A new coach has given Kansas football fans newfound optimism.

Whether the Jayhawks can win more games with coach Mark Mangino remains to be seen. The Jayhawks are, however, selling more season tickets.

“We’re about 1,200 ahead of where we were last year at this time,” said Lee Johnson, who became KU’s director of marketing in February. “That’s great, and that’s excluding student tickets.”

Kansas has sold 14,500 season-ticket packages so far. The school expects to sell 6,000 student-ticket packages. Combine those numbers, and KU would surpass the 19,418 season tickets sold last year when the Jayhawks went 3-8.

“A lot of it, obviously, is because of coach Mangino,” Johnson said.

Mangino was an assistant coach in the Big Eight and Big 12 conferences for 11 years before replacing Terry Allen as KU’s head coach last December. Jayhawk fans are hoping Mangino  who helped coach Bill Snyder build a winner at Kansas State and helped coach Bob Stoops build a national championship team at Oklahoma  can work some magic on Mount Oread.

Expect to see plenty of the new coach’s mug when Johnson’s department begins its major preseason push in the next few weeks.

Johnson said KU has been selling an average of 100 season tickets per week, and that number could climb when its radio, TV and print ad campaigns start.

KU’s goal is 25,000 season tickets. The team averaged just 39,778 fans for seven home dates last season. Memorial Stadium seats 50,250.

Johnson said there are less than 100 of the 1,000 Family Zone packages remaining. That package offers two adult and two youth tickets for $100.

Kansas has sold about 500 recent-graduate tickets, but Johnson would like to see that number reach 1,000. Alumni who graduated between 1998 and this spring can buy season tickets for $99.

KU is about halfway to its goal with Jayhawk Business Partners. About 250 of those $350 packages have been sold.

For more information call 1-800-34-Hawks or log on to kuathletics.com.

Defections  Mangino acknowledged that some players have left the program since he took over, but he declined to discuss specific players.

A comparison of the spring roster and a roster released Monday by the media relations office shows eight players have left the team. They are: running back Marshell Chiles, a sophomore running back from El Reno, Okla.; Josh Fagan, a freshman linebacker who transferred from Charleston Southern; Ronnie Franks, a junior linebacker from Kansas City Harmon who had transferred to KU from Morgan State; Joey Guzman, a red-shirt freshman from Tulsa, Okla.; Clarence Laws, a sophomore defensive end from Belle Glade, Fla.; Vel Robinson, a sophomore defensive back from St. Louis; Fernando Rodriguez, a junior defensive back from Lawrence who had transferred from Highland Community College; and Jeremy Stover, a sophomore kicker from Labette Community College.

Another updated roster is expected to be released next week, indicating more players might have left the team.

The only experienced player in the aforementioned group was Laws (6-foot-4, 260 pounds), who made two tackles in three games last season. Laws was listed second on the depth chart behind sophomore David McMillan (6-3, 240) at the completion of spring drills, but he was replaced with senior Brandon Lacy (6-2, 250) on a depth chart released this summer.

Guzman (6-4, 280) was second on the depth chart at left tackle behind senior Justin Sands (6-7, 295) after spring drills, but his name was also missing from the updated depth chart. No replacement was listed.

Mangino said some players struggled to adjust to the new staff’s standards, including offseason workouts.

“For some youngsters, it was rather shocking,” he said. “The overwhelming majority of our players have bought into our system, believe in it and are doing it. We have some that went home. That’s too bad.”

Mangino said some players left on their own, while others were informed it wasn’t in their best interests to remain in the program. The coach said he helped some of the players explore their options with other schools.

LeClair released  Former Jayhawk Andrew LeClair was released by the New Orleans Saints on Tuesday. LeClair played linebacker at KU from 1998 to 1999 before transferring to North Dakota State. He had joined the Saints this summer as an undrafted free agent.