Probe timing curious

I don't get this at all.

Why is everyone rushing to defend Mangino?

The accusations (if true) are pretty bad IMHO.

A few months ago, Tyshawn Taylor posted some rap lyrics on his PERSONAL Facebook page, not in his capacity as a player for the Kansas basketball team, but personally. He was roundly criticized and lambasted (rightfully for the most part), and even called a thug, etc. for his poor judgment.

Now we have a coach and University employee making far more personal and inappropriate statements to the players he is charged with by the University, and he is being (for the most part) defended by the fans. Mangino is the face of the entire football program!!!!

How are we holding Tyshawn Taylor to a higher standard as a representative of the University than we are holding the head football coach?

Is this even the same fanbase?

Furthermore, the accusations that Mangino has rushed players back from injury is where the real fire is here. Even though his alleged comments and behavior are an embarassment to what the University of Kansas should stand for, the accusations of rushing guys back from injury is both unprofessional and damning.

Look no further than this season.

When did we find out Todd Reesing had a groin injury? About three weeks after it happened, after he had struggled and looked decidedly unToddlike for several ballgames in a row. And how many snaps did he miss during that time? I don't remember any.

What about Jake Sharp. He hurt his ankle early in the year. He hasn't really looked as quick or explosive since. Here's a speed back with an ankle problem, and he hasn't looked right in weeks, yet they insist he is ok.

And that's two of our best players! Coaches are there to make sure you are ready to go - physically, mentally and otherwise. Some players will play through anything, and it is the coaching staff's responsibility to sit them down if they aren't healthy, not rush them back onto the field.

November 23, 2009 at 9:24 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

I would just like to get an Idea of who supports Mangino...

Mangino's issues:

Football related

His up to the minute record - 50-46. Just a notch above .500
His conference record is still pretty bad: 23-39.

The only conference teams Mangino has a winning record against are Missouri (4-3, still yet to face them this year) and Iowa State (6-2). He is .500 against Baylor (4 games), and K-State (8 games). Against everyone else, he has a losing record. What's more, he's 4-19 against the South. Take out the magic carpet ride of 2007 and he's 1-19 vs. the South. He's got 0 wins against UT, Tech and OU.

Even if you throw out his first two years, in conference, he bumps to 20-26 over his career.

Only once has he led KU to better than .500 in conference.

So just as a recap, he's pretty much been a below .500 guy in conference, .500 against our main rivals, and completely non-competitive against the top tier of the conference.

His non-con record is a very Snyderesque 27-7 (very few wins over other BCS conference opponents).

Oh, and only once has he had his team ranked at the end of the year in the coaches or AP polls.

Not exactly a guy that most schools would fight to keep.

Add to that Mortensen's allegations that he forces guy to come back to quick from injuries, coupled with Jake Sharp and Todd Reesing's obvious struggles after separate injuries this year, and the water gets warmer for Mangino. I think back to Anthony Collins barely being able to stand vs. Missouri in 2007, yet not missing hardly any time. Was that Collins being tough, or being told he had to go? In my mind, these accusations are even more serious because a coach should have his players' best interests in mind. Playing guys when they can't (or shouldn't) go is absurd, and is no way to build a football team.

Non-football related

Verbal abuse
- statement to Brown about going back to his neighborhood to get shot along with his homies - ridiculous. If Mizzou or K-State fans had yelled this at one of our players, we would be up in arms about how classless that was, especially given the circumstances.

- statement to Mortensen about alcoholism - again, who's the adult here? Given the circumstances, that's a low blow. If one of the other players had said something like that to Joe, this board would explode with comments about how ridiculous that statement was.

- past sanctions by Lawrence High School. Yes, Mangino was sanctioned by LHS while his son was in high school for yelling at officials.

- overall personal health. It's an issue, whether anyone wants to talk about it or not. I will leave it at that.

Bottom line, Mangino is THE representative for the KU football team. For him to not get along with hardly anyone (media, players, assistants, etc.) is a bad showing by KU. I think that puts him at definite risk.

November 19, 2009 at 4:50 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Not-so-gentle reign

Another thing for those criticizing the players...

If the situation were reversed (i.e. a player was the one accused of saying rude and inappropriate things to other players, abusing parking staff, acting like they were owed something, blowing up on colleagues, etc.) would there be anyone on here defending that player?

I have seen how people reacted to the Briscoe incidents, the accusations a couple years back regarding Sherron Collins, parking tickets for Brandon Rush, the Morningstar incident, the campus fights, etc.

Are we seriously holding the athletes to a higher standard than we now hold the man that leads them?

November 19, 2009 at 3:15 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Not-so-gentle reign

Phoggin_Loud

I have only one guess, but I'm not sure it's the right one:

Former UConn (and current East Carolina) coach Skip Holtz.

Am I anywhere close?

November 19, 2009 at 3:08 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

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

Let's talk verbal abuse for a second.

I know it has been brought up, but I want to hash it out a little bit.

First, the evidence.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmAYpA...

Everybody remembers that video. For a lot of people, that introduced Mangino to them (nationally, anyway). I have no problem with Mangino getting in Pendleton's face about the penalty. It was a stupid penalty. He should get an earful for that.

The problem I have is that Mangino didn't just get on Pendleton - he showed him up in front of the whole team. His tirade started at 0:19. It didn't end until 0:40. That's 20 seconds of f-bomb filled fury. And for what? Yeah, the Pendleton did something stupid. As a coach you should check your players on that. But after the first 10 seconds, that was established. The next 10 was overkill.

And that hurts recruiting. Any opposing coach can reference that youtube video (two years old now) and ask a recruit pondering KU and their school if they want to be shown up like that. I can't find the video of it, but something very similar happened last year in the Insight Bowl. Someone (don't remember who, sorry) drew a penalty and Mangino went off on them. Cameras were trained on them as Mangino chewed the player out for 10 seconds or so. Mangino stopped, and the player started walking off, then Mangino ripped back into them again.

That's two in game incidents. Who knows how often that happens at practice. That is potentially hurting recruiting. If it is hurting recruiting (and parents would know, because they play a HUGE role in those decisions), then Mangino's time may be up.

As always, discuss.

November 17, 2009 at 4:12 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Morris twins Tiger targets

drgnslyr,

In the higher levels of basketball, regardless of what type of offense you run, if you don't have the personnel, your offense doesn't work. Take Texas Tech for instance. They run a basic motion set, which most basketball purists would consider to be a great traditional offense. Unfortunately for Texas Tech, they also don't have very much talent, so they will probably finish in the bottom third of the Big XII. You could have KU or Kentucky or UNC or anybody else with a lot of talent run their offense and be pretty effective. It's not about the scheme so much as the personnel. Athletes make any system work better.

Although I will say, the DDM is most similar to the basic motion. As I have said on here countless times (mostly falling on deaf ears), the DDM is a much more strict offense than most realize, because you absolutely MUST maintain proper spacing for it to be effective. Any breakdown in discipline in spacing will bring the defenders too close together and cut off the kick out and driving lanes.

The floor MUST remain spread for the DDM to work, just like in the regular motion offense. The only difference is that the DDM asks guys to drive off the dribble, rather than relying on post ups. It was created in high school by a school that did not have any big men. Their coach, seeing the personnel he had, decided to take advantage of his multiple guards and their ball handling skills by switching from a basic motion to the DDM.

November 16, 2009 at 10:35 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

KU ’09 like ’07? Hardly

The further down the tubes this season goes (and it's going fast, to the point I'm wondering if we will even go to a bowl - ANY BOWL) the more that magical 07 season looks like an outlier, and the more it looks like we just got lucky that year (perfect storm of schedule, talent, breaks).

That 07-08 team had a high percentage of fumble recoveries. Over time, typically those numbers are around 50/50. For example, we fumbled 15 times that year (a pretty good number overall) and lost 7. On the other hand, we forced 19 fumbles (pretty good, but not amazing by any stretch) and recovered 12. That's two or three extra stops and possessions for us. This year its 14-8.

We also had a great kick return game, averaging 25 yards a runback. This year we are at 21. That's four yards less field position on average. In a game, that's 10-12 yards of lost field position minimum.

As time has gone on, teams have figured Reesing out more. It seems like more of his balls are being batted as teams keep him in the pocket and make him throw over linemen.

We don't have a dynamic defensive line presence to collapse the pocket, take up blockers, or stuff the run. The fact that this is a problem that was present last year, too is blame placed squarely on recruiting, especially if this isn't corrected next season.

It's time to step up.

November 9, 2009 at 9:19 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

Gary Bedore’s KU basketball notebook

Morningstar has redshirted already, so unless he is injured (to claim medical hardship), he cannot redshirt this season.

Teahan is a walkon, but the eligibility rules still apply, so the redshirt status makes a difference in his career (whether he has two years of eligibility after this one, or only one.

November 4, 2009 at 1:41 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

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

One other note on recruiting, specific to instate recruiting. Mangino has, to this point, failed to lock up either of the largest two recruiting bases in Kansas (Wichita area and KC area). In fact, I would say Mangino has overall faired poorly in those areas as opposed to the rest of the state. At some schools (i.e., most schools in the south) not recruiting well in the largest cities in your state is a fireable offense. I don't think we are to that point with Mangino, but I thought it was something that should be looked at long and hard.

November 3, 2009 at 4:48 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )

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

suttonku,

I am not disagreeing with you. I just think that this is where the battle will be won. Keeston Terry is a great example of a great guy to get.

However, we lost Blake Bell (QB) to OKLAHOMA. He's from Wichita for crying out loud. He's the #4 QB in the country according to Rivals.

We lost Justin McCay (WR) to OKLAHOMA. He's from Johnson County. He's the #46 player in the whole country. That's two of the top players in the whole state of Kansas, and they are going to be Sooners next fall.

As of right now, of the top 10 in state recruits (according to Rivals) KU has committed one. Just for reference, K-State has three, Missouri has one, OU has two and Oklahoma State has one. Only one remains uncommitted. We are losing the battle in our own state, just as we did last year, when Bryce Brown, Jaydan Bird and Marshall Musil all went out of state (Brown to Tennessee, Bird and Musil to OU), and the year before (Arthur Brown to Miami, Chris Harper to Oregon, Broderick Smith to Minnesota), and the year before (Blake Lawrence to Nebraska, Brian Smith to Notre Dame, Christian Ballard to Iowa).

Do you realize the last time KU signed the #1 in state player was Jake Sharp in 2006. Kerry Meier was the #1 guy in 2005, so when we sign top in state talent, we get contributors, but too often we have missed in the past.

I will know Mangino is ready to compete when he closes the borders. How can we convince top talent from California, Florida, Texas, Louisiana and other places to ignore offers from USC, Florida, UT, OU, LSU and others, and come to KU when we can't convince talented kids from Wichita, Shawnee, Mulvane, Garden City and other Kansas towns to come wear crimson and blue?

November 3, 2009 at 2:45 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )