again -- next time, though, I suspect he won't be forgiven.