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KU football practice

It may be the best deal on Mount Oread these days: A free, almost daily glimpse of the Orange Bowl Champion KU football team.

Leaders of the Kansas University Athletic Department may not have planned it this way when they built a new $31 million practice field and football complex south of Memorial Stadium, but it now appears that members of the public will get a free look at the team even during "closed" practices.

A spokesman with the Athletic Department said Friday that individuals standing on public property surrounding the university's practice complex would no longer be asked to leave during practice times.

Spokesman Jim Marchiony said he was not aware people were being asked to leave public areas during closed practices, but he said that was not an appropriate policy.

"If that happened, it won't happen again," Marchiony said.

The Journal-World received two reports from members of the public who said an individual wearing KU gear told them Coach Mark Mangino was asking them to leave the area. Both individuals were in parking spots along Mississippi Street that overlook the practice fields. Several other public places - including the top floor of an adjacent parking garage and several locations on The Hill - provide clear views of the practice fields.

One individual who reported the incident was a local business owner who asked not to be named for fear that it would damage business relationships with the university. The other was a member of the Journal-World news staff, who stopped at the parking area as part of a Sunday morning drive.

At a Thursday evening "closed" practice, several fans agreed that the new complex provided a unique behind-the-scenes view of major college football. At any given time, about six people were in the Mississippi Street parking area, and three to four fans were on the top level of the parking garage.

Fans are close enough to the action to clearly hear coaches shouting instructions at players and to hear the crack of shoulder pads colliding.

"It's great," said Arnold Beevers, who was visiting the campus from Wichita. "We were surprised to see them out there practicing in the open. It's really pretty entertaining."

Many college football coaches try to keep their practices closed to the public out of fear that someone loyal to another program will see plays, formations or other information that could be used as an advantage in a game.

But Marchiony said that shouldn't be a major concern with the new practice complex.

"Nobody is too worried about it here," Marchiony said. "If they want to put new wrinkles in, there are other places they can do that."