Mayer: Gridiron success crucial

By Bill Mayer     May 4, 2007

Kansas University football is in dire need of a breakout season.

A 7-5 record would top last year’s disappointing 6-6, steer the Jayhawks to some second-rate bowl game and give Mark Mangino his second winning season in six tries. That won’t be good enough for most fans who are figuring it’s time for a major upturn, like 8-4 or better.

The Memorial Stadium stands need a lot of filling to produce the loot and attention KU craves and badly needs. While a 45,000-and-up crowd average is teetering on the brink, another caretaker season could let a lot of air out of the bag, improved facilities and all.

Even though the Lew Perkins money machine seems to be purring along, and men’s basketball is poised for another red-hot season, things are not in top shape in other departments at the Mount Oread Supermarket. Women’s basketball continues to struggle. Baseball and softball aren’t creating any major tremors. Track and field tends to be more field than track. Golf, soccer, swimming, tennis and volleyball cry out for some major surges.

The Bill Self Gang can’t continue as the total savior. Football must get cracking.

The Big 12 Conference has gridiron venues that lure hordes of people and generate big money. Nebraska, Texas, Texas A&M and Oklahoma are justifiably boastful of their fan support. But even they fall short of the kinds of population explosions the Big Ten sees at Michigan and Ohio State.

Michigan State had a paltry 4-8 record the past fall and fired coach John L. Smith. Even so, the Spartans averaged 75,000 people for home games. Even the Big 12’s bell cows struggle to top that.

We keep hearing everything is in place for Mangino and Clan to burst upon the scene and win twice as many games as they lose. Quarterbacks Todd Reesing and Kerry Meier seem poised to generate thrills, and we hear they have some notable support. They better have.

In the five seasons to date, Mangino has managed to raise KU to a level of respectability, but hardcore faithful want more, with good reason, and now. KU must go 4-0 to start the season before going to Kansas State on Oct. 6. Then there have to be at least four more victories.

Would Lew Perkins replace Mangino after another 6-6? Considering Lew’s Al Davis approach of “just win baby,” don’t bet against it.

¢ What a batch of sausages the Kansas City Chiefs’ talent-hunters seem to be. They go out and line up guys for the recent draft, and it turns out two or three of them are rather dubious in character as well as talent. Then they let a fine, able, versatile footballer like Kansas’ Jon Cornish go home to Canada. I hope he’s sensational and makes interminable money.

Kansas City repeatedly fights back from the precipice of success in assembling people. Cornish is a versatile guy who, at 215 pounds, can run intelligently, catch passes, block better than Larry Johnson and could help the club a lot on special teams. He’d also have a local fan base and would be good insurance if Johnson falters. K.C. seems to go out of its way to bungle at draft time; losing Cornish is just one more dumb mistake.

¢ Too few are criticizing Kansas basketeer Brandon Rush for diddling long enough to cost Bill Self a good recruit or two. He deserves harpoons. If he flops and comes back, how much more uncertainty would he create? Self owes Rush nothing, and if he returns, let’s hope the lineup shows Bill’s through babying Rush’s erraticity.

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