Poor example

To the editor:

I’m not surprised that admonitions to change the crude Kansas University student chant from Coach Mangino and KU Athletics’ Marchiony fall largely on deaf ears.

“Do as I say, not as I do” is seldom a persuasive strategy.

How could anyone forget Mangino’s “YouTube moment” last season? His expletive-laced tirade, broadcast and re-broadcast to millions, is still there for everyone to “enjoy.”

This past July, an unapologetic Mangino, when queried about this, said, “I haven’t changed who I am, and I’m not changing for anybody. This is how I got to where we are and what I am” (“Excitable coaches,” July 22, 2008, posted by ESPN.com’s Tim Griffin).

Marchiony’s solution: Keep the media at bay so no one could record a repetition of such behavior. He explained it this way: “There are several options that we could take, ranging from monitoring it more [the TV coverage] to moving the TV stations up on top of the press box and telling them to shoot from there.” (“Mangino tirade'” Sept. 17, 2007, Doug Tucker, AP Sports Writer)

This, of course, was not Mangino’s first public outburst. In 2002, it took him three tries to acknowledge “regret,” but not apologize, for publicly berating game officials at a Lawrence High football game.

Students might be a little more willing to clean up their act if KU Athletics and Coach Mangino actually apologized for his past behavior and agreed that the next public eruption would be his last.

Jerry Harper,
Lawrence