Cornish chimes in

[KITNfury]

Actually my bro tells me whenever I come up.

 

I wanted to say something so thanks for asking. While I originally wanted to talk up mangino because in the end he did have a tremendously positive influence on my life, the road to get to where I am was not a particularly fun one football wise.

 

I'm pretty sure unless mangino has found someone to revile as much as he did me my first three years at ku there probably shouldn't even be an issue right now. Like these complaining kids do not even know...

 

Let me set this straight. Mangino hated me. Like he repeatedly threatened to have me off the team, that I was terrible, and that I was a "*****," something he whispered in my ear after I tore my rectus femoris(big muscle on quad) my freshman spring camp and refused to take part in practice. The trainers made me practice despite my very obvious bump on my leg. The problem was that my legs were strong enough that despite the tear they still worked pretty well so their clinical tests showed that I was "fine." The pain and obvious muscle damage was enough for me to pull out. I like to think of myself as a pretty tough football player, but expecting someone to practice with a huge bump on his leg and then even being as callous to call him a *****... thats not cool. That is still something I like to show off today. It freaks anyone out that sees it.

 

After I got hurt as a true freshman it took me three whole years to get a chance at running back and even then it was only because they didnt have any other viable options. I went through 2 spring camps and a few summers knowing I had zero chance of even touching the football during practice. I thought it'd be cool to do scout team so I did and annhiliated our defense running the ball down their throats repeatedly. Mangino then said I was live in practice, my teammates were allowed to tackle me in practice... Still didn't change anything and I kept running it, so much so infact that I was no longer allowed to practice with the scout team. I went through an entire season not touching the ball at all during practice...

 

With that said, thats how oldschool coachs like mangino do it. There is this nanny society growing today that instills children with a sense of entitlement and removes their ability to work towards their goals. Mangino`s way of coaching might not be the best in this day and age. When I arrived at ku I was 17 and had no idea what to expect. All that BS I put out about not understanding how serious football was just that, complete ********. You know that conversation with mangino that came up after I started getting press, he told me that I was done if I didn`t produce results. To explain what we talked about I said stuff like ``I was immature`` and that ``I was unprepared for college football.`` In reality it was difficult for me to accept that yelling, screaming, working kids till they puked, getting up in people`s faces, getting mad about the way a person looked at you (yes mangino got very angry about the way I looked at him``) and threats were an accepted part of football.

 

Telling everyone ``I accepted football was more serious in the states`` was basically what I said to explain the fact that I had to accept that asking questions is not allowed, you will get yelled at simply for existing, you`re gonna play even if you`re extremely hurt, you`re a liability to the team, and that you could get sent home at anytime.

 

I always told my teammates college football is supposed to be fun but its not. I started writing this without really thinking about my first few years at Kansas. I originally wanted to make a post that was only spoke positively of Mangino but I really couldn`t do that while being truthful to myself. Mangino played no part in `my turnaround`` all he did was give me a chance after esentialyl benching me for 3 years. The only thing that got me through college were the amazing people in Kansas and the fact I`m not a quiter. I knew if I stayed long enough I`d get my chance even if they never wanted to give it to me

 

You`ll hear two different sides from all the players getting interviewed. One side will be the smartplayers that know better than to throw mangino under the bus and the other the less intelligent players looking to get their thoughts in the paper about something they probably shouldn`t be saying anything about. I would believe all the former players think the same; although we might not like mangino`s coaching style it certainly worked. The people that are talking smack about Mangino right now in the papers might not have gotten their playing time (marcus herford) or been pretty stupid to begin with (Dexton Fields). I know quite a few of my fellow alumni were interviewed, mostly the smart ones that know better than to say idiotic stuff like intimate he`s done anything more than yell at people, the papers are trying to make mangino look really bad right now, and I`m afraid its working. Hes not a bad person, he just has a bad temper.

 

Still

 

Whoever thought you could have a winning season when your football squad gets in a fight with a fellow team shouldn`t be writing for any paper. This season is in ruins because Mangino quit recruiting players with heart and dedication(david ochoa, derek fine,  and started picking up the idiots that suddenly become available once you win an orange bowl. Can`t blame him, they`re good players, they just lack the common sense a lot of the players before them had.

 

In the end I can understand Mangino and the situation hes in right now. I dont like him as a person when hes coaching but I respect his coaching style because it did get stuff done. Cocky players that think they shoulda recieved more play time might not like this or ones that are terrible in games and get yelled at; They`ll say its all his fault. I really believe this is just an elaborate ruse by Lew to get Mangino out of there, blowing up some lil thing like a player getting tapped on the chest into players are threatening to leave and noone likes him.If you have to scape goat someone, instead of the players who you can`t get rid of, you start talking about the head coach, Mangino.

 

 

 

tl:dr Mangino made life hard for me but the end result was very positive. Mangino`s attitude was only acceptable as long as he was winning. People are inheritly stupid and will all jump on a band wagon to blame someone for a losing season.

[NEKS-Cat]

 

[hemmy]

 

[WildCatzPhreak]

I really hope they keep Mangino.  I don't see how they can, but if they do it will be a recruiting disaster.  Then they'll inevitably go through coaching change next year, which would be a another big mess.  Lots of positives for emaw nation here.

[jswabash]

Just amazing how none of this is an issue when they are winning. But one unexpectedly down season and $hit hits the fan.

I'm not condoning what Mangino has done, but it makes them all look like a bunch of whiny bitches that all of a sudden aren't happy once they start losing. If these things are a problem now, they should have been a problem all along.

I hope they keep him. He deserves ku and ku deserves him.

[Wildcat Dynasty]

How does ku go out and get a decent coach after this? Any sort of "old school" coach won't touch the job for fear that he uses bad language and gets the axe.

So now they have to hope to find the perfect coach that can build a tough and physical team to win in the Big 12 while not offending any of his players.

This should be an interesting off-season to watch. Whomever is cruiting Texas for ku needs to find his way to KSU though. They have a ton of Texas talent on their roster already.

[The Whale]

Similarly, from Jocques "2000 yd. season" Crawford:

"At halftime, he could pick players out one by one and talk about their flaws," Crawford said.  "He got to me and he says, "We have a guy on the team that says he's going to rush for 2,000 yards and he's not shown me s---."

[Legore]

Wow pretty good insight from Cornish.  He's absolutely right about the players that are talking are either mad about playing time or just no that bright.  I mean they're quoting J Crawford for these stories give me a break.  He's also right about Mangino recruiting different types of players after he had some success then he did when he first got to ku.  That is why the rivals star game doesn't always work ku is less talented now then when they had a bunch of coached up two stars.   

Not sure where ku goes from here I've still seen nothing that warrants firing a guy.  If they can fire him over a few complaints the players and their parents are going to think they run the place.  Not sure what coach would want to walk into that kind of situation that they are creating.  I think Perkins is a good AD but I think he's kind of screwed this one up.  He's damaged the ku football program letting all this stuff go public and letting the media get ahold of it.  Right now he's damned if does and damned if he doesn't.   

[Pett]

Similarly, from Jocques "2000 yd. season" Crawford:

"At halftime, he could pick players out one by one and talk about their flaws," Crawford said.  "He got to me and he says, "We have a guy on the team that says he's going to rush for 2,000 yards and he's not shown me s---."

Actually, I think this^ needed to be done. "Joc" was retarded for saying something like that....

[Thin Blue Line]

A rather insightful essay from a former player. He seems a little too smart to have played there, though. All in all, a seeming indictment on college football as a whole.

[Legore]

A rather insightful essay from a former player. He seems a little too smart to have played there, though. All in all, a seeming indictment on college football as a whole.

You're right about college football as a whole.   If people only knew I mean I played small college football.  We got books and tuition scholarships and had a couple thousand people at our games and I saw similar type of stuff to these Mangino stories and actually quite a bit worse.   At the time I thought it was just the way it was and part of playing football.  As I've gotten older now I have kids and I think to myself I'd never want to see them treated that way that I was.   This mangino stuff is honestly normal everyday stuff in college football I'm sure of that.   Every staff is going to have one or two guys like this and worse maybe the only difference here is it is coming from the head coach instead of an assistant. 

[michigancat]

Cornish sounds like a pussy.

[fatty fat fat]

Jon Cornish is a tremendous dumbass.

[The42Yardstick]

Similarly, from Jocques "2000 yd. season" Crawford:

"At halftime, he could pick players out one by one and talk about their flaws," Crawford said.  "He got to me and he says, "We have a guy on the team that says he's going to rush for 2,000 yards and he's not shown me s---."

Mangino deservedly goes to go down over everything else, but Crawford is pretty much a whiner who has lost all of his credibility with anyone. Mortensen speaking out is huge, but Crawford's already shown that he has no testicles.

[The42Yardstick]

Cornish sounds like a pussy.

Jon Cornish is a tremendous dumbass.

I will fight both of you 

[Soft Taco Wallace]

...but Crawford's already shown that he has no testicles.

...and Leuken has no head.

 

[schreds21]

Never played college ball.  My playing days ended after my senior year in high school.  One of my best freinds was an AA at FHSU under Cortese though.  He often tells stories about Cortese and how he treated players (some of them are absolutely hillarious).  Dude was a racist and verbally abused every player on the team at one time or another.  My buddy does not think ill of him at all though, that was just his way of motivating players and making them tougher.  You could either take it and succeed or get the hell out.  Not saying it's right or wrong. The guy did win games though.

[Guscat]

2 weeks ago Cornish was on 810 WHB saying that K-State is like ku's little brother, and that ku beat the 'Cats in football all the time.  When it was brought to his attention that he was part of the team that broke the 11 game losing streak to K-State, Cornish moved on to another topic very quickly.  Not only a pu$$y, but a retarded one at that.

[jeffy]

This whole saga reminds me of Wecker, Ohlde, etc. dogging Deb Patterson after they left K-State.

ku football is about as interesting as women's basketball, too.

[Big Sam]

Wow pretty good insight from Cornish.  He's absolutely right about the players that are talking are either mad about playing time or just no that bright.  I mean they're quoting J Crawford for these stories give me a break.  He's also right about Mangino recruiting different types of players after he had some success then he did when he first got to ku.  That is why the rivals star game doesn't always work ku is less talented now then when they had a bunch of coached up two stars.   

Not sure where ku goes from here I've still seen nothing that warrants firing a guy.  If they can fire him over a few complaints the players and their parents are going to think they run the place.  Not sure what coach would want to walk into that kind of situation that they are creating.  I think Perkins is a good AD but I think he's kind of screwed this one up.  He's damaged the ku football program letting all this stuff go public and letting the media get ahold of it.  Right now he's damned if does and damned if he doesn't.   

You are dead on Legore.  Also, one can sort of see the aspect on the type of players you attract when you have the great year and look at what happened at KSU.  Remember, with the help of BB, KSU changed its recruiting world to use the name cache of some great seasons to bring in some talent with more stars.  Unfortunately, the stars to always work out so well in the Snyder system.

That said, there is absolutely no connection between the type of human being and coach that Snyder is and Mangino.  My connection is only in regard to how the change in talent you can recruit can create problems.  Mangino is a POS, always has been, always will be.  When he dies I will probably make a road trip to take a dump on his grave - as any real 'Cat fan should.

Sam S.