Former colleagues come to KU coach Mangino’s defense

It's great how the Pro-Mangino crowd can voice its opinions on how rotten Lew Perkins must be for wanting to fire Mangino, but when somebody voices that maybe the Mangino era had run its course, they get lambasted with profanity and chastised for not being "real Jayhawk fans."

Give me a break.

No one worth his or her salt will dispute that Mark Mangino has improved Kansas football. It's clear. But when you really look at the numbers, Mangino can hang his hat on one really good season and a bunch of mediocrity, which unfortunately, when your program has been as bad as KU's under the Terry Allen years, mediocrity is an improvement. But the question is - at what point do you tire of mediocrity and aspire to be great? Because KU has not been great - and I'd argue that 2007 wasn't even a great year when you consider they couldn't even win their own division. Good year, you bet, and one of the best in KU history, but if KU is going to compete, and that seems to be the point most people are missing when talking about Mangino - he's not going to consistently win big games and has done nothing in eight years to prove otherwise. This is his program, these are his players, what else is there to defend?

And quit giving me this tired excuse of, this is Kansas, we're not a football school... See, that's the problem with alleged Kansas football fans, whining too much about the past and what KU isn't. I'll tell you what KU isn't - a perennial contender for the Big 12 North - How 'bout that? Missouri, the school that everybody loves to compare KU to, has won seven games, played UT, played OSU, lost a ton of playmakers on both sides of the ball and yet they still managed to scrape together seven wins with a possible number eight against KU on Saturday... It's unfortunate that Mangino's name is getting dragged in the mud for all of this, but his time had run its course anyway before all this came to light. KU football doesn't begin and end with Mark Mangino, but KU football fans can take solace knowing he left the program in better shape than he found it.

November 24, 2009 at 12:06 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

The great escape

This was the first game of the season I've watched, and I'm not sold on Xavier Henry... I think he's a me-first type ballplayer, he shot the ball way too much, he's not even thinking about passing and I get the impression he's just biding his time before he declares for the draft... I hope I'm wrong, and hey, it's only two games into the season and KU looked terrible last night, but this offense looks lost and until the chemistry improves, I maintain that KU made a mistake taking the Henrys over Lance Stephenson...

November 18, 2009 at 2:01 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Documents show what it looks like when Mangino loses his temper

There's a difference between yelling at players and disrespecting players. That's the issue here... Mangino is gone, and his skeletons are coming out now that he's helped this team implode. There's no reason a team as talented as KU should be having the season it is, and I've always wondered if there were factors bigger than just this team having a mediocre defense and a suddenly inept quarterback and offense. This team hates its coach, and it's finally reached a boiling point during the most anticipated KU Football season in recent memory, probably ever. He will be gone, and who knows, with the negativity surrounding him and this program, he may not make it to the Mizzou game... Whatever is going on, there needs to be some resolution because the negative vibes on Mt. Oread looked like they worked their way over to the Basketball team or Self let Mangino give the pregame speech against Memphis tonight...

November 18, 2009 at 12:49 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

KU AD Perkins meets with football players over concerns about coach Mark Mangino

It's real simple - The Lew wants to win, Now. And after this disaster of a season, Mangino is who we thought he was - a decent coach who revived a program and took it as far as he could. They can call it whatever they want, an inquiry, investigation, but it's just window-dressing to get ready for what I predicted a few weeks ago - the end of Mark Mangino here at Kansas. The Lew realizes he can't keep Mangino if this program is going to compete year in and year out, and thus, thanks coach for what you've done, and we wish you the best of luck at your next stop. Now the question turns to, who is going to be the next coach at KU? If I had to guess, I'm throwing out the name Tommy Tuberville... But rest assured, The Lew will get somebody good.

November 17, 2009 at 11:08 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Nebraska: Mangino's Last Stand?

I've said many times before - if KU gets rid of Mangino, and with a seven-game losing streak to end the season a very real possibility - who doesn't think that Lew Perkins won't find a good replacement? I'm amazed at the number of folks who think KU can't do any better than Mark Mangino and that if he were let go, that all of a sudden the KU football program is going to wither away... Sorry, but The Lew won't let that happen. If KU ends this season 5-7, Mangino is gone and I think the first guy Lew Perkins takes a look at is Chris Peterson from Boise State. Now, with rumors that Boise State might be headed to the MWC, he may stay put, but KU fans have never really seen The Lew in action when it comes to hiring a big-time coach, considering Mangino and Bill were already in place when he got here. Yes, he brought Bonnie on board, but if The Lew does hire a football coach, and he did pretty well with Randy Edsall at UConnn, don't think for a minute that he's not going to hit a home run with the biggest hire he'll make during his KU career.

November 13, 2009 at 6:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Nebraska: Mangino's Last Stand?

He's taken this program as far as he can. I said this last week that it was time to end the Mangino Era and I was ridiculed. I don't feel good about being right, but the facts don't lie. The 2007 team was what KU fans thought they could expect, but the reality is, Mangino is a 6-8 win coach. Today proved that.

November 7, 2009 at 8:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Kansas guard Sherron Collins pumps up the Allen Fieldhouse crowd after teammate Elijah Johnson's dun

I was thinking the exact same thing... He wore those sleeves last year too that covered them up... Looks like good work though.

November 3, 2009 at 9:24 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Is It Time to End the Mangino Era...?

I'm going to leave this argument alone and make one last point - I understand what everyone is saying here and that you don't go from also-ran to world-beater overnight, I get that. But what most of you are missing the point on is it's been eight years, and while some of you are arguing that what he's done is a miracle, let's not forget, he took KU to a Bowl game in his second year. He followed that up with a 4-7 season, and by his fourth year, where he's established his program, he finishes 7-5, makes it to the Fort Worth Bowl and needed a last-second win to make it that far. Next season, doesn't qualify for a bowl and nearly gets fired if Reesing doesn't save his bacon.

Next is the Orange Bowl year - which I'm going to argue is the outlier of Mangino's coaching record. The team played a soft schedule, lost it's biggest regular season contest and can thank Lew Perkins for the OB berth, and that's fine, that's what The Lew gets paid to do. Last year, most of the defense returned, most of the offense aside from AC returns, and this team stumbles eerily similiarly to what it's doing now, imploding in the middle of the season after feasting on cupcakes, and then needs a win at the end of the season to guarantee a Bowl berth. Wow, sure sounds like the other two years KU made a bowl... And gee, we're in year eight, Mangino's program is well-established by now, facilities are in place, his players are in place, have been for the past four-five years now, heck, there were even expectations coming into this year, and suddenly, KU finds itself fighting for relevancy, its quarterback says he's hurt yet the coach says he's fine, the defense is bringing guys over from wherever they can find them and the Division I kicker can't squib kick apparently... Get over the, "This is Kansas, we didn't have any tradition before he got here", "he needs more time", more time for what? Midseason implosions? Needing to win the last game of the season to get into a mediocre bowl?

The Orange Bowl year is proving quickly to be the exception rather than the rule of Mark Mangino's time here at Kansas... And again, I ask somebody, anybody, please enlighten me on how back-to-back 7 or 8 win seasons helps this program. Thanks.

November 2, 2009 at 3:23 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Is It Time to End the Mangino Era...?

Quesitoning whether a head coach should be retained after the season when this isn't the first time he's coached his way through a three-game losing streak isn't about panicking or dampening enthusiasm about the football team. It's a question of whether or not anyone really believes Mangino can take this program any further.

Maybe some of you are right, that KU will be great and compete when they don't have to play superior competition, and then they'll beat the Baylors, the Texas A&Ms and so forth... And then the years we play Texas, OU and TT, they'll just lose to them again. If you like competing for a Big 12 Championship every three years, great. Good Luck recruiting in those down years. What are they going to say to recruits after this season?

"Don't worry (insert 3-star prospect name here), we get to play the bottom-feeders the next two years, and you'll fit in great and hopefully by the time you're a junior, we should be good enough to hang with the OU, TT or Texas until the fourth quarter..."

I just want to know, with all the positivity on this board backing Mangino, and I applaud and admire those sentiments, what happens if KU loses to K-State? Seriously. Because it's time to start thinking of KU as the underdog heading in to that game now. I guess we'll see how everyone feels, myself included, after Saturday.

November 2, 2009 at 6:22 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Is It Time to End the Mangino Era...?

You're right, this is Mangino's program, and let me just remind you one thing about Mangino's program - you take away his 12-1 Orange Bowl year when KU ducked Texas Texas, Texas and Oklahoma and had one of the best left tackles in college football with Anthony Collins and a nasty group of LBs and Talib - and suddenly Mangino's record at Kansas is 38-43 overall and his conference record is 16-36 if you include this season. And when you consider that this team probably won't win more than 8 games this year, that's about right for Mangino and what he's done at Kansas - 7 or 8 wins and a trip to some average bowl game. Like I said before, if that's what you want, take it. As a KU football fan, I want more. I don't care that KU doesn't have a football tradition. K-State didn't have one either before Snyder showed up - and with all due respect powerlineman, what Mangino has done at KU is not a miracle. KU has had some, albeit dated, football success. KSU was on the verge of shutting football down before Snyder arrived. That's a miracle.

Mangino put this pressure on himself when he made the Orange Bowl, and he's followed that up with two average years and a win against Mizzou to save its season last year as his only big win since beating Va Tech. This is the Big 12, BCS football. This isn't about a three-game losing streak and hitting the panic button. This is about a coach who has led a program as far it'll go with him at the helm. And again, I implore someone, tell me what about this team, which won't be near as good offensively next year, makes them think that another 7 or 8 win season isn't in the cards next year?

November 1, 2009 at 9:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )