From when the shit hit the fan with Mangino til now

[UnholyLivingDead]

Zenger cans Gill, arguably early (given what happens the next 10 years)

This is the part that sticks out to me. Hindsight and all that, but if Turner Gill is allowed to coach a third year, Seth Russell (who ended up at Baylor) was coming to be our QB. That alone would have been worth it to give him a chance. Couldn't have possibly gone any worse than hiring Weis anyway.

[PhDhawk]

Zenger cans Gill, arguably early (given what happens the next 10 years)

This is the part that sticks out to me. Hindsight and all that, but if Turner Gill is allowed to coach a third year, Seth Russell (who ended up at Baylor) was coming to be our QB. That alone would have been worth it to give him a chance. Couldn't have possibly gone any worse than hiring Weis anyway.

Right. And even though I think it was clear that Gill was in over his head and wasn't the right guy long term, firing a coach after two years sets a bad precedent and makes the job a lot less attractive.

And, it's my understanding that a lot of the eligibility and academic issues that were brought up about the Gil regime were grossly exaggerated by Weis who used it as a way to get rid of guys he wasn't fond of and to create a built in excuse for being shitty.

[CrimsonNBlue]

I don't know that Weis was worse than Gill, but I'm definitely much more pissed at him.

[pdub]

Just get us to a bowl.
Any goddamn bowl.
I want to watch some December Jayhawk football.

[PhDhawk]

I don't know that Weis was worse than Gill, but I'm definitely much more pissed at him.

Gill was at a mid-major, had some brief success and wanted a shot at big-time college football, but he was in over his head went back to a small school and did decently.

Weis tricked Papa John into hiring him, talked a big game, took naps in his office, and cashed big checks (from two Universities) and laughed his way into retirement.

[Deleted User 89]

I don't know that Weis was worse than Gill, but I'm definitely much more pissed at him.

Gill was at a mid-major, had some brief success and wanted a shot at big-time college football, but he was in over his head went back to a small school and did decently.

Weis tricked Papa John into hiring him, talked a big game, took naps in his office, and cashed big checks (from two Universities) and laughed his way to the buffet.

fixed

[pdub]

Jade Mongolian Grill was a great buffet for hungover Sundays.
If you had a KU ID you got a free drink.

[Leawood]

I don’t think folks remember just how poorly coached Gill’s teams were.

[holidaysmore]

I was also at that CU game. I never would have thought walking out of that game it would be the beginning of the end of the Mancini era. Hahah was that Artist Wright who complained that the turf was to hot during bear crawls or did he get ‘poked’ in the chest. I will say Mangino was nothing to F with. Dude was flat out intimidating and could be a huge (no pun intended) asshole. I’m glad to hear he has his health in order and has mellowed out.

I believe we can all agree that Zenger almost single handily destroyed KU’s football program. What an ass hat.

[ousdahl]

Ugh, that whole Mangino was too tough on players thing seemed like bullshit.

I mean I don’t wanna downplay any perceived abuse.

But for a player to complain about getting poked in the chest, then go out and demolish each other on the field, just don’t seem to add up. It’s fucking football. The whole point is you gotta be tough.

Wasn’t that the season of the witch hunt? Like several other coaches got chased outta town cuz they were too tough?

[UnholyLivingDead]

Can't remember if it was all the same season but it was all right around that time that (in addition to Mangino) Mike Leach got run out of Texas Tech and Jim Leavitt lost his job at South Florida.

[Leawood]

It was all within a couple of years from each other.

Mangino was on thin ice with Lew Perkins after the 2006 season. Perkins always wanted to hire his own coach because he "created" the Connecticut football program and had a stadium built. The 2006 season was exceedingly disappointing, particularly with the season ending loss to Missouri (Reesing coming in and almost orchestrating a comeback). Going into the 2007 season, Mangino struggled between having Kerry Meier at QB or that short guy from Austin. I remember asking this question on .com: If your job was on the line, would you rather have an All-State QB from Pittsburg, KS or one from Austin, TX? He chose Reesing (along with a favorable schedule), and the rest is history.

But, with Perkins, Mangino was always on thin ice. All so we could get Turner Gill, the reason of which is another story.

[ousdahl]

Pretty sure Mangino Leach and Levitt all got chased off within a few months of each other, at the end of the 09 season.

It like got to be the hip thing to do to fire your coach for being too mean to the cupcakes.

[Geezer]

Mangino had no allies left in the athletic department. He had pissed everybody off at one time or another. When he needed some help, it was greeted by silence.

[Lonestarjayhawk]

Gill had a low budget for his staff. Perkins could have hired him at half the $2 million salary and gave him a better budget for Assistants. He might had a fighting chance.

[NewtonHawk11]

I still can't believe he made Harbaugh have an ultimatum. We could have had Jim Freaking Harbaugh on the sidelines.

[holidaysmore]

As bad as Z was, and he was bad looking back at it the Perkins era wasn't so smooth either. He gets a pass and maybe rightfully so because of the success of 2008.

[CrimsonNBlue]

Lew was great, then he wasn't.

Z was bad then worse. He might not get enough credit for cleaning up the day-to-day operations at the athletic dept., but as he said and acknowledged: he was brought here for football.

[NewtonHawk11]

I think Long in 11 months, has done more for football than Zenger did in his 7!!! years.

He was here 7 years? Wow.

[Deleted User 266]

I have it on good authority that Zenger is now getting involved with a different Big 12 school.
Stay tuned.