Last year, the University of Florida won both the men’s NCAA championships in basketball and football. This was something that had never been done before in the history of college athletics. Many other Division I schools have had strong programs in both sports as well, including Big XII schools Oklahoma and Texas.

Nevertheless, why is it so hard for schools to have elite programs in the two major money-making sports?

This year, several schools have made a case as to why their football programs are some of the best in the nation, just as their basketball programs are year in and year out. Kansas has started the season off with a 5-0 record and its first Top-25 ranking in 11 years. Ever since head coach Mark Mangino arrived on campus, he has said that this school was going to be a football and basketball school. Looks like his words are finally coming true.

Several other supposed “basketball schools” have also fared well so far this season. Kentucky is 5-1 and ranked No. 17 in the country, while Boston College and Cincinnati have each started the year off undefeated at 6-0, ranked fourth and 15th respectively.

Just because a school is well-known for basketball doesn’t mean that it has (or ever will have) the reputation for football. Duke is a perfect example. Here is a school that prided itself on being one of the elite men’s basketball programs each year, but its football program just recently broke a 22-game losing streak. I always wondered why some big-named, money-making schools just aren’t competitive in both basketball and football, but I think it’s simple — it is hard to build a strong reputation to include all the star athletes on one campus. In addition, if the sports complexes are not there either, then the top recruits are going to need a lot more convincing on why they should choose that school over some recognized powerhouse.

Coach Mangino has done a good job of making the football program more respected and recognized throughout his tenure at Kansas. He started with the baby steps of winning as many games as he could while trying to figure out ways to bring in the personnel and coaches who would push his teams along and find even more victories. In his five years as being head coach, he has had three bowl-eligible teams, including both of the past two seasons. Maybe it will be three in a row?

But let’s not get too ahead of ourselves here. There is still a lot of football to be played in the next few weekends, and a ton of things could happen. Everyone will be keeping their fingers crossed for many more victories to come. But if a meltdown suddenly occurs, there is always basketball season.

— Edited by Amelia Freidline