Beecher: Kansas faces recruiting woes

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By Alex Beecher

Thursday, November 19, 2009

For as long as he’s been on campus, there have been whispers that Mark Mangino may not be the most agreeable character. But they were subtle musings, the kind of thing everyone seems to think here, yet no one says. And even now, we don’t know much that’s any more concrete than that. The whispers have gotten louder, certainly. But I certainly don’t know whether they’re true or not.

What I do know is this: In light of the football team’s recent struggles, it would not be altogether surprising if this controversy, ultimately, results in Mangino losing his job.

And I know that scares me, because Kansas would have a very difficult time finding a head coach who could match Mangino’s success.

Of course, hiring a new head coach is always something of a crap shoot. Do you go with the hot shot young coordinator, or do you opt for the coach who’s won big at smaller schools? Perhaps you take a gamble on a virtual unknown, or maybe you throw money at a big name candidate. Whatever route you choose, there are multiple examples of similar choices that could fail.

Charlie Weis had never been a head coach before Notre Dame handed him the reigns to its storied program. Another disappointing season with first-ever lows, and Weis looks to be on his way out.

Rich Rodriguez, only in his second year at Michigan, had a bevy of success coaching West Virginia. But his winning ways have, thus far, not followed him to Ann Arbor.

And these programs are two of the most prevalent in the history of college football. They have tradition — and more importantly, resources — that Kansas football could never hope to match. Most importantly, both have the ability to recruit the entire nation.

That’s a luxury Kansas doesn’t share. Nor does Kansas have the most bountiful of local recruiting grounds. Instead, the Jayhawks are forced to compete against schools which are bigger, closer and more football-centric for middle-tier Texas preps.











All of this is not to say that Kansas cannot be a quality football program. What it does say is that the program ought to be viewed with perspective.

The stadium is too small. And even with its small size, the fanbase clearly doesn’t value the football program enough to fill it weekly.

The new facilities are great, and necessary, add-ons. But they’re still nothing compared to the palaces that exist elsewhere in the Big 12.

And again, Kansas’ location dictates that, almost certainly, it will never attract blue chip recruits.

That’s the program that Lew Perkins would have to sell a potential head coach on. And no matter how gifted a pitch man Perkins is reputed to be, the facts dictate that Kansas would have to settle, somewhat, in its hypothetical search. There would be no proven BCS-conference winners, and no highly-touted coordinators who have aspirations of landing bigger jobs.





All of this talk is, admittedly, a bit premature. I don’t know what Mangino did or didn’t do and I don’t know what will happen once the facts do become clear. But even amidst the malaise, I remember what Kansas football was before Mangino arrived. And, what’s worse, I know how easily it could be that again.

— Edited by Alicia Banister

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