Mark Mangino Does Not Represent the Jayhawks "in a Class Way"
The University of Kansas confirmed last week that they are investigating the obese head coach of their college football team, Mark Mangino, due to allegations that he has emotionally and verbally abused players during his tenure in Lawrence.
The investigation was deemed necessary by school officials after two former Jayhawks players publicly recounted some of Mangino’s alleged reprehensible behavior on the gridiron.
Former Jayhawks receiver Raymond Brown recalled how in 2007 he was comforted by his teammates after his brother was shot and wounded near his home in St. Louis.
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A couple of days later, an irate Mangino, supposedly ordered Brown to the sidelines after he made a bone-headed gaffe during practice.
“He went off on me yelling, which is fine,” Brown told The Associated Press. “I kept saying, ‘Yes, sir, yes, sir,’ to everything he was saying. A teammate asked me what happened. Then he started on me again and I said, ‘Yes, sir,’ and he said, “Don’t you ‘yes sir’ me. I’ll send you back to St. Louis where you can get shot by your homies.’”
In addition to the above purported racist denigration made by Mangino, Brown and past receiver Dexton Fields remembered an occasion when an unnamed player was lagging through a routine practice.
Mangino became incensed at the anonymous player’s focus and effort. At that point he cruelly mocked that athlete’s boozy father.
“He wanted to be a lawyer,” Brown said. “He messed up, and Mangino said to his face, in front of everybody, ‘You want to be a lawyer? You’re going to be an alcoholic just like your dad.”
Fields stated that Mangino’s demeanor adversely affected the Jayhawks football performances.
“I’ve seen some instances where he said some pretty mean things to people,” Fields said. “Did that motivate guys to play hard? Yes and no. It got you mad. So when you went out onto the field you had to do whatever you needed to do to take your anger out. But I don’t think it makes you a better player. The negative outweighed the positive.”
This is not the first instance in which Mangino, 53, the 2007 AP National Coach of the Year, has been accused of mistreating his players.
Mangino once briefly and controversially served as the head coach of Lincoln High School in Ellwood City, PA.
Mangino, who never played a down of college football, recorded a pathetic 1-9 mark in his inaugural season as coach there.
At the conclusion of the disastrous campaign, a slew of parents demanded that Mangino be fired because of his “language, and harsh approach to people.”
The school board decided not to terminate Mangino.
However, the physical eye-sore left the school, in disgrace, shortly after the board made their poor decision to retain him.
Mangino, whose Kansas program was charged with committing major NCAA rules violations in 2006, defended the tactics and methods he has employed as a head coach.
“I have not done anything that’s inappropriate,” said Mangino, who has amassed an overall mark of 50-45 since he became the head coach at Kansas in 2002. “More than anything some guys might be a little bitter because we have structure and discipline, because I’ve asked them to represent the football program and the University in a class way.”
Associate athletic director for risk management Lori Williams has been designated by the university to inspect Mangino’s approach.
“Lori Williams will talk to whomever she feels she needs to talk to conduct this review,” associate athletic director Jim Marchiony said. “It will be thorough.”
In 2007, Mangino helped lead the perpetually ordinary Jayhawks to a 12-1 record and a victory over Virginia Tech in the Orange Bowl.
Nevertheless, despite starting this season 5-0 and being ranked as high as No. 16 in the AP Poll, the Jayhawks have been defeated in five consecutive games and they are again currently mired in mediocrity.
It has long been said that there are two sides to every story.
Yet, the damning charges that have surfaced against Mangino seem to have some merit.
Many football onlookers irrationally contend that coaches need to be gruff and mean individuals who instill fear in their players to succeed on the field.
Such pathetic thinking is archaic and simply wrong.
University of Southern California (USC) Head Coach Pete Carroll may not be the exact equivalent of Nedward Flanders.
Still, Carroll, who has captured two National Championships as the leader of the Trojans, is an affable man and he has been known to treat his players with respect and kindness.
Mark Mangino never was, and he never will be, a coach the caliber of Pete Caroll.
Mangino is seemingly just a portly, rotten excuse for a man.
Hopefully, Mangino doesn’t have any “homies” working in the athletic department to rescue him from his misdeeds and “harsh approach to people.”
If Lori Williams finds that these charges are valid, Mangino should be immediately canned.
Ultimately, Mangino’s negative likely “outweighed the positive” and he does not “represent the football program and university in a class way.”
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