Friday, August 12, 2005
It’s only a matter of time before Kansas football coach Mark Mangino turns the Jayhawks into an upper tier Big 12 Conference team.
The question is: how much time is Athletics Director Lew Perkins going to give him?
The answer should be two or three more years, regardless of how the team performs this season.
If you look at this year’s roster and compare it to the one Mangino inherited back in 2002, the progress he has made is obvious.
So much so, that Mangino thinks his team will compete for this year’s Big 12 North title.
“I haven’t been this excited entering a season before,” Mangino said. “We are going to be a good football team, no question about it.”
There’s reason to be excited, because with defensive standouts like cornerback Charles Gordon and a slew of senior linebackers roaming the Jayhawk sidelines, Kansas has starters that can line up against any other team in the conference.
The team was close to big things last year, and with fewer injuries or a few more good bounces, Kansas could have easily found itself in a second straight bowl game.
But with so many close calls last year, and one of the conference’s best defenses returning, some fans and media members are starting to put pressure on Mangino to win now.
Everything from his record of 12-24 to the football team’s minor NCAA rules violations to Perkins simply wanting to hire his own guy have been mentioned as reasons Mangino is in the hot seat.
If you ask Mangino, though, he’s not feeling any pressure.
“The only pressure that I suffer is self-induced. That’s the only pressure that I have,” he said. “I’m confident in our team and I’m confident in our assistant coaches and I’m confident in myself. The only pressure self-induced is that I want to win, but no, I don’t feel any (outside pressure).”
And he shouldn’t.
Four years is far too little time to demand anything out of a college football coach. And it’s not like he hasn’t had his fair share of success since taking over for Terry Allen.
Though Mangino hasn’t produced a winning season so far, he’s shown flashes of brilliance, with two victories over Missouri and one over Kansas State. He also guided the Jayhawks to the Tangerine Bowl in 2003.
One doesn’t just stumble upon those kinds of accomplishments.
Mangino has proven that he can recruit, motivate his players and coach at a high level.
After losing three quarterbacks to injuries last season the football team owned a 3-6 record with games against highly ranked Texas and at Missouri remaining. The team could have packed it in and no one would have blamed them.
But Mangino somehow managed to not only convince his team to keep playing, but to perform to the best of its ability. In doing so, Kansas came within one play of defeating Texas and crushed Missouri on the road.
The Jayhawks had no business being in either of those games, but they were. And the only reason they played so well was because of Mangino’s leadership.
That proves that Mangino has control of the football program. And if you consider how bare the cupboard was when he arrived, there’s no doubt that Kansas is heading in the right direction.
“We were just knocking on the door last year,” junior quarterback Adam Barmann said. “I really think it’s going to come together this year. I think this is going to be our year.”
Even if it isn’t, and Mangino loses a few more close games and fails to reach a second bowl game this season, Perkins should cut him slack. With enough time, the progress he’s made will turn into big victories.
-Robinett is an Austin, Texas senior in journalism. He is Kansan sports editor.
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