Lonely, quiet and cold.
That was what the scene Tuesday afternoon at Kansas University’s Allen Fieldhouse when the six buses carrying the Jayhawk football team arrived home from Orlando, Fla.
Lonely, quiet and cold also seemed to be the mood of the players, coaches and staff as they got off the buses at about 2 p.m.
The Jayhawks seemed to still be stinging from Monday’s 56-26 loss to North Carolina State in the Tangerine Bowl.
Speaking above the drone of the bus engines, George Matsakis, director of football operations, waved off reporters hoping to get interviews.
“The coach doesn’t want anything,” Matsakis said.
Matsakis relayed head coach Mark Mangino’s order that players not discuss the game or the season. At least not Tuesday.
So as a few news media members watched, the team, clad mostly in dark workout clothes, somberly got off the buses.
Some hugged relatives waiting for them. Some spoke quietly to one another.
And as a cold northwest wind made the mid-30 degree temperatures seem icy, most walked slowly to their lockers in the Parrot Athletic Complex.
As the team milled about, a man and a woman who weren’t part of the entourage watched and smiled. Save for a few athletic department staff members and maintenance workers, the pair were the only KU fans there to greet the team home.
“I’ve been a Jayhawk fan for as long as I can remember,” said Linda Yelton, Lawrence, who was with her brother, Harold Matz.
Yelton said she regularly greeted the Jayhawks — mostly the basketball team — when they arrive home after a post-season game, win or lose.
“I don’t care if they lost,” Yelton said, as the team continued moving their belongings off the bus. “They’re still No. 1 in my book.”
— Online Editor Dave Toplikar can be reached at 832-7151.
