Coach of the year

By Doug Tucker - Associated Press Sports Writer Dec 20, 2007

The votes are in

Thad Allender

Kansas University football Coach Mark Mangino talks with his players at the end of the spring scrimmage earlier this year at Memorial Stadium. Wednesday, Mangino was named the AP Coach of the Year.

2007 Voting

Coach, school, votes

Mark Mangino, Kansas, 28Gary Pinkel, Missouri, 11June Jones, Hawaii, 7Ron Zook, Illinois,5Jim Tressel, Ohio State, 3Mark Richt, Georgia, 2Troy Calhoun, Air Force, 1Dennis Erickson, Arizona St., 1

Award Winners

2007-Mark Mangino, Kansas2006-Jim Grobe, Wake Forest2005-Joe Paterno, Penn St.2004-Tommy Tuberville, Auburn2003-Nick Saban, LSU2002-Kirk Ferentz, Iowa2001-Ralph Friedgen, Maryland2000-Bob Stoops, Oklahoma1999-Frank Beamer, Va. Tech1998-Bill Snyder, Kansas St.

It began as a friendly basketball game in Mark Mangino’s old neighborhood of New Castle, Pa. One of Mangino’s teammates kept making mistakes. Finally, Mangino threw up his hands and let the kid have it.

Those leadership skills 40 years later would steer surprising Kansas into national championship contention and help him become the Associated Press Coach of the Year.

“Mark ran the kid off the court, out of the building and into the street,” recalled lifelong friend Tom Tommelleo. “Mark’s always been a coach. We just didn’t know it then. He would study every sport we played and see things the rest of us couldn’t see. The thing that lit his fuse the most was somebody not giving his best effort.”

In his sixth season with Kansas, Mangino has gotten an exceptional effort from the Jayhawks. Long-woeful Kansas won a school-record 11 games, had two All-Americans and earned a spot in the Bowl Championship Series for the first time. On Jan. 3 in Miami, the Jayhawks will play Virginia Tech in their first major bowl since 1969.

In voting by AP college football poll voters, Mangino received 28 of a possible 58 votes, easily outdistancing Missouri’s Gary Pinkel, who had 11. Hawaii’s June Jones was third (seven votes) and Illinois coach Ron Zook fourth (five votes).

“That’s awesome for coach (Mangino),” Kansas quarterback Todd Reesing said. “He’s earned all the recognition he gets. I don’t think anybody realizes how hard coach works for us.”

Mangino is the first Kansas coach to win the award since the AP started handing it out in 1998 and the third Big 12 coach, joining Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops (2000) and Kansas State’s Bill Snyder (1998). Stoops and Mangino were both assistants for Snyder during the mid ’90s.

Things have turned out well for Mangino, the studious kid who always demanded the best back on the playgrounds of Mahoningtown, the working-class Italian-American community in western Pennsylvania where his character was shaped.

There’ll be a Mahoningtown reunion at the Orange Bowl. Tommelleo and a number of others are meeting in Miami to cheer on an old friend who’s made good.

“He’s at the top of the conversation in this entire area,” said Tommelleo, who moved back to New Castle several years ago and works in the biotech medical industry. “We are very, very proud of Mark.”

Kids played hard in the close-knit neighborhood of mostly first- and second-generation Italians where fathers worked 12-hour shifts in the rail yards and steel mills. Moms and dads had full authority to correct other peoples’ kids, and often did.

“In our neighborhood, arguing and fighting were an expression of affection,” Tommelleo said. “Mark was always at the top of the chain.

“Sometimes,” he added with a chuckle, “Mark could be a gigantic pain in the butt. We were just playing the games. But he was always a stickler for detail. He was 10 years old and he was out there trying to figure out the right strategy, where you should stand, how you should use your hands.”

The late Tom Mangino, who went to Penn State on a football scholarship and played for freshman coach Joe Paterno, was one of the few adults in Mahoningtown at the time who had a college degree. A standout high school football player and a very large man, Mark Mangino’s father was affectionately known as “Bear.”

When Mark came along and looked just like his pop, the adults nicknamed him “Little Bear.”

“To parents and grandparents in the old neighborhood, he’s still Little Bear,” Tommelleo said. “It’s been a long road for him. There were plenty of bumps in it. I’m sure there were times he didn’t think he was going to make it.”

Some of the toughest times were when his two children were very young and he was working days as a high school coach and nights as an emergency responder on the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

“I got tired of accidents, being witness to peoples’ suffering,” he said.

He kept seeing things he could not accept.

“I would wonder, ‘Why did this person fall asleep at the wheel? Why did this person pass somebody at this construction site?’ I worked a few really bad accidents that I don’t like to recall. It was disturbing. That was when I decided to go back to college and get my degree and do my best to become a coach.”

He got his first big break in 1991 when Snyder brought him to Kansas State as an assistant. When Stoops became coach at Oklahoma, he brought Mangino with him as an assistant. Two years after the Sooners won the national championship and Mangino, as offensive coordinator, was named the country’s top assistant coach, he agreed to take over the Jayhawks.

“Coach has been around. He really knows people,” Kansas defensive tackle James McClinton said. “When he gets after you, he really gets after you. But I thank the Lord I have him in my life.”

Coach of the Year

By Gary Bedore Mar 7, 2006

Scott McClurg

Kansas University men's basketball Coach Bill Self was tapped Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year on Monday by the league's coaches.

Bill Self, whose Kansas University basketball team started the conference season 1-2 only to rally to grab a portion of the Big 12 Conference championship, has been rewarded for his patience and perseverance.

On Monday, his peers – the league coaches – tapped him conference coach of the year. Later in the week, he’s expected to be accorded the same honor by the conference’s media members.

The slam dunk for Self was easy to understand, said KU sophomore guard Russell Robinson, tickled that his coach’s efforts had been recognized.

“He’s been a great coach, just saying the right things to us. He stuck with us and definitely stayed positive the whole time,” Robinson said.

The Jayhawks rallied for 12 wins in their final 13 games to record a 13-3 mark, good for a first-place tie with Texas. Overall, KU started 3-4 and now owns a 22-7 mark.

Scott McClurg

Kansas University Coach Bill Self, right, gets an explanation from referee Steve Welmer during a game earlier this season. Self on Monday was tapped Big 12 Conference Coach of the Year by league coaches.

“He was patient and found a way to get us some wins. A lot of those wins were because of his coaching. Pretty much all those wins are because of his coaching. His attitude kept us confident,” Robinson said.

Self, who has directed KU to two league titles in three seasons, praised his assistant coaches, and, of course, the players.

“The coach-of-the-year deal is nice. I’m not going to lie,” he said, “but that’s all a reflection of the players. That’s the way it always works. If you have good players, you have a good chance to win those things. If you don’t have good players, you don’t. Certainly, we have good players and good people.”

Some of his players also were honored Monday.

Freshman Brandon Rush became the first frosh in league history to be accorded first-team all-league honors.

Rush also was named freshman of the year. Mario Chalmers and Julian Wright were named honorable-mention all league.

Also, Chalmers and Robinson were named to the league’s all-defensive team. Chalmers, Rush and Wright made the all-rookie team.

“I’m happy. I’ve still got a lot of things to improve on the rest of the season. We want to accomplish a lot more the rest of the season,” Rush said, asked about his all-league honor.

Self said Rush “deserves it. If you are going to tie for the championship, you at least have got to get one guy up there you would think. I thought Mario deserved third team, and Russell deserved honorable mention, but there’s a lot of other coaches that say the same thing about their players. Brandon certainly played at a high level and led us from start to finish.”

Self has worked his magic tutoring a team whose seven top scorers are freshmen and sophomores.