December 04, 2009

Mangino resigns as Kansas coach: As the Kansas football players came pouring out the door, many were smiling, a few were frowning and some were laughing out loud at the reporters shivering in the cold night air waiting for them.

Just like Kansas fans, the players know Mark Mangino made huge improvements in the Jayhawks program in his eight years on the job. Their feelings were mixed at the news they'd just been given, that their 53-year-old coach was out on Thursday

posted by BornIcon to football at 09:06 AM - 24 comments

I hate the way Perkins handled this. Mangino may have messed up, but Perkins handled this so poorly that we'll never know for sure.

Back to winning 1-2 games a year I fear.

posted by brainofdtrain at 09:22 AM on December 04, 2009

Back to not torturing players until they wind up permanently disfigured as well.

posted by yerfatma at 10:34 AM on December 04, 2009

I can't recall a coach being fired before over abusing his players. Mangino's a real piece of work.

Jason Whitlock believes that the guy's 450 to 500 pound weight is the root of his anger problems. The guy looked so unhealthy on the sidelines -- both the obesity and the angry tirades -- I found it uncomfortable to watch Kansas games.

posted by rcade at 11:32 AM on December 04, 2009

Wow, yerfatma, I hadn't seen that story. He sounded like a bully before that, but it sounds much worse with that story.

posted by bperk at 11:33 AM on December 04, 2009

I think he should go to Notre Dame. That way, they can reuse Charlie Weis's old gear. A new Jaba the Hut roaming the sidelines.

posted by Debo270 at 11:36 AM on December 04, 2009

Jason Whitlock believes that the guy's 450 to 500 pound weight is the root of his anger problems.

It very well could be part of his anger issues. Maybe he suffers from depression and taking it out on the players was his way of dealing with it, who knows?

I do agree with bperk that Mangino seemed like a bully. I hope that Kansas finds a good coach.

That way, they can reuse Charlie Weis's old gear. A new Jaba the Hut roaming the sidelines.

Similar to the scene at 0:45

posted by BornIcon at 11:37 AM on December 04, 2009

I found it uncomfortable to watch Kansas games.

Same with Maryland games.

posted by NoMich at 12:03 PM on December 04, 2009

I'd love to see Mangino and Charlie Weis in a sumo wrestling match.

posted by jm_mosier at 12:12 PM on December 04, 2009

Jason Whitlock believes that the guy's 450 to 500 pound weight is the root of his anger problems.

Sportswriter, heal thyself.

posted by yerfatma at 12:44 PM on December 04, 2009

I'd love to see Mangino and Charlie Weis in a sumo wrestling match.

The number of things I'd love to see more than that approaches infinity.

posted by cl at 01:13 PM on December 04, 2009

I'm sorry, but I keep reading his name as "Mangina." This is how being dyslexic makes every day an adventure. And somewhat filthy.

posted by Joey Michaels at 01:27 PM on December 04, 2009

Sportswriter, heal thyself.

He cops to his own weight problems in the link.

posted by rcade at 01:31 PM on December 04, 2009

I'm sorry, but I keep reading his name as "Mangina."

He coaches the Browns.

posted by tselson at 01:33 PM on December 04, 2009

I'm sorry, but I keep reading his name as "Mangina."

He coaches the Browns.

I know. And when I read the headline I sort of cheered a little inside thinking that the Manhole had resigned and that Cleveland was going to be getting a new coach.

posted by THX-1138 at 02:12 PM on December 04, 2009

Egads, "Mangina" and "Browns" are really two words that should never be placed next to each other for obvious reasons.

posted by Joey Michaels at 03:13 PM on December 04, 2009

Remember when the boys and girls get put into separate classrooms for an afternoon in junior high? They cover that in the girls' class.

posted by yerfatma at 03:39 PM on December 04, 2009

but was instead told to "bear-crawl" across the AstroTurf field at Memorial Stadium on his hands and feet.

I'm sorry...but in my playing days I've had to "bear crawl" for 100 yards across Texas astro-turf on multiple occasions. I don't see how that's inhumane torture. And I can't image it's any hotter at Memorial Stadium than it was on the Astroturf in mid-day East Texas.

As for the scars on his hand, I guess that can't be refuted...but I have to ask, how freaking slow was he going? If you're bear crawling like you're supposed to be bear crawling, your hands are hitting carpet for a fraction of a second...not near long enough to burn. In fact, your fingers are hitting, not the palm of your hands, as the photos show.

I just can't comprehend how the turf would burn. I've seen guys get hurt and LAY on the turf in mid-august texas heat for 10-15 minutes...how could touching the turf for a matter of seconds burn your hand? Just seems really weird to me.

posted by bdaddy at 04:07 PM on December 04, 2009

I'm sorry...but in my playing days I've had to "bear crawl" for 100 yards across Texas astro-turf on multiple occasions. I don't see how that's inhumane torture. And I can't image it's any hotter at Memorial Stadium than it was on the Astroturf in mid-day East Texas.

Something had to be different from your experience because the wound on his hand is real. Another player reported that the field was so hot, he could feel it through his shoes. Perhaps their artificial playing surface is made of something that gets hotter. The report mentioned in the article says the temperature of the turf can get to 199 degrees. That would cause a burn. Making a player do a drill that results in an injury like that seems pretty inhumane to me.

posted by bperk at 04:20 PM on December 04, 2009

I'm not sure...like I said the scars on his hands really can't be refuted..it just doesn't make any sense to me.

I did see in the article it says "dermatologist Conway Huang confirmed the injury was either frictional or heat-related."

Now *frictional* I could completely understand...basically turf burn on his hand. But heat-related is the part that doesn't make much sense to me

posted by bdaddy at 05:10 PM on December 04, 2009

If the injury is frictional and not from the heat, do you think the coach is to blame for the injury anyway or is it more understandable from the coach's perspective? Have you seen that kind of injury from drills?

posted by bperk at 05:29 PM on December 04, 2009

Egads, their artificial turf can reach 199 degrees? That sounds like a piss-poor design for a field if its true. With the money that Kansas invests in its program, they should invest in some decent playing/training surface.

(I've done bear crawls too and those, in and of themselves, aren't exactly torture, though they suck in their own right. Unless there's something dreadfully wrong with the turf, that shouldn't happen. And if there is something dreadfully wrong with the turf, as has been suggested, the coach should have gotten his players off of it. I mean, shit, what good does it do you to wound your players?)

posted by Joey Michaels at 08:45 PM on December 04, 2009

Have you seen that kind of injury from drills?

well from turf burns, but not from a drill like that, no.

But honestly, those turf burns that I've seen (I had one myself where the scar lasted for a few years), look to be as bad as that, and no way would you be expected to miss practice with one. They'd tell you to bandage it up and get out there (which is what he was complaining that the coach did). And if it happened in practice, they wouldn't stop the drill or anything...they'd pull the guys to the side and clean it up, but that's about it.

I'm not saying the guy isn't an ass (I really haven't heard much of the backstory on this at all), but that particular incident didn't seem to me to be out of stock with my experiences of most coaches. They always say "you have to know the difference between paid and injury" and I'm sure they thought that guy was just in pain and not injured.

posted by bdaddy at 10:25 PM on December 04, 2009

Egads, their artificial turf can reach 199 degrees? That sounds like a piss-poor design for a field if its true.

Older turf is just a plastic mat over concrete. I don't see why it couldn't get that hot. Even nowadays you see thermometers showing "the temperature at field level" and it's around 140°, and that's the ambient air.

posted by yerfatma at 10:36 AM on December 05, 2009

"you have to know the difference between paid and injury"

I know you meant "pain" but the way I heard it throughout my time playing sports was the 'difference between being hurt and being injured.'

posted by BornIcon at 01:42 PM on December 07, 2009

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