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Mangino, KU know pressure is on now By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
SAN ANTONIO | A white limousine eased away from the historic St. Anthony Hotel, headed for the airport. But before leaving town, the three Kansas football players and their head coach inside decided to make a pit stop at a local burger joint for some long-awaited grub. How Aqib Talib had any energy left to chew is a wonder. Talib, a standout cornerback, had jawed away the entire afternoon at Big 12 football media days, making bold statements about the Jayhawks, including a prediction that KU would win nine games this season. Told of Talib's comments, Kansas coach Mark Mangino joked that he'd better get Talib in a car and back to Lawrence as soon as possible. All jokes aside, Mangino should have been relieved to see Talib's mouth stuffed with a cheeseburger and French fries. On a day when Mangino had every chance to declare this season a crucial one for his program, Talib was the only Jayhawk willing to make the plunge. "If the Kansas football program is going to be turned around, then this has to be the year," said Talib, a junior. "With the talent level of this team we have right now and the schedule layout, if it's going to be turned around, it has to be this year." When KU opens its season with Central Michigan on Sept. 1, Mangino's sixth year will have officially begun. He is 25-35, 11-29 in the Big 12, in five years with two pre-Christmas bowl berths. The Jayhawks have been bowl-eligible three of the last four years, but were left out of the mix last year after disappointing fourth-quarter meltdowns kept them at 6-6. Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins said that Mangino has done what they've asked him to do thus far, but that another 6-6 campaign would not cut it this year. "This is the second full class he's recruited," Perkins said. "I think the way the schedule is set up, our hopes are in that seven-eight (win) range. Am I going to be disappointed if we're less than that? Yeah." Notice that the schedule keeps coming up. That's because the Jayhawks open with four non-BCS schools at home and get Baylor and Iowa State in Lawrence. Theoretically, KU would need to win those six games and steal one more to firmly plant itself into a bowl game. Next year, though, Kansas plays at South Florida, and Big 12 South powers Texas and Oklahoma rejoin the schedule. Still, Mangino dodged the idea that 2007 needs to be his program's breakthrough year. "To be honest with you, I don't know what breakthrough means," Mangino said. "I'll tell you what I want. We want to be a bowl football team, we want to be able to compete for championships. Does that happen this year? I think so. Is this the breakthrough year? I don't know. This is the sixth year they've been asking me about breakthroughs." A breakthrough for a Kansas team with 16 starters returning and the easiest schedule in the country, according to ESPN.com, would likely mean at least eight wins and a higher-level bowl berth. The Jayhawks haven't won eight games in a season since 1995 and haven't played in a post-Christmas bowl since 1981. Mangino admitted on Monday that the turnaround hasn't been as swift as he'd expected. "It has not happened as fast as I would like, but that's because of my nature," Mangino said. "I'm patient with a lot of things, but I want to win now. I want to compete for a championship now. But I've learned to adjust." With a contract extension in hand from last season and a new, state-of-the-art football complex being built in Lawrence, the pressure is on Mangino to turn the respectability KU has gained the past five years into more victories. "We've done all the necessary things we had to do both on the field and off the field," Perkins said. "It's more important now that we start winning games." Big 12 media days Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Baylor withstood Monday's heat at Big 12 media days. Today, Missouri, Texas Tech, Iowa State and Texas A&M take their turn. Two pages of Big 12 coverage from San Antonio. | C4, C5 To reach J. Brady McCollough, Kansas reporter for The Star, call 816-234-4363 or send e-mail to jmccollough@kcstar.com |
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J. Brady McCollough - jbrady@coveringsports.com (email) - 816-868-2621 (cell) |
