So Mark Mangino is going to lose his job at Kansas for poking a linebacker in the chest and chastising a player for hotdogging on a punt return, huh? If you think this witch hunt is based on just player abuse, then you think the villagers that hunted down Frankenstein were worried about their real estate values.
Jayhawks fans and ex-players are going after him mainly because Kansas is 5-5, in last place in the Big 12 North at 1-5 and is a bigger disappointment than Colorado, if that’s possible.
People are connecting losing and player abuse. On Oct. 17, Mangino poked Arist Wright in the chest at practice. Kansas, favored in many preseason circles to win the North, was 5-0 and ranked 17th. The next day in Boulder, Kansas fell behind Colorado 24-3 and lost 34-30.
In actuality, KU is on a five-game skid because the offense has fallen apart worse than Lawrence in the nuclear war fallout TV movie “The Day After.” Todd Reesing has gone from 17th in the country a year ago in pass efficiency to 51st. The Jayhawks rank 88th in rushing.
To make a bowl game, Kansas must beat either third-ranked Texas (10-0) on the road Saturday or upset Missouri (6-4), as it did in 2008. Piling on that are quotes and developments that will not look good on the resume Mangino will soon update.
“It’s gone on for years, mistreating players like this,” one former player told The Kansas City Star. “I had the worst time I’ve ever had from when I got there all the way to when I left.”
Another former player told The Star, “Mangino has made people who come to the school that loved football leave hating football.”
Ex-players’ parents have formed a group to air their gripes.
Funny how all this is coming out now. Mangino’s anger has been as big an issue as his weight. Years ago, he was tossed out of his son’s Lawrence High football game for yelling at officials.
Yet at the Big 12 media day in August, fresh off an 8-5 season, Kerry Meier, Kansas’ best player, told me one reason players hung tough through the losing seasons was Mangino’s constant encouragement.
I don’t see Mangino surviving this investigation. Then again, how many coaches survive a seven-game losing streak?
