Mangino leery of certain bars

Coach cautions players about recent trouble spots

The latest incident involving Kansas University men’s basketball player J.R. Giddens opens a complex issue dealing with the nightlife of high-profile college athletes.

After Giddens was stabbed in the calf during an after-hours brawl on May 19 outside the Moon Bar, 821 Iowa, KU athletic director Lew Perkins told the Kansas City Star there was a list of “three or four” places that all student-athletes were told not to attend, and the Moon Bar was one of them.

Numerous student-athletes contacted by the Journal-World were unaware that such a list existed, but a couple of sources close to the athletic department did say that KU football coach Mark Mangino advises his players to stay away from certain establishments. In the past, one source said, the Moon Bar hadn’t been on that list.

Mangino acknowledged Friday that he addressed the issue of nightlife with his team, but wouldn’t get into specifics.

“What I say to my team in private, I do not discuss publicly,” Mangino said. “If I tell them that there’s certain places that’s off-limits for football players, I wouldn’t want to mention it publicly because I wouldn’t want anyone to think it’s not fine for the public to go there. It just might not be a good situation for a football program. I don’t want to cast a shadow over any business in town.

“There are situations out there that I address with my team, and I’m serious about it, and my team knows that,” Mangino added.

Mangino wouldn’t go into further detail, but a source said the KU football coaching staff recommended the players stay away from three local establishments — Jack Flanigan’s, which recently closed; Last Call, Seventh and New Hampshire streets; and The Granada, 1020 Mass.

Flanigan’s and Granada both had incidents leading to the arrests of former KU football players, perhaps contributing to their mention. In 2002, former defensive tackle Brock Teddleton pleaded no contest to a battery charge after being involved in a fight outside of Flanigan’s, which was on 806 W. 24th, and since has been replaced by Liquid Bar and Nightclub.

The Granada, meanwhile, is where former running back John Randle had his latest brush with the law last month. According to police reports, Randle allegedly urinated on the wall outside the club, then punched the club’s manager in the face when approached.