If Kansas University football coach Mark Mangino is overwhelmed by the task at hand on Mount Oread, he sure doesn’t show it.
“This is a great place,” Mangino said Tuesday after his first two weeks on the job. “Let’s face it, Lawrence, Kansas, is an awesome place. And the University of Kansas our campus here doesn’t take a back seat to anybody. This is a great place to be.
“I’ve had head coaches and NFL coaches and people tell me that they think this situation here is a sleeping giant.”
Mangino, who was hired late on Dec. 3 to replace former coach Terry Allen, has been busy during his first 14 full days with the Jayhawks. So busy, in fact, he hasn’t even had time to unpack his office, which consists of cardboard moving boxes and empty walls.
But he’s not complaining.
“It’s been great,” Mangino said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’ve been going at it about 100 mph, but it’s been good. Everything is going well. Everybody here has worked hard to make the transition smooth, so I feel pretty good about it.”
The first thing Mangino had to do was find a staff. As anyone who’s been up there knows, the KU football offices had been a pretty quiet place prior to his arrival.
Mangino, whose nickname is “Bear,” hopes to have a full staff before the end of the month.
“It’s going very well here,” Mangino said. “It’s boiling down to me now just making some decisions and I will do that. I will finalize things in the next seven to 10 days.”
Mangino has added former Iowa State assistant head coach/receivers Nick Quartaro as his offensive coordinator, former Southern Methodist University defensive backs coach Pat Henderson as the secondary coach and former Ohio State and Oklahoma graduate assistant Brandon Blaney to a position yet to be determined.
Mangino also retained two holdovers from Allen’s staff in defensive line coach Travis Jones and Clint Bowen, who also hasn’t received an assignment yet.
“I feel very good, very comfortable,” Mangino said of the staff so far. “They’re the type of guys I’m looking for, that are excellent coaches, care about young people and are guys that have good character.”
Mangino wouldn’t get into specifics about the coaching search, but added he’s only interested in guys who are interested in KU.
Some of the coaches known to have interviewed, though, include Olathe North High coach Gene Wier, former Kansas City Chiefs center Tim Grunhard and Ohio defensive coordinator/linebackers coach Tim Kish.
Western Illinois running backs coach/special teams coordinator Larry Holton either has interviewed or will be interviewing soon, a source told the Journal-World on Tuesday.
A name that’s been widely speculated about is Kirk Doll, Notre Dame’s assistant head coach/linebackers coach under former coach Bob Davie.
In addition to trying to track down coaches, Mangino also has been trying to track down recruits.
The Jayhawks are believed to have as many as five oral commitments to date, including three players who pledged to the former staff Derby quarterback Nick Reid, Mountain Brook (Ala.) quarterback Graeme McFarland and Hutchinson running back DeAngelo Green.
The two new commitments are Milford (Conn.) Academy offensive guard Skye Peterson and Irving (Texas) Nimitz cornerback Kenneth Thompson.
“I think, even though we got off to a really late start, we got off to a good start,” Mangino said. “I feel comfortable with the way it’s going right now. In fact, I’m very encouraged by it.”
A few of the recruits who made official visits to Lawrence last weekend admitted they were giving Kansas another look just because of Mangino, who was at Kansas State for eight seasons before spending the past three at Oklahoma.
Mangino was reluctant to take all the credit for the increased interest, though.
“I don’t know what the reason is, but the response has been very, very good,” Mangino said. “I guess maybe people just know me because I’ve been around the conference for a while. This is my third Big 12 school so there are some people who know I’ve been around and I understand how the conference works and everything.
“I think KU’s a good institution to sell to young people and we’re doing our best to sell it.”
KU’s effort could pay off as early as today, which marks the first day junior college players can sign national letters of intent with schools.
