Time is running out for Mark Mangino to grab everyone’s attention. It’s three days before the season starts, and the Kansas football coach is missing an opportunity to get KU fans and followers of the Big 12 excited by refusing to call this year a breakout season.

This has to be a breakout season. After two straight years of earning bowl eligibility but finishing in the lower half of the conference, the program needs to take the next step and compete for the Big 12 North title.

The pieces are there. Junior cornerback Aqib Talib is a preseason since the Big 12 Media Days in July All-American. A leaner, wiser Todd Reesing looks ready to be the best KU quarterback since Bill Whittemore. Add the easiest schedule in the country according to ESPN to the mix, and a breakthrough almost seems like a give-in.

Since the Big 12 Media Days in July, all Mangino needed to do was admit it. Just once. Say this team needs to win eight games. Who would it have hurt? The players wouldn’t have keeled over because of added pressure. If anything, it would have given them more motivation. Fans would have loved it too. And think about the media. Kansas would have actually received some national or at least regional interest.

Instead, he’s offered this and not much else about expectations.

“I think just doing what we’re doing – keep working at it,” Mangino said earlier this month at a press conference. “We’ve had success against some Big 12 North teams but it needs to be consistent. It needs to be success home and away, and I think that’s one of the biggest things that will keep us in the hunt in the Big 12 North.”

True, Mangino said Kansas could be “in the hunt.” But he could’ve gone a step further and said that the Jayhawks would be underachieving if they didn’t finish near the top of the conference. Then everyone would know the Jayhawks aren’t some spineless, second-rate squad satisfied with the cellar like they were 10 years ago.

Then again, this is Mangino. His lack of fiery words is not surprising, just disappointing. Mangino has been quiet since he took the job in 2002. That’s what happens when you learn from Bill Snyder.

Snyder, the former Kansas State football coach whom Mangino worked for as an assistant, never heard a question he wouldn’t respond to with a one-word answer. His postgame press conferences used to sound like this.

Reporter: Coach, how did Michael Bishop make the transition from community college to the Big 12 so easily?

Snyder: Yes.

Reporter: What happened to Darren Sproles when he fumbled the ball in the fourth quarter?

Snyder: (Nods head)

Of course, the quiet route worked for Snyder. He won nine games by his fifth year and finished third in the Big 8. It’s year six for Mangino, and his best is a seven-victory season. It’s time for a change in philosophy. Sometimes a loud voice is needed to raise a program to a new level. Take Tennessee men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl for example.

Pearl is like a successful Howard Dean. He’s loud and bold like the former presidential candidate, except he does it for a job where it’s accepted. One time Pearl even went to a women’s basketball game with his shirt off and chest painted. His fearless attitude has attracted fans to a sport that wasn’t taken too seriously at Tennessee, his men’s basketball program, and made the Volunteers a preseason favorite in the SEC this season.

Mangino doesn’t have to take his shirt off and go to a women’s basketball game to attract more fans and media. He probably shouldn’t do that. Mangino shouldn’t change too much. The football team has competed better under Mangino than it has in years. He’s defeated Kansas State twice and owned Missouri. Students care more about football than in years past. All that is great, but Kansas needs to prove it can compete with the best teams in the Big 12.

The first step is letting everyone know that. Mangino has missed his chance to bring more attention so far, but the season doesn’t start until Saturday. The really important games don’t start for a month. He still has time speak up. Let the rest of the conference know Kansas is ready to break out. It could only help.

— edited by Kyle Carter