Mangino optimistic about job status
Mark Mangino said he was optimistic about his future as the head coach of the Jayhawks. The team lost seven straight games to close out the season 5-7. Enlarge video
Entering the 2009 college football season, the one thing that stood out with the Kansas University football team is that, well, there just weren’t any question marks.
The team was coming off its second straight bowl victory, had set numerous offensive records during the previous two-year stretch, and, with nearly every major skill-position player returning — highlighted by darkhorse Heisman candidate Todd Reesing and standout receivers Dezmon Briscoe and Kerry Meier — it was easy to understand why 2009 had been pegged by many as the year Kansas would notch its first outright Big 12 North title in school history.
“I hope (fans) are excited, because I’m excited,” said Meier, then a junior receiver, in the moments following the ’08 team’s Insight Bowl victory over Minnesota.
A year later, however, in the wake of a season-ending 41-39 loss to Missouri that dropped the Jayhawks to 5-7 (1-7 in the Big 12) for the year, about the only certainty with the 2010 team is uncertainty.
With the exception of backup running back Toben Opurum and receiver Bradley McDougald, the team doesn’t return a true game-changer on offense, assuming that Briscoe departs a year early for the NFL. The defense loses its top player in Darrell Stuckey — along with five other players who started at least five games this season — and, perhaps most importantly, it remains unclear whether the team’s embattled coach will be on the KU sideline next season.
Mark Mangino, the subject of an internal university investigation into his treatment of players, said following Saturday’s loss to Missouri that he expects to be the team’s coach next season, but the consensus around Lawrence is that it will take a Christmas miracle for the coach to keep his job after a two-week stretch in which multiple former players have come forward with allegations of the coach’s physical and mental abuse of players.
“We’ve got some shoes to fill,” said sophomore tight end Tim Biere, in what might be the understatement of the year.
No, things don’t figure to be quite as comfortable as they were a season ago.
In addition to a massive loss of production on both sides of the ball, next season’s schedule, while free of the Big 12 South powers (Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech) that were staples during the past two seasons, is far from a walk in the park.
In nonconference play, the Jayhawks will take on Georgia Tech, the nation’s No. 12 team at the moment, and travel to Southern Miss., a team Kansas only narrowly defeated in Lawrence this season.
Then again, as the utter collapse of the ’09 season clearly indicates, certainty — or the lack of it — doesn’t necessarily mean much.
The last time the Jayhawks failed to play in a bowl, for instance, they finished the following season 12-1 and beat Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, and there are reasons, too, to be encouraged heading into next fall — one of which is an offensive line that will return every starter.
“I hope everyone keeps the faith in the football team,” Reesing said Saturday, “because we’ve got a lot of good young guys.”
In the emotional moments following Saturday’s loss, Stuckey, a senior safety, gave a short speech in the locker room. It was a typical farewell speech, urging the team’s returning players to pour themselves into offseason workouts and make the most of their remaining time at Kansas.
“Hopefully, they’ll take that to heart,” senior cornerback Justin Thornton said. “Because we don’t want anybody to have to feel what we’ve gone though this year as seniors.”
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yankeevet (anonymous) says…
ok; so now what??....................does the coach stay or go?? what is the future here for KU Football Team?
GOCAWO (anonymous) says…
Uncertainity? Ya think?
sundancewierdo (anonymous) says…
We are going to be fine. These people will figure something out and we will go on. Next season we will have a great run game and the rest will work out. Rock Chalk!
garyr (anonymous) says…
I have a feeling you will see quite a few players transfer out in this off season.
ack (anonymous) says…
Find a new quarterback- some speed in the safety positions
a few TE's that can get the first downs and throw a block 'now and then' and we could be right back in the Big 12 mix.
Keep Mangino and see what he can do with a new QB and some new players...How about looking at some local players from Freestate and Olathe. This year and Last years 2nd place state teams from both schools had some
great willing and able players.
jfcm77 (anonymous) says…
I love football!
BigAl (anonymous) says…
Mangino has had one winning Big12 record in his 8 years. One. And that was a year he didn't play the big boys. He has never won the North much less the conference. He is now on a 7 game losing skid against some teams that he should have beaten. No, I do not consider him a great coach. I think KU fans should expect more than something less than mediocre.
Plenty of money is being spent on coaches and facilities at KU and it is time to expect more than being a bottom feeder in the very weak Big12 North. It is time for Mangino to go.
His personal attack on the young person that gave him a parking ticket and his actions at the LHS football game told me all I needed to know about the man.
jasonhoh (anonymous) says…
Big Al - couldn't have said it any better.
monkeyspunk (anonymous) says…
They have a QB, Kale Pick is fast and along with Opurum can create a very nasty ground attack. Throw in Rell Lewis and we could very well post 200+ yards on the ground per game minimum, as long as the play calling is good.
The weak link here is coaching. Mangino did a great job getting talent here, and I think that was highlighted by the 2007 season. But I think they won so many games, not because of Mangino, but in spite of him and his staff.
Think about it, most of Reesing's highlight reel are from plays that should have ended in a sack or other loss in yardage. His talent, coupled with Briscoe and Meier's ability to get open, were the only thing that kept us above water for a very long time. Reesings tenacity and luck got us as far as it could, coaching failed to take us to the next level.
Get rid of Mangino, and I will be optimistic for next season. Get some talented and seasoned JuCo players from Kansas' brilliant Junior College football system to man our defense and you will see good things from KU.
monkeyspunk (anonymous) says…
Oh yeah, Toben Opurum is the real deal. He will set records at KU. I am excited about this dude.
He is as fast and bigger than some of last years 1st round draft picks and he is only a sophomore!
2002 (anonymous) says…
Big Al is exactly right. The coach is overrated and those that want to pay attention should be able to see it.
honeychild (Mel Briscoe) says…
what the hell happened to jake sharp anyway?
toe (anonymous) says…
Who needs a coach? You really need a bail bondsman and a bookie. That would fit Lew's vision.
LeBo (anonymous) says…
Top Ten reasons why KU football is disappointing:
10. Early cupcakes like Northern Colorado made KU soft as Fried Twinkies at the Texas State Fair.
9. Succession Planning doesn't always work, i.e. Clint Bowen. (Citing Bill Clinton & Al Gore)
8. KU's No Name Line backing Corps. (Not starting Arist Wright)
7. Loyalty is not always warranted. For example, starting Jake Sharp over T.O. (Toben Oprum). (Citing Roy Williams)
6. Chivalry! KU Football team was confused why the Women's basketball team was ranked and they were not. (Ladies first!)
5. The football team got jealous of the Allen Fieldhouse renovations. (Don't worry next season the Gridiron Club is coming)
4. The Football's Law of Averages. Reesing an outliner had to account for the lack of INT's and Fumbles in his career stats.
3. The KU Bookstore was tired of losing money on Touchdown Tuesdays. (Offense marked down 30%)
2. Maybe someone @ the HAWK slipped METH in the team's Coke also. (Citing John Agassi)
1. Ball envy! Now we know why the Men's Basketball team want to kick their A$$.
heybluekc (anonymous) says…
Yeah juco guys suck for the most part. What ever happened to the big O lineman we got?? Top juco recruit two years ago. I think it was Nathan D'Kahuna. Far as I know he never played a down. There is a reason most go to juco. The most prevelant is they are not good enough to play D1 and secondly not smart enough to play D1.
momof2ku (anonymous) says…
Interesting.............http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/writers/joe_posnanski/11/29/mangini.mangino/index.html
rez4prez (anonymous) says…
I love it!!! Blame the coach, no blame the players, no blame the media, no blame Lew, no blame the system for lack of JUCO players!!! Funny stuff!!! If you think that Mangino isn't a talented coach just look at what he has done in the time he has been here. I think you would fine more than most KU football coaches. We forget that he took over a program where players were in charge and very little coaching staff control. He turned that around along with attitudes of the players. He instilled a winning mentality in a program where there was very little. No one is ever going to like this play call or that play call. I doubt very much that this whole conversation would be taking place if the team had a winning record this season. I think we as fans should be looking at Mangino's entire body of work as a coach at KU before deciding that he is a horrible coach. Second all time on the win list as a KU coach at 50. Fifty games? WOW, Mangino must be horrible if the all-time record is just 52 wins. He has done it with alot of 3 star, some 4 star players that no body else wanted and made it work. shame on you, if you can't appreciate a man who has built something special here at KU.
P.S. I am sure that Lew's next coach will undoubtly be facing this same firing squad in a fews years when he is having to re-establish what Mangino has built. go hawks!!!
oneeye_wilbur (anonymous) says…
one goes, they both go, gibve it time, and then bring in someone who doesn't need to employ their family.keep nepotism out of the program
distant_voice (anonymous) says…
The Jayhawks only need 5 things to be successful in 2010:
1. An Offense
2. A Defense
3. Special Teams who are more than spectators
4. A Coach who doesn't make game-blowing calls
5. A fan base with a very short memory
1029 (anonymous) says…
I say give Mangino another year. I think all the questions about how good of a coach he is will be answered when we see how he adjusts his gameplan to best utilize the strengths of next year's personnel. Biere has looked good and can be a major impact player, but only in an offense that utilizes the tight end more. Similarly, Opurum can put up big numbers if they are willing to give him the ball and let him run up the middle. Plus, assuming the returning offensive line will be better, Mangino is going to have to adjust from an unbalanced spread offense that catered to Reesing's height disadvantage and relied heavily on short passes to the outside to an offense that utilizes the talents of an experienced line, a solid tight end, and a power running back.
Also, I bet the younger Rodgers will decide not to come to KU if they get rid of Mangino. I imagine this whole situation looks confusing to non-KU fans/people-outside-of-Lawrence because they still see a Coach of the Year who reminded them that the University of Kansas does indeed have a football team.
And Briscoe may as well just leave early. I tried and tried to jump on the "Briscoe is a good receiver" bandwagon, but over the last few years he has dropped way too many passes and those two fumbles against MU were game-changers.
clarkentsman (anonymous) says…
rez4prez - good counter point
Has anyone taken a close look at the recruiting classes between 2002 and 2009? Please do! Before MM we recruited 0-2 star players and a 3 star was a bonus. In 2001 Terry Allen didn’t even attempt to recruit Darren Sproles who allegedly wanted to come to KU until he was snubbed by Terry Allen. This came from a former KU player who knew Sproles.
The talent level and player opinion that MM inherited was near the bottom of NCAA Division 1 football. As time passed the level of recruit went from some 2 and 3 star players to 3 and 4 star players.
Year / Recruits / Rivals.com / Star Rating / Final Overall Rating
2010 15 3 - 9 - 2 *
2009 25 4 - 19 - 2 31st
2008 20 2 - 18 - 0 40th
2007 23 1 - 14 - 9 50th
2006 25 1 - 16 - 8 38th
2005 28 2 - 16 - 10 48th
2004 21 0 - 7 - 14 51st
2003 27 2 - 14 - 10 - 1 39th
2002 22 1 - 11 - 10 - 0 - 1 58th
(* one yet to be ranked)
MM has been a very good judge of unseen talent and ability. Some of the 2 Star Players he has recruited include
Chris Harris
Jake Laptad
Jeff Spikes
Johnathan Willson
James Holt
Jeff Wheeler
Artist Wright
Aqib Talib
Anthony Collins
Kile Tucker
Charlton Kieth
Cesar Rodriguez
Jon Coenish
Dreek Fine
Charls Gordon
Kevin Kane
and the 0 Star recruited in 2002 was Jonathan Lamb out of Olathe
How many NFL players do you see in this list? How many did we love to cheer for?
BigAl (anonymous) says…
rez4prez.. you make some valid points. And yes, KU football is better than it was before Mangino. A lot of the improvements in and around Memorial Stadium have come from the efforts of Lew Perkins and not Mark Mangino.
I still think we should expect better than 1 winning Big 12 season out of 8, especially in the weak Big 12 North division. Let's also remember that a lot of Mangino's wins came from what should be inferior programs.
Mangino is being paid on a scale equal to some of the top coaches in the country, thanks to Lew Perkins. Mangino simply hasn't lived up to his pay scale. We deserve to be in the running to win the North every year. For whatever reason, Mark Mangino simply doesn't win in the Big 12 conference.
We should expect to have at least as many winning seasons as Missouri and for some reason, we don't. I don't know why people accept something less than mediocre and put it out there as if it is really good. It isn't.
fairplay (anonymous) says…
When will Mangino start packing the U-Haul? Guesses?
I say 12-3-09
sundancewierdo (anonymous) says…
Let's not forget what type of programs the Mack Browns, urban myers, bob stoops, pete carrol and the like step into. Football is the culture in these schools. MM had to fight tooth and nail just to get anywhere at all. We wouldn't know what he could have done with a bunch of 5 star recruits on a waiting list just to get looked at. Face it people, our ath. dept. is doing what any of these big football schools would do. Unless you are joe freaking paterno, you lose, your out. Makes us look a little ridiculous simply because our football team is not at that level. yet.
GSR1855 (anonymous) says…
I was on a team that went to state my junior year, but didn't even make post season my senior year. Same coach and all but 5 were the same team members. The difference? The 5 seniors who served as leaders for the team. The coach would have matched any negative comments that have been made about Mangino, if not worse. It was not obvious until a year later how instrumental that group of seniors were and what was not there from the later group of seniors. Some have that leadership ability and some don't. I am not saying that Mangino's actions don't require a second look. I definitely think Perkins was very wrong to initiate any activity during the season. But i think you have to give a share of responsibility to the players and whoever they looked to within their own ranks for leadership.
monkeyspunk (anonymous) says…
edjayhawk and heybluekc,
Just because Kansas' JuCo transfers didn't do much doesn't mean that all are worthless. How many super awesome HS recruits flop and fail? Your lack of knowledge is very obvious here.
Every major University taps the Junior College circuit to get experienced athletes in an attempt to fill positions immediately. The Jayhawk Conference, which is considered the best JuCo conference, produces not only Div I talent, but also numerous NFL players as well.
The reason you don't hear about some of these players is because they are commonly in positions that don't receive a lot of attention. They fill positions in the O-Line or D-Line or in secondaries. Skill position JuCo transfers usually find it difficult to make an impact in Div I schools, though some do. A good example is Brandon Jacobs of the NY Giants.
ack (anonymous) says…
Besides Mangino who are the recruiters for KU??
Maybe LP should be looking at those personalities...and adjust accordingly
Here's just a few players that have not been signed..
Tyler Arndt QB Cuero Texas
Zack Villarrel QB Wichita, Kansas
Tyrell Brown QB Topeka, Kansas
Keanon Cooper LB Texas
Cameron Newton QB Binn Texas
Keene Niemac RB Lawrence Kansas Freestate
Kirk Ressequie RB Lawrence Kansas Freestate
Camron Tornaden QB/RB Lawrence Ks. Freestate
backyardwino (anonymous) says…
Ask any WSU fan what they think about the outcome of their football program under Perkins . . .
jkilgore (anonymous) says…
I think that we as fans have nearly hyperventilated over a tenure that brought us more thrills than we could have expected based on decades of futility. As we have learned, heroes don't always ride out into the sunset. Maybe we shouldn't be surprised: Our 12-1 season certainly was aided by a weaker schedule, and our year this year was tough to deal with because of injuries to Sharp and especially Reesing. He missed on passes that he didn't miss in 07 and 08, but still had the guts to make huge throws like the final TD to Briscoe. It says a lot about these kids' competitive spirit. I'll never forget them--both this year but more for previous success. In the past 50 years, who at KU has outcoached Mangino? No one.
Now I wonder when in the future will we have a team that gives us equal memories? Before this senior class, I have to go back to 1975 and Cromwell at Oklahoma. I'll be 85 years old if it takes that long again, and I'm not a candidate for cryogenics!!!!
misterlee (anonymous) says…
Maybe the new coach will bring some players with him.
srj (anonymous) says…
Several reasons why Mangino stays. Your trying to build the "Gridiron Club". A new guy means you throw away two years, and you finally get better, you get Texas and OU again. Plus no matter what KU thinks, you have to pay him.
greenworld (anonymous) says…
When Lew Perkins and the KU Athletic Department quit charging for 1-2 yr olds to get in ku will start winning. Hey Lew,Is it all about winning or the money? When we all figure that out then we will know which way Ku football is going. I look for next yr blackouts to occur and maybe one televised game if we are lucky. There might be more people in the stadium than on the hill if we are lucky.
clarkentsman (anonymous) says…
srj - if you fire the coach you can shelve the white elephant and it won't be your fault.
Answer this question. If they spent $34,000,000 on Allen Fieldhouse and raised the roof allowing 3,000 seats with premium seating (although somewhat distant) accessible by private elevator with your own parking space would you spend $105,000 (one time payment per seat) plus the price of a ticket to watch 30 years of KU basketball? If there are 18.3 games per year that's 550 games for just under $200 per game. Adding the price of the ticket it's almost $250 a game. OK, so you don't have that much money in your back pocket how about $30,000 for five years? Using 100 games with ticket it would be $350 per seat per game.
Second question - Do you think that there are 3,000 individuals within a two hour drive / fly time who would throw down that type of money to see Fort Hays State, Pittsburgh State, Hofstra, Tennessee Tech (you’ve spent a grand-per seat), Alcorn State (currently 0-8), Radford, La Salle, Belmont, Cornell (two grand)?
If the answer to these questions is no - then why would anyone want to go to 200 KU football games for $500 per game or 30 games for $1,000 per game per seat?
Hey people were not Texas or USC and wont be until we go to 20 bowl games in a row and win 60-70% of them, win 8-10 Big 12 Championships and 2-3 BCS title games, if then.
greenworld (anonymous) says…
Bill Snyder at KState is the only person I know that has ever been successful at doing the whole juco player thing and turning them into something. Ku has never done it that way. Up unto Mangino showed up we were still recruited guys from Compton Ca.
mr_right_wing (anonymous) says…
Things could still work out for Mark.
Does anyone know if the Eudora middle school's football team is in need of an assistant coach?
It'd probably be a good place to start...
mdrndgtl (anonymous) says…
Fire him. We're wasting precious time...