Peaceful coexistence
By Jason King, Yahoo! Sports
8 hours, 31 minutes ago
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A few weeks after their victory over Virginia Tech in the 2008 Orange Bowl, Kansas football players Aqib Talib and Todd Haselhorst were leaving the Jayhawks’ weight room when they passed basketball star Mario Chalmers in an adjoining hallway.
Chalmers nodded when Talib asked him if he was on his way to work out.
“Just trying to be as good as you guys,” Chalmers told them. “Just trying to be like you.”
Nearly two years later, Haselhorst is still impressed by Chalmers’ remarks – especially considering the basketball team went on to win a national championship.
Tyshawn Taylor
“Back then it felt like we were all in it together,” Haselhorst said. “It wasn’t us versus them. It was ‘we.’ ”
These days in Lawrence that’s hardly the case.
Last month’s brawls between Kansas football and basketball players have tarnished the image of both programs at a time when each should be reveling in success.
Kansas’ football team will enter Saturday’s game against Iowa State with a 4-0 record and a No. 16 national ranking. With five starters returning, Bill Self’s basketball team sits atop virtually every preseason poll and is favored to win its second national title in three years.
Still, instead of soaking up positive publicity, Self, football coach Mark Mangino and athletic director Lew Perkins have spent the past few weeks answering questions about a melee outside the athletic dining hall that left basketball star Tyshawn Taylor with a dislocated thumb. The following morning witnesses said a football player was pushed down a flight of stairs during a second confrontation between the two teams.
“I’ve heard from a lot of people who say, ‘Boys will be boys,’ ” Perkins said. “But let me tell you, this is not boys will be boys. This is much more serious. This might be the most complicated thing I’ve dealt with in my entire life.”
Details about who played what role in each altercation are so unclear that law enforcement officials have yet to make any arrests or file any charges. For the same reason, Self and Mangino haven’t issued any suspensions.
What is apparent, however, is that the incidents marked the escalation of a “turf war” that has been brewing between the two teams for at least a year.
“Whenever you’ve got a team that’s really, really good and you’re struggling to get to that level … there’s definitely a little jealously,” a former Kansas football player said. “You want to experience what it feels like to be the biggest dog.
“Athletes have a lot of pride, a lot of confidence, a lot of ego. You put them all together from different sports, there’s bound to be some tension.”
Some schools would argue that doesn’t have to be the case.
Kansas, after all, isn’t the only college to boast success in both football and basketball. In 2006-07, Florida became the first program in history to win national titles in both sports. Ohio State, Texas and Oklahoma have enjoyed similar success in recent years.
None of them, though, have experienced the level of in-fighting between the football and basketball teams that came to light at Kansas late last month.
“I’ve talked to other administrators all over the country,” Perkins said. “It was interesting. This is an issue they face, but it hasn’t escalated to what we faced. It just blows my mind.”
A few years ago, when the Notre Dame football team was struggling to a 3-9 record, defensive back Darrin Walls had a rather peculiar sounding board: basketball player Tory Jackson.
Mike Brey
His roommate.
Not only have players from Notre Dame’s highly-successful programs refrained from altercations, they’re actually close friends.
“I’m sure they’ve leaned on each other quite a bit over the years,” said Mike Brey, now in his 10th season as the Fighting Irish’s basketball coach. “All of our kids are like that.”
With an enrollment of around 12,000, Brey said Notre Dame’s small size is conducive to athletes bonding with one another. All of them have to live in a dormitory for at least three years, which helps them form friendships. Often they become study partners.
Brey insists that his team attends almost every football pep rally, and football players are regulars at basketball games, as is football coach Charlie Weis.
“I’m sure some guys have argued or whatever,” Brey said. “But we’ve been fortunate to where we haven’t had things escalate into a bigger issue.
“There’s not a bigger football fan on this campus than me. When football is doing well it really helps us. Those football weekends around here – when there’s positive juice – it’s really something special to be around.
“Football pays a lot of bills around here. We’re all smart enough in the athletic department to understand that.”
Even though Notre Dame touts one of the most nationally recognized programs in college football, Brey said he doesn’t sense that his players feel short-changed when it comes to attention and clout on campus.
“A few of our guys may have felt that way at times when we’ve had great runs,” Brey said. “I’m sure there are some jealousies at times, but that’s just human nature.
“In places where there’s so much football history, that’s just going to be a given a lot of times. But I’ve never seen it as this big distraction or issue. I know I’ve never been distracted by that.”
Neither has Texas football coach Mack Brown, who was actually involved in the hiring of basketball coach Rick Barnes. Brown, who came to Texas from North Carolina, knew Barnes from his ACC days at Clemson.
Brown said he attends every Texas home basketball game when he’s in town. He encourages his players to do the same.
Mack Brown
“We’ve never had a bad word between football or basketball players – never,” Brown said. “There’s no animosity whatsoever. It’s never even been brought up.”
While football is perceived as the dominant sport at Texas, that wasn’t the case during Brown’s time at North Carolina, whose tradition-rich basketball program was led by Dean Smith.
“In those situations, the attitude of the coach in the bigger sport makes all the difference,” Brown said. “Coach Smith couldn’t have been any better. Anything we needed, he helped us with.”
Sometimes that meant talking to his team before a game. Other times it meant meeting a football recruit’s mother before a game. The key, Brown said, was that Smith realized that the success of one sport could help the other. The players bought into that theory, too, which is why there were never any squabbles between athletes – or petty jealousies.
“There were always people that would talk about it and assume we [felt shortchanged],” Brown said. “But we respected the basketball players and how much they won – and we were treated well. We had full stadiums. We were in the top 10 in the country the last few years. People gave us our due.”
In January 2007, just days after winning the BCS championship game against Ohio State, the Florida football team was honored during halftime of a Gators’ basketball game.
As the team walked off the court, it received more than just applause from their classmates who were waiting to return for the second half.
“Our guys went out there and embraced them, gave them hugs, right there in front of all the fans,” basketball coach Billy Donovan said. “The atmosphere here is that there’s a genuine pull for one another.”
And it all begins with the coaches.
Billy Donovan
Donovan and Urban Meyer aren’t just friends – they’re neighbors. Tim Tebow could probably stand on Meyer’s front porch and hit the side of Donovan’s house with a pass.
Meyer and Donovan often golf together during the offseason. In June they went on a fishing trip to Minnesota. If Donovan’s team needs a fresh face to give it a pep talk, he won’t hesitate to call on Meyer. And vice versa.
The camaraderie, Donovan said, has an effect on each team’s players.
“You need to be ego-free here,” said Donovan, who won back-to-back NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007. “There is no question that, in the SEC, Florida football generates a tremendous amount of revenue. That helps everything on campus.
“In the end, though, we’re all battling the same type of things. We’re all still coaches. We’re all still athletes.”
Donovan said athletic director Jeremy Foley is the key to the harmonious environment at Florida. He said Gator athletes can sense that Foley doesn’t “prioritize” when it comes to individual sports. He said his attitude is to give each program what it takes to succeed on a national level instead of dumping everything into one or two areas.
“There’s no question that there’s an affection and love for football throughout the state,” Donovan said. “But when you can see that resources are being put into your program to make you successful on the highest level, it really doesn’t make a difference what’s going on with everyone else. There’s no need to be jealous.”
The environment in Florida’s athletic department seems to mirror the one at Oklahoma, where the basketball program continues to make strides at a school that has long been known for its football dominance.
Athletic director Joe Castiglione estimates that football coach Bob Stoops visits with as many recruits from other sports as he does football prospects. He’s also at almost every home men’s basketball game, as is women’s coach Sherri Coale, when her schedule allows.
Castiglione said there have been times when he sensed tension between members of certain programs. But it didn’t last long. Instead of “ignoring the white elephant in the room,” Castiglione said he talks with any athlete or athletic department member who may be feeling shortchanged.
“It’s more of an educational thing than anything else,” he said. “The attention garnered by football throughout the better part of the year is amazing. It’s not something the institution can even control. It’s just a natural phenomenon.
“But just because that attention occurs outside of our control doesn’t mean that we ignore the other sports that are in our control.”
No matter how many discussions he has, though, Castiglione realizes that issues will always surface.
“It’d be naive to think otherwise,” he said. “People are people. Families have disagreements all the time but, internally, they love each other. It’s part of the human dynamic.”
Last Thursday, at the conclusion of practice, Kansas’ football players sat down for a catered barbeque meal in a building adjacent to Memorial Stadium.
The basketball team joined them.
“Our guys told me they had so much fun,” Self said.
Even though Kansas is attempting to move on from last month’s altercations, it isn’t always easy.
University police announced last week that they’ve launched a disorderly conduct investigation into the initial fight. Less than an hour after the melee, a 19-year-old man – who is not a ku student – threatened to shoot a woman outside the athletic dormitory. Police have linked that crime to the fracas.
Instead of talking about the upcoming season, Self continues to address the football-basketball conflict in radio, newspaper and television interviews.
“I have a hard time not taking this personally,” Self said. “I think it’s a big reflection on me and our program. I know for a fact we’ve worked hard for a lot of years to make sure that, even if we didn’t play well, people thought we conducted ourselves right.
“I’m very disappointed the actions of a few can negate the efforts of so many over time.”
Like the ku police, Kansas coaches and administrators are still investigating the fights to determine what sort of disciplinary action is justified. Mangino has said he doesn’t anticipate imposing any suspensions. Self said any action he takes will remain private.
Meanwhile, both coaches are working together make sure a similar situation doesn’t occur in the future.
Self said he and Mangino have a strong relationship. Self is a regular in the Mangino family football suite before each home football game and, although the football team’s headquarters were recently moved to another building, he and Mangino still talk regularly on the phone.
“When these [fights] happened, we probably talked three times within a matter of hours,” Self said. “He’s said his relationship [with the basketball program] is as good as anywhere he’s ever been, and I feel the same way.”
That wasn’t always the case.
Hired in December of 2001, Mangino was known as a bit of a bully during his first few years at Kansas. He infuriated former basketball coach Roy Williams when a football strength coach kicked basketball All-American Drew Gooden out of the weight room when Gooden arrived for an unscheduled workout. Williams tried inviting Mangino to go on walks across campus but, after a time or two, he began to decline.
For awhile it seemed as if Mangino and his program had developed an “us against the world” mentality, and part of it was understandable. Kansas, after all, hadn’t been to a bowl game since 1995.
“People around here didn’t care about Kansas football,” Mangino said. “And I mean they didn’t care at all.”
Even in light of the recent fights, passion about the Jayhawks’ top two sports teams doesn’t appear to have dwindled. Kansas is expecting a sellout for Saturday’s Big 12 opener against Iowa State. Last week more than 1,000 fans showed up at a Kansas City sports bar to listen to Self talk about the upcoming season.
“Mark and I get it,” Self said. “We know that we’ve had guys on both teams – a select group of individuals – that made poor decisions to give the appearance that there was a problem.
“I still like our kids, but I’m disgusted with some of the things that have transpired. If we handle our business from this point forward this is not going to be as big of a deal a month from now as it is today.”
