Gottfried departed Kansas after three seasons to accept the head football coach position at Pittsburgh. He was succeeded by offensive coordinator Bob Valesente. During Valesente's two seasons as head coach, the Jayhawks compiled a record of 4–17–1 overall, and 0–13–1 against Big Eight opponents – finishing with a winning percentage of .205, the worst in school history to that time (since surpassed by Charlie Weis, David Beaty, and Clint Bowen). The Jayhawks went 1–9–1 in 1987 with their only win being a 16–15 game against Southern Illinois. Valesente was fired at the end of the season. At the time of his firing, Valesente was in the second year of a four-year contract, which athletic director Bob Frederick said would be honored. Valesente told reporters, "I don't believe two years is enough to build a program. I just don't feel we've been given enough time." Valesente had undertaken efforts to improve the team's academic standing and noted, "I feel proud of the fact that we have begun to overcome some of the immense academic problems that have plagued us. We needed to first stop the academic attrition." Anthony Redwood, the chairman of the Kansas Athletic Corporation board and a business professor, resigned from the board in protest of the firing. Redwood noted, "Apparently we lack the courage at this institution to plan a course of action and stick with it. Certainly to the outside world this decision must call into question our commitment to the academic dimension of intercollegiate athletics."