Kansas Jayhawks Football

The end of the road for Mark Mangino, the 2007 Orange Bowl Champion and eight-year veteran Kansas football coach, appears to be close to the end. Or not. 

Under internal university investigation for alleged mistreatment of players, Mangino and his allies have circled their wagons under constant fire from elements of the media and a seemingly vindictive athletic director for over two weeks. As of right now, he is still clinging to his job.

Interestingly, the last successful coach at Kansas, Glen Mason, was also accused of mistreatment of players in the 1990s as his star waned and pressure mounted for him to exit Lawrence. Infer from that what you will.

Rumor in Lawrence has it that the delay in the decision is because the university is negotiating Mangino's buyout, but this is pure speculation. Who really knows? One thing for sure is that Mangino is not the type to go out quietly into the night. 

For what it's worth, today the Kansas City Star "broke" another story of a player from seven years ago who said Mangino mistreated him by making him run "bear crawls" on a hot day on artificial turf. This story is the first the newspaper has printed concerning actual allegations of late; instead, they've chosen to publish editorials which have variously accused Mark Mangino of being too fat to coach and likening his defenders and supporters to O.J. Simpson's girlfriends after the murder of Nicole Smith. Really. Don't believe me? Look it up in the Star.

If only Mark Mangino looked more like Brad Pitt, it is safe to say that our local soap opera that is so hotly debated on Kansas City sports radio and in local newspaper editorials could make waves nationwide. As for now, it's taken a serious back seat to other coaching drama at more traditional powers, like Notre Dame and, well . . . Notre Dame.

Kansas’ assistant football coaches hit the recruiting trail Monday, the first day of the vital postseason contact period, making visits to players who have already given oral commitments to Mark Mangino's program. Unfortunately for the Kansas assistant coaches in what must be an incredibly awkward situation, they had little information to share with the players who had been hoping to play for Mangino and his staff about his and their future at the university. No doubt, the prospective players were wondering, much like The Clash, "should I stay or should I go?"

It appears that at least one, a rare four star recruit for Kansas, was already in talks with LSU. Not good.

The real problem with all this lingering drama is exactly this. It undercuts the current coaching staff's recruiting efforts, which had some success, and handicaps any future coaching staff's recruiting efforts by giving them such a late start in the game. 

Kansas football, even in the best of years like 2007, does not and will not have the margin of error that the Oklahomas and Nebraskas of the Big 12 have with their roster depth.

As Mark Mangino demonstrated, schools like Kansas can only succeed with a program in place that builds up two and three star recruits into disciplined team players over the course of years. They cannot win and compete on talent alone year in and year out. If one aspect of the team, like this year's offensive line, has not been developed properly on schedule, the results can be disastrous. Seven game losing streak disastrous, that is.

The goal of Kansas football, which Mark Mangino achieved for a few seasons, should be to become the Iowa Hawkeyes of the Big 12. That is, not Texas or Oklahoma which would be simply unrealistic, but a Top 50% program that once every four years or so makes a surprise run at the top tier of the league.

However, this is only possible with program stability and quality recruiting. Don't let the accolades for Mack Brown and his recruiting at Texas confuse you. It is much harder to successfully recruit to a program like Kansas than it is Texas. 

Successful recruiting at Kansas requires time and research, uncovering diamonds in the rough and character guys by getting out and scouring the leftovers and unturned stones of the top programs in the region and country. This is a difficult task and it takes time, relationships and connections. All of that is now in peril.

The current drama with Mark Mangino is making an already difficult task potentially near impossible. If action is not taken swiftly with regards to Mangino, either a vote of confidence or his firing, the Kansas Jayhawks football program is in serious jeopardy of being set back years.

If Kansas does not take steps soon, the next coach, or maybe even a damaged Mark Mangino, will find their talent cupboards bare and the team behind the rest of the Big 12 in the all-important recruiting arms race. Just like old times before Mark Mangino came to Lawrence.

Sure the loss to Missouri was probably Kansas' most disappointing of the past decade.  Not only did the Jayhawks lose a game, but they lost the Border Showdown, a chance at a third straight bowl game, a fifth straight six-win season, a fantastic senior class, and potentially a coaching staff all in a single, exceptionally close, and exciting contest.

On the other hand, a team can't play as great a game as the Jayhawks and Tigers did without finding a few positives to ride into the offseason.

First of all, Todd Reesing didn't look Tim Biere's way too often, but maybe he should have.  The bulky, block-first tight end has flashed great hands not just against Mizzou, but all season long.

Next year, maybe a taller quarterback and an improving offensive line will allow Tim Biere to slip into the short middle of the field a little more often with a few more results.  As a junior, he should become Kale Pick's favorite safety net.

Secondly, anyone who was upset with Kansas' defensive efforts this year can expect at least one positive sign over the offseason: change.  Even if the defense appears no better whatsoever, I can promise that it's about to get far younger and much more athletic. 

As many as four redshirt freshman defensive ends, four more in the secondary, and any talented 2010 commits who stick around could all have an immediate impact on that side of the ball.  Huldon Tharp, Lubbock Smith, Drew Dudley, Jake Laptad, and Chris Harris seem like locks, but that still leaves six positions wide open for the taking.

Thirdly, Dezmon Briscoe had a monster game against Missouri, and I have never really expected him to stay in school anyway.  However, the Tigers also exposed a weakness or two that may cause scouts to think twice about the talented junior.

Will his poor blocking, erratic focus, and fumbling issues be enough of a beating to scouts' hopes?  I hope so.  I don't care who is coaching this team or what our younger receivers look like; Kale Pick would be ecstatic to have Briscoe back.  This being said, I personally still think that sticking around, especially if a new coach is on the way end, does nothing to help Briscoe's status.

Next, the offensive line has really started to come around in the last three games.  The talent there is by no means astounding, but the depth, youth, and improvement are.

I don't want to hear any crap about giving up a big safety, either.  That play was one of just four or five total breakdowns in the past three weeks.   Besides, even on a third-and-10 after two passes, who runs a quarterback draw behind a tiring, young offensive line out of the endzone in such a massively-important situation?

Finally, how about that Rell Lewis kid?  When I talked about him before the season started, I predicted his successful spring game would roll over into a few carries here and there per game in some no-pressure situations.

How about three runs for 12 yards and a catch (followed by some supreme-shiftiness) for 42 yards with the biggest game of his entire career on the line?  I know it's not much, but after just five runs for 17 yards and one catch for negative two yards in mop-up time against UTEP and Southern Miss, I didn't figure we'd see the sophomore again this season.

However, in some clean-up minutes against Texas, he scraped up five rushes for 43 yards, and with Toben Opurum injured and Jake Sharp exhausted, he came up really big against Mizzou when Kansas needed it most.  I never expected it, but Deshaun Sands may not be the guy spelling Opurum next season.

So the season is very disappointingly over and our coaching situation is still in turmoil, but not all is lost for Jayhawk football fans.  2010 will be an interesting season at the very least for Kansas, and I'm already getting excited.

In a matter of 18 seconds at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday, a pair of decisions were made by two coaches leading different programs seemingly heading in completely opposite directions.

His team trailing by three with 3:18 left in a game utterly void of defense, Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel took a calculated risk.

Rather than trusting his offense—which had amassed more than 500 yards and scored 23 second-half points to squash rival Kansas' once-commanding lead—to convert a delicate fourth-and-4 at the MU 39, Pinkel called on punter Jake Harry.

MU fans shuddered and cringed. KU fans giggled with devilish delight.

Harry, a rugby-style kicker who has become one of the many unsung heroes of Missouri's topsy-turvy season, rolled his kick inside the KU three-yard line. But the backfire potential of Pinkel's bold decision was still high.

"You look at percentages," Pinkel told reporters later, in defense of his gamble . "And you look at odds."

Nevertheless, after stating his surprise with the attention his decision was receiving, Pinkel admitted relief that everything worked out for the better.

"Wow," he said, "I'm just so glad we won the game."

But the odds Pinkel spoke of weren't exactly in Missouri's favor.

Kansas had already drug MU's defense up and down the field for nearly 600 yards, but it needed only 10 more to seal a second-consecutive win over its rival—and emerge as the victor in what was arguably the most entertaining game between the two sides in the 118-year history of the series.

With 2:45 left on the game clock, and Missouri armed with one harmless timeout, Kansas head coach Mark Mangino countered Pinkel's move with a calculated risk—or three—of his own.

Choosing to pass in the gleam of their own goalpost on first, second, and third down, Mangino and the Jayhawks failed to move the chains and, worse yet, did absolutely nothing to make friends with the clock.

By the time KU quarterback Todd Reesing was taken down in the end zone by two Missouri defenders for a momentum-swinging safety, only 14 seconds had transpired.

What happened next wasn't necessarily unexpected. Given favorable field position off the free kick following the safety, Missouri moved down a short field to set up kicker Grant Ressel 's game-winning chip shot to give the Tigers the 41-39 win .

Afterward, Mangino was as silent about his game management as Pinkel was relieved that his paid off, leaving only his players to give the rest of us a glimpse into what exactly happened .

“We checked out of a run. We definitely saw something,” Kansas right tackle Brad Thorson said, referring to offensive coordinator Ed Warinner's decision to pass on first down. “Our offensive coordinator, he’s spot-on. He knows what the defense is doing, and we took a couple shots.”

Wide receiver Dezmon Briscoe , who compensated for two crucial fumbles by racking up a career-high 242 yards and two touchdowns, seemed surprised by the play-calling but nonetheless reluctant to question the decisions that were made.

“In my mind-set, I just thought we’d run the ball, get what we could get, run some clock, make them use their timeouts,” Briscoe said. “But the coaches thought different, so I can’t argue. I’m just a player. I just go out there and run what they tell me to.”

Saturday's Border Showdown was one for the ages. It was a game that wasn't supposed to exceed the excitement of the two previous meetings between the two teams, but it did.

It did so with reckless abandon, as the two offenses, each carried by its superstars, traded blows in an epic battle that highlighted Saturday's full slate of rivalry matchups across the nation.

What's more, not many people expected Kansas (5-7, 1-7) to show up. Many were under the assumption that Missouri (8-4, 4-4), winner of its last three games, would register a double-digit win, blow out of town, and pound the coveted War Drum with ear-to-ear grins all the way back to Columbia.

Well, the latter two parts of that scenario are true. And now the state of the two respective programs, particularly the two head coaches, couldn't be more different.

Thought to have been receding back into also-ran status prior to the season, Missouri dismissed the notion of 2009 being the first phase in a rebuilding project.

Despite inconsistency on both sides of the ball, a gimpy and inexperienced quarterback, and a devastating midseason, three-game losing streak, the young Tigers are going to a bowl game for a school-record fifth season in a row.

With a chance to win nine games—presumably in the Insight Bowl against Minnesota—the Tigers should reap benefits on the recruiting trail.

Talent is beginning to pile up in Columbia, the roster features underclassmen galore, and Pinkel will be the program's guiding force for the foreseeable future, having signed an extension through the 2015 season last November.

In all, the MU program appears to be erected on pillars of strength. On the other hand, in Lawrence, an already shaky foundation may have crumbled on Saturday along with Mangino's last-minute tactics.

Their bowl dreams dashed against the Tigers, the Jayhawks are now officially in a state of flux.

The school's all-time passing leader, Reesing, is now an alum of the program, as is receiver Kerry Meier , Kansas' record-holder for receptions in a single season.

Joining them is fellow cornerstone and senior defensive back Darrell Stuckey , and Briscoe, a junior, is strongly considering entering his name in the NFL draft.

Granted, Kansas has developing talent to act as replacements, but who exactly will coach them?

Fans will call for Mangino's head based on the Jayhawks' final possession on Saturday, but it's likely his fate has been decided for some time now.

The sticky situation involving him and athletic director Lew Perkins over allegations that Mangino mistreated players is not bound to simmer down any time soon, which spells trouble not only for the immediate future of Kansas football but also its long-term reputation.

If suspect play-calling were plausible grounds for termination, Mangino would be on the unemployment line by now.

But because KU owes him nearly $7 million if he's fired without cause, pending a settlement between the two sides, a lawsuit may very well be forthcoming if there's insufficient evidence to validate the allegations.

That scenario would be enough to make any candidate shy away from taking over the reins. And, as a result, recruits will be tentative about considering Kansas.

After the loss, Mangino took to the podium to field questions that targeted on one subject and one subject only.

For KU fans, the postgame press conference was a bittersweet moment that may have signaled the beginning of a transitional period for the program, which is something MU fans likely won't have to experience for a long time.

"I don't have anything to say to any decision-makers or anything," Mangino said. "A friend of mine told me something one time I think is a very good way to go about life. That is: I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees."

Photo credit: Parker Eshelman/Columbia Daily Tribune

We can only imagine what Mark Mangino thought as Grant Ressel's 27-yard field goal gave the Missouri Tigers a 41-39 victory over Kansas on Saturday. 

Despite being one of the most exciting games in the Big 12 this season, the loss capped a seven-game losing streak for the Jayhawks and potentially became the final nail in the coffin of Mark Mangino’s eight-year coaching career at Kansas.

Along with the disappointing 2009 season for the Jayhawks on the gridiron, the investigation by the university into allegations of verbal abuse of players by Mangino has dragged on with no resolution for more than two weeks now.

Regardless of the outcome of Mark Mangino's coaching future at Kansas, one thing is clear: Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins should be fired.

Perkins has conducted the investigation into the claims of abuse by Mangino in an unprofessional and incompetent manner.  The athletic director has failed to lead when Kansas needed leadership.  For this he has lost the respect necessary to administer the athletic department.

What exactly has Perkins done that is so awful?  For starters, he organized a secret (albeit poorly kept) meeting with the entire football team, without the coaching staff present, with two games remaining on the Jayhawks' schedule.

The existence of this meeting was bewilderingly not kept confidential by Perkins and it was never explained to the public why it was necessary to carry out the meeting in the middle of the season as opposed to after.  It is hard to see why else Perkins would have instigated this investigation during the season other than to ratchet up the pressure on Mangino and undermine the efforts of the football team.

Perkins undercut Mangino and the football team's season.  The week of the players’ only meeting also saw the leaking of several pieces of private information by the athletic department to the press concerning matters related to the investigation. 

Specific details of the complaints against Mangino devoid of any context mysteriously emerged along with a two-year-old story about a parking ticket incident Mangino was involved in.

This is a sad example of leadership on Perkins' part. 

The bottom line is that as athletic director he is responsible for those leaks to the press.  Arguably nothing works against the trustworthiness of an administration more than its own blatant disregard for the rules.

The leaking of confidential information to the press, especially when it occurs in such an obviously concerted way designed to damage the public reputation of a person, is simply unethical and should not be tolerated.  It has made the investigation into the complaints against Mangino a farce. 

This is disrespectful to not only Mangino, but the accusers themselves as allegations have not been given the impartial and fair scrutiny they deserve.

Perkins is no stranger to controversies like this.  The end of his tenures as athletic director at Connecticut and Maryland were met with cheers by many at those schools because of ham-fisted and unprofessional tactics like these.

Whatever you may think about Mangino, there ought to be consensus that Perkins handled this entire matter far from professionally.  Whether or not this failure results in termination, it is a question worthy of conversation. 

Ultimately, it will be up to the University of Kansas to decide whether or not they want to reward such behavior in an administrator with future employment.

The University of Kansas confirmed last week that they are investigating the obese head coach of their college football team, Mark Mangino, due to allegations that he has emotionally and verbally abused players during his tenure in Lawrence.

The investigation was deemed necessary by school officials after two former Jayhawks players publicly recounted some of Mangino’s alleged reprehensible behavior on the gridiron.

Former Jayhawks receiver Raymond Brown recalled how in 2007 he was comforted by his teammates after his brother was shot and wounded near his home in St. Louis.

A couple of days later, an irate Mangino, supposedly ordered Brown to the sidelines after he made a bone-headed gaffe during practice.

“He went off on me yelling, which is fine,” Brown told The Associated Press. “I kept saying, ‘Yes, sir, yes, sir,’ to everything he was saying. A teammate asked me what happened. Then he started on me again and I said, ‘Yes, sir,’ and he said, “Don’t you ‘yes sir’ me. I’ll send you back to St. Louis where you can get shot by your homies.’”

In addition to the above purported racist denigration made by Mangino, Brown and past receiver Dexton Fields remembered an occasion when an unnamed player was lagging through a routine practice.

Mangino became incensed at the anonymous player’s focus and effort.  At that point he cruelly mocked that athlete’s boozy father.

“He wanted to be a lawyer,” Brown said. “He messed up, and Mangino said to his face, in front of everybody, ‘You want to be a lawyer? You’re going to be an alcoholic just like your dad.”

Fields stated that Mangino’s demeanor adversely affected the Jayhawks football performances.

“I’ve seen some instances where he said some pretty mean things to people,” Fields said. “Did that motivate guys to play hard? Yes and no. It got you mad. So when you went out onto the field you had to do whatever you needed to do to take your anger out. But I don’t think it makes you a better player. The negative outweighed the positive.”

This is not the first instance in which Mangino, 53, the 2007 AP National Coach of the Year, has been accused of mistreating his players.

Mangino once briefly and controversially served as the head coach of Lincoln High School in Ellwood City, PA.

Mangino, who never played a down of college football, recorded a pathetic 1-9 mark in his inaugural season as coach there.

At the conclusion of the disastrous campaign, a slew of parents demanded that Mangino be fired because of his “language, and harsh approach to people.”

The school board decided not to terminate Mangino.

However, the physical eye-sore left the school, in disgrace, shortly after the board made their poor decision to retain him.

Mangino, whose Kansas program was charged with committing major NCAA rules violations in 2006, defended the tactics and methods he has employed as a head coach.

“I have not done anything that’s inappropriate,” said Mangino, who has amassed an overall mark of 50-45 since he became the head coach at Kansas in 2002. “More than anything some guys might be a little bitter because we have structure and discipline, because I’ve asked them to represent the football program and the University in a class way.”

Associate athletic director for risk management Lori Williams has been designated by the university to inspect Mangino’s approach.

“Lori Williams will talk to whomever she feels she needs to talk to conduct this review,” associate athletic director Jim Marchiony said. “It will be thorough.”

In 2007, Mangino helped lead the perpetually ordinary Jayhawks to a 12-1 record and a victory over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.

Nevertheless, despite starting this season 5-0 and being ranked as high as No. 16 in the AP Poll, the Jayhawks have been defeated in five consecutive games and they are again currently mired in mediocrity.

It has long been said that there are two sides to every story.

Yet, the damning charges that have surfaced against Mangino seem to have some merit.

Many football onlookers irrationally contend that coaches need to be gruff and mean individuals who instill fear in their players to succeed on the field.

Such pathetic thinking is archaic and simply wrong.

University of Southern California (USC) Head Coach Pete Carroll may not be the exact equivalent of Nedward Flanders.

Still, Carroll, who has captured two National Championships as the leader of the Trojans, is an affable man and he has been known to treat his players with respect and kindness.

Mark Mangino never was, and he never will be, a coach the caliber of Pete Caroll.

Mangino is seemingly just a portly, rotten excuse for a man.

Hopefully, Mangino doesn’t have any “homies” working in the athletic department to rescue him from his misdeeds and “harsh approach to people.”

If Lori Williams finds that these charges are valid, Mangino should be immediately canned.

Ultimately, Mangino’s negative likely “outweighed the positive” and he does not “represent the football program and university in a class way.”

Brady Quinn is too muscular to play QB in the NFL

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Boxing's three biggest turkeys of the last 25 years

http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-23631-Boston-Boxing-Examiner~y2009m11d21-Boxings-three-biggest-turkeys-of-the-last-25-years

Manny Pacquiao is on steroids?

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Here, in America, a program is suffocating. There’s collateral damage poisoning a dignified program as most of us are accustomed to in basketball more than football.

Either way, that is, the self-destruction floating around the campus of Kansas is repulsive if you believe in the allegations. Whether a multitude of players dislike or jaded of the alleged physical and mental insults, the Jawhawks are responsible and suffer academia mockery for questionable insults and threats.

There’s much to dislike about Mark Mangino, coach of Kansas, if the accusations are true. All players are giving their sides of the story, and for all we know, each of their stories could be dishonest. But it’s rational to believe statements of kids who’ve played under Mangino, and experienced wrongdoing behind closed doors.

Today, our society emphasizes the significance of discipline, meaning strict structure might have been Mangino’s preference as a way of inspiring toughness. If so, Mangino is conducting the program like average coaches. As most conceive it as a disturbing issue, their instincts could downright be accurate, if the whining statements are true.

Several ex-Kansas players are accusing Mangino. He has been described as a hideous creature that has no respect and class as a head coach. Believing several ex-Kansas players is more common, obviously when there are so many willing to uncover the truth and bring down Mangino.

Now under fire, Kansas’ administration has a tough investigation to withstand. The university could lose out on potential recruits as parents will believe several kids more than Mangino, who’s trying to reestablish an inexcusable image.

Supporters trust in Mangino until the truth surfaces, while doubters will have grudges until he’s dismissed. For now, evidence is baffling of his immoral tirades and confrontations even though receiver Raymond Brown admittedly notified the public of Mangino’s anger issues. In fact, his anger problems are erroneous to a point he allegedly used racial threats towards Brown.

“If you don’t shut up, I’m going to send you back to St. Louis so you can get shot with your homies” If this is true, shame on Mangino. No player deserves that kind of discipline, where a player is insulted of racial and threatening remarks. Among players, the respect level degenerates and players could give up on Mangino, in which they won’t listen or follow the coaching formula.

There’s Marcus Herford, who told his side of the story. He said that Mangino send him “back to the street corner where you came from.” Sometimes, it’s hard to believe all statements heard. All the messy accusations might be a gimmick in a program that rarely inherits attention on a football standpoint. The negativity in Kansas lately is the most fame seen all seasons.

The Jawhawks aren’t highly regarded in football, a mediocre program having a substandard season. When Mangino arrived, he was responsible for reconstructing a shoddy program. In five seasons, Kansas cruised on a 12-1 record and qualified for a national title, in which Mangino was named Associated Press Coach of the Year in 2007. But now, he’s named Associated Press Bully of the Year.

None of the negativity would have surfaced, if Mangino hadn’t lost five games. With Kansas’ cultural aspects at a minimum on the football level, bringing out disturbing news is a ploy for making headlines. Nothing is imposing when the Jawhawks possess a 5-6 record, which should bring us to questions on if Mangino is under fire for a terrible season or pending allegations that might not be precise.

So now, athletic director, Lew Perkins, is investigating the current episodes of any physical abuse. There’s a solution for removing all disruptions and poisoning images to salvage optimism and trust within a popular brand name in sports. If the program dismissed Mangino, the Jawhawks won’t lose out on recruits and a program known for prestige still remains intact.

Until then, Kansas is perceived differently. If there’s truth to the matter, now is a good time to remove Mangino. Sure, college athletes need discipline, but not physical abuse or threatening insults. That’s unacceptable in an age when parents could file lawsuits and cost a program millions for a coach’s actions. As long as he’s there, kids won't be willing to play for Mangino.

They’ll reject offers and commit elsewhere, where an education is ensured and athletic programs are durable in qualifying for a BCS berth. But at Kansas, Mangino’s reputation scares off a multitude of prospects, unsure of the truth or next hissy fit.

I don’t blame them, and I definitely don’t blame parents.

Mangino must get out of there immediately, even if it’s abuse or motivation.

It has been over a week since the Kansas athletic director, Lew Perkins, began an investigation into Mark Mangino's alleged inappropriate treatment of college football players.  Reporting and leaks on the alleged incidents behind the investigation have set off a firestorm of opinions from talking heads around the country about what is acceptable and non acceptable behavior by coaches.

A notable absence in the public discussion of the situation involving Mark Mangino up to this point has been the assessment of former coaches who worked closely with him in past jobs.  Mark Mangino, like most BCS conference coaches, has an employment history that dates back years working with some of the biggest names in college football.

ESPN's Todd McShay and newspaper columnists have made much of the revelations that, 20 years ago, Mark Mangino was disliked by parents of his players at a small high school and that a couple of years ago he "verbally abused" student parking lot attendants and referees at a local Lawrence high school football game.

Isn't it suspicious though that this extensive media coverage and scrutiny has failed to uncover more stories of misconduct at earlier jobs to support the view of an abusive coach out-of-control.  The number of stories of misconduct at KU are thin enough, Mangino's detractors could certainly use the help.

Any good investigator would tell you that if you want to establish a pattern of coaching misconduct, you should look first to Mangino's eight year history at KU and then to the other universities he coached at, including Oklahoma and Kansas State.  I would not be surprised if right now, in fact, that is exactly what the lawyers at KU are telling Lew Perkins if he is considering firing Mangino "for cause."

Blair Kerkhoff has posted on his blog today comments from coaches Mangino worked with before he took the job at KU and none support the view that Mangino was "abusive" towards his players in anyway. 

The Oklahoma coach and BCS National Champion winner, Bob Stoops, said there were no incidents with Mangino when he served on his staff during the 2002 season.  “He was very close with them, appreciated them, did everything that was appropriate,” Stoops said of Mangino's relationship with players.

Legendary Kansas State coach Bill Snyder, who Mangino worked under the longest, when asked if there were any incidents said: "That didn't happen to my knowledge," and "not a whole lot slips under the radar from that respect. He handled the players well."

Dependably amusing, honest and to the point, Texas Tech's head coach Mike Leach when asked said Mangino "is in the middle of witch hunt," and ridiculed the entire investigation instigated by the KU athletic director, Lew Perkins.

Leach summarized the matter as follows: "The mean man told some player something they didn't want to hear. Well, there's a mean man in Lubbock who tells players what they don't want to hear. That's just part of it."

So, Bob Stoops, Bill Snyder, Mike Leach, Mack Brown (who also praised Mangino after the game on Saturday) and a number of other coaches have stepped forward to come to his defense.  What does this mean for KU's investigation?

If Mangino is eventually fired for the alleged misconduct, it appears that the university and the football program will lose a lot of respect in the eyes of some of the biggest names in Big 12 football. 

That would not be a good development for a traditional cellar dweller that is trying to maintain its relevancy on the conference and national stage.  Asides from the obvious reluctance, future coaching candidates may have to work under the athletic director Lew Perkins, worse yet arguably, it would give other Big 12 coaches ammunition against KU on the recruiting trail. 

We can only imagine the conversations in recruits' living rooms that might go something like this "Do you really want to commit the next four years of your life to a university that fired an Orange Bowl Champion just because he and the athletic director did not get along?"

It certainly is a sad possibility to ponder if you are a Kansas Jayhawk's football fan.

I'm a little confused. No, I'm a lot confused.

One minute, these high-octane athletes are gladiators, soldiers, or any manner of rugged testaments to perseverance in the face of physical duress incapable of being understood by mere mortals.

The next, they're complaining of hurt feelings and unforgivable (imperceptible) assaults on their egos.

Of course, I'm referring to the ongoing absurdity that's befallen the University of Kansas football program and its rotund head coach, Mark Mangino.

Former players are apparently materializing out of the ether with complaints about Mangino in the wake of senior linebacker Arist Wright's formal complaint against the portly papa bear of the team. According to Wright, Mangino yelled and poked him in the chest during a team walk-through/practice.

Consequently, the University has launched an investigation into the coach's methods.

In the developing game of he-said, he-said, Mangino claims it's nothing more than bitter players coming forward to get their shot at the cameras at an opportune time. The argument is that nobody was saying a peep when the Jayhawks were cruising along as the toast of college football's early season. But once the honeymoon ended and the squad dropped five straight games, those with axes to grind found an audience of sympathetic ears.

In Mangino's world, it amounts to rats jumping off a sinking ship.

For the record, it's tough to respect a molder of young athletes that is as obscenely obese as the Jayhawk head coach. Seriously, how hypocritical does an individual have to be to demand physical excellence from his charges while looking very much like a tethered blimp with a headset?

Really, coach? You think I'm a bum for blowing that deep post? How about you give me one—ONE—sit-up?  How about a push-up? How about just describing your toes without the aid of a mirror?

(Note: I have absolutely nothing against the overweight; it's the hypocrisy that bothers me.)

In other words, I have no love for the man. Nevertheless, Mangino's take rings true to me.

All of the players voicing discontent are done with football and most never amounted to much under Mangino—Raymond Brown, Dexton Fields, Marcus Herford, Wright, and some dude who transferred away from Kansas almost immediately. That's not to say these guys were total chumps, just that their careers probably didn't measure (or aren't measuring, in Wright's case) up to their expectations.

And we all know which side usually wins in a battle of "Is This Disappointment My Fault or Someone Else's?"

Coincidentally, the guys reserving comment or defending the coach are (for the most part) the ones who are still playing football and/or tasted more than a sip of glory under Mangino—Russell Brorsen, Todd Reesing, and Tennessee Titan Mike Rivera.

Obviously, though, the attack of unreasonable bias can be made on these three as easily as it can be made against those throwing stones at Mark Mangino. After all, it is no less common for those who've benefited from an association to defend it blindly.

For the tie-breaker, I return to my opening confusion.

Athletes are perceived as modern warriors because of the physical beating we all watch them endure, but also because of the savage world they inhabit for so many months of the year. Anyone who's spent time in a locker room or at a practice knows that otherwise outrageous behavior passes for normalcy—it's even considered necessary at times.

Verbal, emotional, and physical abuse don't mean the same thing in this specialized environment as they do in everyday life. Sports are barbaric in many facets.

Shoot, my HIGH SCHOOL baseball coach used to break clipboards over our heads when we weren't expecting it if we screwed up royally. In retrospect, it was pretty amazing, since he'd never fail to have the element of surprise despite the fact that we should've been on our guards.

My high school basketball coach announced to a van loaded with the entire varsity squad that one of our teammates was the biggest "p****" he'd ever seen in his life.

The kid was 16 years old.

When I was a 15-year-old sophomore on the varsity squad, we traveled into San Francisco to play one of the best teams in the city. I got dunked on by a 6'8" monster who happened to be black.

That coach's response?

I must be scared of black people. No mention that the dude had six inches on me, about 50 pounds, and I was trying to recover for a teammate's blown assignment.

Oh well. If you can't deal with the heat of being singled out on occasion, then play better or get the hell out of the game.

That's not to say it's impossible to cross the boundary of decency in the athletic arena. If Mangino used the non-fatal shooting of a player's sibling or the alcoholism of a player's father insensitively, he should be reprimanded (read: slap on the wrist), because there's got to be a limit somewhere.

Haphazardly using such intimately personal pressure points is probably a good place for said limit.

But poking a college linebacker in the chest? Grabbing another guy by the arm? Yelling and screaming? Embarrassing players in front of the team? Give me a break.

In sports, as in life, sometimes you'll take criticism and sometimes it will be unfairly harsh. Survival depends on the ability to shed it like water off a duck's back.

From the outside, it seems like Mark Mangino is a walking opportunity to learn this invaluable lesson. It's not pleasant and it might not be the best way to teach it, but those who learned the skill seem to have been well-served by it and have moved on in life.

Those who don't seem to be complaining from their couches. Still stuck in the past, patiently waiting for a convenient chance to exact revenge.

**www.pva.org**

It's hard to believe that just a week ago the primary conversation in Lawrence about Jayhawks football involved Kansas' upcoming game against the Cornhuskers. 

Beginning on Monday with Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins's bizarrely timed launching of an investigation into allegations Mark Mangino has been treating his players inappropriately, the situation has steadily progressed from bad to worse to terrible. Some former players have rushed to Mangino's defense, and others, including many who transferred from the program, have used the opportunity to air their own complaints against KU's coach. 

The Kansas City Star's windy and know-it-all columnist, Jason Whitlock, probably tired from kicking the dead horse that is the Kansas City Chiefs' season, jumped onto the controversy by publishing back-to-back articles endearingly titled "Weight Issues Are Root of Mangino's Problems" and "Mangino Is an Abusive Bully."

Not looking to be outdone by another Star columnist, J. Brady McCullough put in his claim to a Pulitzer by going Woodward and Bernstein and broke the news today that, 20 years ago in a small Pennsylvania town, Mangino was widely disliked by students' parents.

Mangino himself, choosing not to stay above the fray, went on a local sports radio show and attacked the parents of his players and former players who had spoken out against him. Clearly upset by the allegations, Mangino did manage to get in some good points during his rant, including that under his leadership the football program had set records for team GPA and graduated high percentages of players.

He also rattled off an impressive list of players who support him and who, under his tutelage, succeeded at KU, including Nick Reid, Brandon McAnderson, and Charles Gordon, among others.

Regardless of who is right or wrong in this fracas, it is clear that the situation is a mess and that the blame for it rests solely on the shoulders of the Jayhawks' indomitable athletic director. If Perkins wanted to fire Mangino for the team's losing streak or the charges of misconduct, he should have just come out and done it. Mangino's buyout is only $600,000, a sum insignificant to the amount of damage the athletic department's reputation is taking on a now-hourly basis.

Furthermore, Perkins should have had the foresight to put a muzzle order on Mangino concerning the matter until a resolution had been reached. What is playing out now is a sensationalist, overhyped trial tried in newspapers and on talk radio with little regard for levelheadedness or the long-term impacts this may all have on KU's football program.

Things have gotten so bad at this point that I am thinking Perkins would probably best be able to resolve the situation if he and the feuding parties all booked a show on Jerry Springer, letting Jerry mediate the controversy to the hoots and hollers of a studio audience. I would personally love to see Mangino and Whitlock, both hefty gentleman, get into a fight after one or the other "dissed" someone.

What is really sad is that one of the only voices of reason in this entire affair has been that of senior wide receiver Kerry Meier, who attributed the controversy to the five-game losing streak and told McCullough that Mangino has "taken this program to new and great heights that I don't think anybody ever imagined.

"And if they're looking to bring somebody in to change this program around again, it's gonna be a tough, tough challenge to find somebody to do that."  

Well said, Kerry. And I'm sorry this all had to happen during your and the other seniors' last season at KU after such a great four-year run.

From the beginning of his tenure as head coach at the University of Kansas, Mark Mangino has had many obstacles to overcome, most importantly turning the fortunes of a perennial loser.

For starters, he inherited practice and game facilities that did not measure up to premier programs in the Big XII. In Austin, well, everything is bigger. Stillwater has billionaire T. Boone Pickens, and Nebraska has Dr. Tom Osborne.

Next, Coach Mangino needed to assemble a staff capable of snatching up out-of-state talent and keeping said talent away from the other suitors in the conference.

The state of Kansas is not a hotbed for football talent, so Mangino and his staff had to convince potential players that the aging digs in Lawrence were worth accepting as part of a larger opportunity to build a respectable football program.

Then there was the foregone conclusion that KU, having modest success on the gridiron, evidenced by the occasional bowl appearance, was and is in fact a basketball school.

One could think that the job required of him was in some ways no greater than that of any other newly minted BCS school coach, and it very well may not have been. So these factors beg the question: What makeup of a man could handle such a daunting task?

For starters, the guy had better be tough. His mascot is a mythical bird (Jayhawk), and he would have to stand in living rooms and sell young men on leaving their nests for the nest in Lawrence, Kansas.

He should be driven, focused, battle-tested, and stubborn enough to weather trips to harrowing places like Lincoln, NE and Norman, OK.

There are often many ways to get to most places. To have a successful football program, there may be only one. Ask any coach on any level, and they will tell you that they want a tough, hard-nosed, mistake-free team.

So when we look at these kids—and they are kids—we expect these 19- to 23-year-old, fresh off the block guys to have all of the discipline and dedication to be a full-time student-athlete in the midst of some very formative years.

We also think that these kids can do this with little outside influence or with the tools they have in the bag when they show up. Fact is, they can't. They never have and probably never will be ready to fulfill those roles without a shepherd.

When a man like Mangino, whose motives and methods are being questioned, enters the fray, we should embrace what he is doing. Whether intentional or not, Mangino is shaping the way these kids will live their lives.

It's no secret that star athletes are identified and embraced at an early age. Everything comes easy for most of them, at least until Coach Mangino comes crashing through the door.

How many young people can you think of who could use a little challenge in their lives? How do we learn to overcome adversity if we never experience it? How do we leave bad habits behind if they are never pointed out?

If we examine the history of football, pay attention to the demeanor of the game's most successful coaches. With the exception of a Dick Vermeil or Pete Carroll, these guys aren't emulating the teachings of Dr. Phil.

Look at the top programs in college football today, and you will see characters not cast too far from the likes of Mangino, Bob Stoops, Nick Saban, Bo Pelini, and so on...

The truth is, any program that has the monumental task of being rebuilt ahead of it is almost forced to find a Mark Mangino to lead the charge. As a former college player, I only wanted one thing: to enjoy playing the game I loved.

I was given the chance to play a game in exchange for a free education, which meant for me that I would have endured anything short of criminal acts to keep playing.

Don't judge Mangino based on society's overly warm and fuzzy view of the world. Know that the grumblings of a few will not measure up to the gratitude of many.

I have to run...I am late meeting Coach Saban in Tuscaloosa. We're baking cookies and singing "Kumbaya" around the campfire.