gilchristfan
January 4th, 2008, 1:24:10 PM
There, I said it.
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news;_ylt=Ah57QJwuMBKfaxVTXrSiF7I5nYcB?slug=jn-mangino010408&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
All the right moves
MIAMI – Away from the flying oranges – away from the coaches hugging their wives and the players flexing for television cameras – Kansas chancellor Robert Hemenway stood near the tunnel at Dolphins Stadium on Thursday and explained how one of the nation's worst football programs transformed into one of its best. "This," Hemenway said after the Jayhawks beat Virginia Tech 24-21 in the Orange Bowl, "is what can happen when you hire the right people. This is what can happen when you hire the right coach."
...
Make no mistake, though. There was nothing easy about the task Mangino faced when he was hired to replace Terry Allen in December of 2001. Kansas had been to just two bowl games in the 20 seasons before Mangino's arrival.
Mangino has joked that, during his first few years, bus rides into Memorial Stadium on game-days were traffic-free, with the only obstacles being the joggers who trotted on the outskirts of the complex, unaware that there was a game.
Kansas went 2-10 in Mangino's first season and winless in Big 12 play. The marketing department literally gave away tickets in hopes of filling the 50,000-seat stadium more than halfway.
"Oh yeah – I remember that," said Bill Whittemore, the quarterback of that team and now a Kansas grad assistant. "It's unbelievable how far we’ve come. We're Orange Bowl champs. It's almost hard to fathom."
Even more amazing is that Mangino turned Kansas' program around with a group of recruits who were overlooked by the country's big-name programs. Heck, the Jayhawks haven't had a single player selected in the NFL Draft the past two seasons.
Kansas defeated Virginia Tech Thursday with a 5-foot-9 quarterback (Todd Reesing) who picked the Jayhawks over Duke. The game's MVP, cornerback Aqib Talib, would've likely ended up at Wyoming if not for Mangino's eye for talent.
A pair of true freshmen (Chris Harris and Dezmon Briscoe) were in the starting lineup. Walk-ons (Adrian Mayes and John Larson) started on the offensive and defensive lines and another (Micah Brown) played a key role on a fake punt.
...Even during the tough times, Mangino never wavered in his belief that Kansas could be more than just a basketball school. He knew he'd get things turned eventually, as long as he and his players "kept sawing wood." "I never set these ridiculously long-term goals," Mangino said. "I hear coaches talk a lot at clinics about when they take over a program, they have a two-year plan, a five-year plan, a seven-year plan.
"I said, 'Boy, those guys are a little bit smarter than me, because I didn't do that.' I said, 'Let’s take care of the present. Let's work hard every day. Let's take each task as it comes and get better all the time. If we do that, the by-product will be bowl games and championships and things of that sort.'"
The article probably doesn't describe enough how bad Kansas really was before he got there. Or how little talent there really is on his team.
He's done a masterful job.
http://sports.yahoo.com/ncaaf/news;_ylt=Ah57QJwuMBKfaxVTXrSiF7I5nYcB?slug=jn-mangino010408&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
All the right moves
MIAMI – Away from the flying oranges – away from the coaches hugging their wives and the players flexing for television cameras – Kansas chancellor Robert Hemenway stood near the tunnel at Dolphins Stadium on Thursday and explained how one of the nation's worst football programs transformed into one of its best. "This," Hemenway said after the Jayhawks beat Virginia Tech 24-21 in the Orange Bowl, "is what can happen when you hire the right people. This is what can happen when you hire the right coach."
...
Make no mistake, though. There was nothing easy about the task Mangino faced when he was hired to replace Terry Allen in December of 2001. Kansas had been to just two bowl games in the 20 seasons before Mangino's arrival.
Mangino has joked that, during his first few years, bus rides into Memorial Stadium on game-days were traffic-free, with the only obstacles being the joggers who trotted on the outskirts of the complex, unaware that there was a game.
Kansas went 2-10 in Mangino's first season and winless in Big 12 play. The marketing department literally gave away tickets in hopes of filling the 50,000-seat stadium more than halfway.
"Oh yeah – I remember that," said Bill Whittemore, the quarterback of that team and now a Kansas grad assistant. "It's unbelievable how far we’ve come. We're Orange Bowl champs. It's almost hard to fathom."
Even more amazing is that Mangino turned Kansas' program around with a group of recruits who were overlooked by the country's big-name programs. Heck, the Jayhawks haven't had a single player selected in the NFL Draft the past two seasons.
Kansas defeated Virginia Tech Thursday with a 5-foot-9 quarterback (Todd Reesing) who picked the Jayhawks over Duke. The game's MVP, cornerback Aqib Talib, would've likely ended up at Wyoming if not for Mangino's eye for talent.
A pair of true freshmen (Chris Harris and Dezmon Briscoe) were in the starting lineup. Walk-ons (Adrian Mayes and John Larson) started on the offensive and defensive lines and another (Micah Brown) played a key role on a fake punt.
...Even during the tough times, Mangino never wavered in his belief that Kansas could be more than just a basketball school. He knew he'd get things turned eventually, as long as he and his players "kept sawing wood." "I never set these ridiculously long-term goals," Mangino said. "I hear coaches talk a lot at clinics about when they take over a program, they have a two-year plan, a five-year plan, a seven-year plan.
"I said, 'Boy, those guys are a little bit smarter than me, because I didn't do that.' I said, 'Let’s take care of the present. Let's work hard every day. Let's take each task as it comes and get better all the time. If we do that, the by-product will be bowl games and championships and things of that sort.'"
The article probably doesn't describe enough how bad Kansas really was before he got there. Or how little talent there really is on his team.
He's done a masterful job.