If you add the numbers over the last half century, you’ll find the shelf life of a Kansas University football coach is approximately 4.8 years.

That would make Terry Allen the typical KU football coach.

Allen, now assistant head coach at Iowa State, lasted four years and eight games before he was dumped by athletic director Al Bohl with three outings remaining in the 2001 season.

Glen Mason and Jack Mitchell each prevailed for nine years – the school record, incidentally, for longevity in a position fraught with the peril of brutal schedules and the albatross of men’s basketball.

Mike Gottfried, now an analyst on ESPN, was on Mount Oread for three years before bolting for Pittsburgh. And Bob Valesente, Gottfried’s successor, lasted only two years before being asked to clean out his desk.

Still, the common KU tenure during the modern-day era is four years. Don Fambrough did it twice, while Bud Moore and Pepper Rodgers each served one four-year term. Curiously, each made one bowl trip during those four years, but never in the fourth year.

In fact, only one KU coach – Mitchell – ever has taken the Jayhawks to a bowl game in his fourth season. That was in 1961, when Kansas flattened Rice, 33-7, in the Bluebonnet Bowl.

Have you figured out the direction I’m headed?

Mark Mangino is about to embark on his fourth season on Mount Oread, and, based on precedent, he needs to become the second KU coach to go to a bowl game in his fourth year, or his job is in jeopardy.

Without a doubt, the most difficult obstacle facing Mangino is the fact he is working for an athletic director who didn’t hire him. Again, history isn’t on Mangino’s side.

None of the last six Kansas football firings was made by the AD who hired the coach.

Mitchell was hired by Dutch Lonborg and fired by Wade Stinson.

Fambrough was hired (the first time) by Stinson and fired by Clyde Walker.

Moore was hired by Walker and fired by Bob Marcum.

Fambrough was hired (the second time) by Marcum and fired by Monte Johnson.

Valesente was hired by Johnson and fired by Bob Frederick.

Allen was hired by Frederick and fired by Bohl.

Mangino was hired by Bohl and, well : the trend is obvious. And, in case you hadn’t noticed, the man now in charge of KU athletics does not make decisions based on sentiment.

Lew Perkins won’t waver if KU posts a losing record in 2005.

And that brings us to the second biggest obstacle facing Mangino. Kansas hasn’t had a winning record since the formation of the Big 12 Conference in 1996.

Kansas bowed out in the defunct Big Eight Conference with a bang. Under Mason, the Jayhawks fashioned a gaudy 10-2 record that included a raucous 51-30 romp over UCLA in the ’95 Aloha Bowl.

Since then, the Jayhawks haven’t managed even a .500 record. Mangino’s second edition did end the regular season with a 6-6 record in 2003, but that 56-26 thrashing by North Carolina State in the Tangerine Bowl assured still another non-winning season.

In the century-plus history of KU football, the longest stretch without at least a .500 season is 10 years (1936-45). The current skein stands at nine.

History may not be on Mangino’s side, but nobody named History ever has suited for the Jayhawks, and they don’t mail in the scores based on what happened before.

With an 11-game schedule, Kansas must win at least six games to be assured of its first .500 season since becoming a part of the Big 12, and the Jayhawks are capable. They lack playmakers on offense, but the defense should be competitive.

To win at least six games, the Jayhawks almost certainly must knock off nonconference foes Florida Atlantic, Appalachian State and Louisiana Tech, because KU has never won more than three Big 12 games in a single season.

Only three league games will be in Memorial Stadium – Missouri, Nebraska and Iowa State. Can KU win all three? Not likely. Not with KU’s last victory against Nebraska occurring in 1968. Can the Jayhawks spill Oklahoma at Arrowhead Stadium? Again, not likely.

Then, can KU steal one at Texas Tech, Kansas State, Colorado or Texas? Possibly. But Mangino’s record in Big 12 road games is 1-11.

The deck may not be stacked against the Jayhawks this fall, but they’ll need to draw a lot of face cards.