teedubya
12-25-2009, 12:39 AM
By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star
Even after his Kansas football team won the Orange Bowl in January 2008, Mark Mangino was far from satisfied. He liked to say that he wanted to build a program that would “pass the test of time,” and he did not seem at all convinced that he had accomplished that goal.
Clearly, he hadn’t. Mangino’s Jayhawks went 5-7 this season, shockingly losing their last seven games. Mangino, who would resign earlier this month amid an athletic department investigation into his treatment of players, won’t get to finish what he started. That job is now Turner Gill’s, and it is undetermined just how firm a foundation for success Mangino left for the new guy after a rocky 2009.
Looking at the decade in KU sports, it would be easy to claim the most important developments happened in the basketball program, which lost Roy Williams to North Carolina and then pummeled his Tar Heels five years later in the 2008 Final Four under Bill Self on the way to the program’s first national championship in 20 years.
Those were all momentous happenings to be sure, but the basketball program did not elevate itself by beating Memphis 75-68 down in San Anton’. KU was a national-title caliber program before Mario Chalmers’ three-pointer swished to send the game to overtime. All the Jayhawks proved was that, unlike in the 2003 NCAA title game when Michael Lee’s game-tying attempt was blocked by Syracuse’s Hakim Warrick, 2008 was their year to reign.
If anything, Self gained the most from KU’s storybook ending in ’08, proving that he was an elite coach who could take elite players to the promised land. One of the enduring images from the Jayhawks’ miracle march was Self falling to the floor after Davidson guard Jason Richards’ game-winning three-point attempt missed, clinching Self’s first Final Four. Self had lost four times in the Elite Eight with three different programs.
Basketball had a tremendous decade, but more was accomplished in the Kansas football narrative from 2000-09. Of course, the Jayhawks had nowhere to go but up.
KU had become nothing short of irrelevant under former coach Terry Allen, who was unable to lead the program to one bowl berth in five seasons.
So the next guy would have to be tough, a no-nonsense type who would put in the work to get the Jayhawks off the ground. Mangino, a roughneck from western Pennsylvania who was a part of winning Big 12 programs at Kansas State and Oklahoma, seemed perfect.
In just his second season, Mangino led KU to the Tangerine Bowl, where the Jayhawks were throttled by North Carolina State. The next year, they nearly upset Texas, and when they didn’t, Mangino captured the nation with his famous “Dollar signs” speech. Mangino was not going to be the whipping boy for the Big 12’s big-money schools.
In 2005, the Jayhawks took another step, beating Houston in the Fort Worth Bowl. And in 2007, with a creampuff nonconference schedule, the stage was set for something magical to happen.
Mangino had recruited some undervalued high school prospects who had emerged to be talented upperclassmen, and a sophomore quarterback named Todd Reesing would galvanize the program on the way to an 11-0 start. KU rose to No. 2 in the polls.
Watching the last two seasons play out, 2007’s run to the Orange Bowl became even more astounding. KU went a combined 13-12 and was blown out in all six games against Big 12 South opponents.
As this decade closes, the biggest question entering the next is how good can KU football be on a consistent basis? What is actually realistic? Halfway through the 2010s, Gill should have provided an answer.
The Kansas City Star
Even after his Kansas football team won the Orange Bowl in January 2008, Mark Mangino was far from satisfied. He liked to say that he wanted to build a program that would “pass the test of time,” and he did not seem at all convinced that he had accomplished that goal.
Clearly, he hadn’t. Mangino’s Jayhawks went 5-7 this season, shockingly losing their last seven games. Mangino, who would resign earlier this month amid an athletic department investigation into his treatment of players, won’t get to finish what he started. That job is now Turner Gill’s, and it is undetermined just how firm a foundation for success Mangino left for the new guy after a rocky 2009.
Looking at the decade in KU sports, it would be easy to claim the most important developments happened in the basketball program, which lost Roy Williams to North Carolina and then pummeled his Tar Heels five years later in the 2008 Final Four under Bill Self on the way to the program’s first national championship in 20 years.
Those were all momentous happenings to be sure, but the basketball program did not elevate itself by beating Memphis 75-68 down in San Anton’. KU was a national-title caliber program before Mario Chalmers’ three-pointer swished to send the game to overtime. All the Jayhawks proved was that, unlike in the 2003 NCAA title game when Michael Lee’s game-tying attempt was blocked by Syracuse’s Hakim Warrick, 2008 was their year to reign.
If anything, Self gained the most from KU’s storybook ending in ’08, proving that he was an elite coach who could take elite players to the promised land. One of the enduring images from the Jayhawks’ miracle march was Self falling to the floor after Davidson guard Jason Richards’ game-winning three-point attempt missed, clinching Self’s first Final Four. Self had lost four times in the Elite Eight with three different programs.
Basketball had a tremendous decade, but more was accomplished in the Kansas football narrative from 2000-09. Of course, the Jayhawks had nowhere to go but up.
KU had become nothing short of irrelevant under former coach Terry Allen, who was unable to lead the program to one bowl berth in five seasons.
So the next guy would have to be tough, a no-nonsense type who would put in the work to get the Jayhawks off the ground. Mangino, a roughneck from western Pennsylvania who was a part of winning Big 12 programs at Kansas State and Oklahoma, seemed perfect.
In just his second season, Mangino led KU to the Tangerine Bowl, where the Jayhawks were throttled by North Carolina State. The next year, they nearly upset Texas, and when they didn’t, Mangino captured the nation with his famous “Dollar signs” speech. Mangino was not going to be the whipping boy for the Big 12’s big-money schools.
In 2005, the Jayhawks took another step, beating Houston in the Fort Worth Bowl. And in 2007, with a creampuff nonconference schedule, the stage was set for something magical to happen.
Mangino had recruited some undervalued high school prospects who had emerged to be talented upperclassmen, and a sophomore quarterback named Todd Reesing would galvanize the program on the way to an 11-0 start. KU rose to No. 2 in the polls.
Watching the last two seasons play out, 2007’s run to the Orange Bowl became even more astounding. KU went a combined 13-12 and was blown out in all six games against Big 12 South opponents.
As this decade closes, the biggest question entering the next is how good can KU football be on a consistent basis? What is actually realistic? Halfway through the 2010s, Gill should have provided an answer.