Sweet Lew Just Might Be an Evil Genius

Well, despite our initial reservations and tips to the contrary, it seems this mostly did come about in the form of a poke. Although when Mangino pokes, it’s safe to say it was probably a pretty good shove. Either way, all the talk about physical abuse was apparently a little over done and for that (assuming it doesn’t surface otherwise), I’d like to apologize. However, I’d also like to get out the story that we know. Because it’s become all too clear that Sweet Lew is an evil genius and Mangino won’t be with us much longer as a result. And in all actuality it probably did just come down to wins and losses (though his being a prick didn’t help his cause much).

Other than Arist Wright, I will be leaving player names out of this story, because despite how obscure we are here, none of this needs to get back to anyone and names are pretty irrelevant anyway.

This isn’t the true beginning, but it will work for our purposes… as reported, during the walk through at Colorado, Arist and a fellow linebacker were on the sideline. This LB made Arist laugh and Mangino stopped the walk through to come read Arist the riot act, at which time he shoved him in the chest. Not a typically huge Mangino blow up, but given what happened against ISU the week prior, it was meant to send a message. Defensive changes were made and neither Arist nor Line Backer (I’m clever like that) were a part of that.

LB has had enough – he tells a couple coaches he’s done. One coach and a staff member from the department meet with him and encourage him to stay and that he’ll see the field. LB says he could care less about playing and that he can’t envision playing for a guy who will rip you at every opportunity. They talk him into staying, though you all know by now how long that lasted.

Meanwhile, a player’s father who is pretty well acquainted with the team is not happy about how his son’s injury is being treated. Basically, he tore up his knee in fall camp and has been told to suck it up (as we all know, this isn’t new stuff around here). At this point LB has decided he’s done…knowing this, the player’s father has LB introduce him to the staffer within the department with whom he spoke. This staffer takes the complaint and a few days prior to the Nebraska game alerts Lew to expect a call from a parent and why.

Over the weekend, Lew proactively called this player’s father, concerned about his son’s health. During the conversation, the father told Lew about the dust up between Mangino and Arist.

After the Nebraska game, Lew approaches Arist and tells him to come by his office after practice on Sunday. Arist shows and Lew asks if Mangino has ever physically abused him. Arist says no. Lew tells him he knows about what happened at Colorado. Arist says that it wasn’t physical abuse. So Lew asks about his relationship with Mangino and Arist tells him that he is a grade-A asshole. He asks if there are other members of the team that feel the same way he does and Arist tells him there are guys that don’t like him. Lew wants names. Lew wants details of how he treats assistants and Arist tells him Mangino is an asshole to everyone. That was it.

On Monday, Arist told a coach about the meeting.

Monday night, Lew organizes the player meeting to inform them of the investigation.

At no time did anyone approach Lew about discontent, other than him getting a heads up from his department about a player’s father having a complaint. He took the opportunity to use that, Arist Wright, and a few other guys as his excuse to run the Big Man out of town.

Obviously, he knew that Mangino had been a big enough cock to enough people that no one would stick their neck out for the guy. Sure, people will keep quiet. But when push comes to shove, nobody is willing to take a bullet for this guy. And Lew knew that, took what very little ammunition he had and figured out how to blow shit up with it.

By doing it this way, he leaks enough to the press that there’s really no turning back for Mangino. Especially with how many former players have come forward. And yet, he can conduct an investigation – play like he’s an innocent bystander – and make a paper trail that proves cause for firing him. Even more, he does it in a week where we were set to get our doors blown off anyway, but leaving open the chance we can get things righted in time to play and beat Missouri (and possibly go to a bowl, sans Mangino). If he waits, maybe Mangino beats Missouri and that means he gets to stick around at least until January. Lew took very little and is somehow about to manufacture enough with it to get something very big that he wants. Give the guy credit, he played this like a fiddle.

I just hope he knows what he’s doing, because arrogant prick or not, Mangino has done a lot of good for this football program. Whether or not he “deserved” better after how he’s treated so many players, assistants and whoever else, is debatable, but also probably irrelevant. Because his days are certainly numbered and at this moment, I’m not sure there’s a single one of us that can say what it means for Kansas football.

Could we end up better off for it? Absolutely. Mangino is a great coach, but he’s not the only great coach. Depending on who Lew brings in, we very well could improve on the field and will almost assuredly improve in the way of player and employee morale.

But we could just as easily go back to complete irrelevancy. Despite the fact that he only had one truly great season, the fact remains that we really haven’t had a more successful coach. Ever. So we better know what we’re asking for here or things could turn in a hurry.

I’m going to resume enjoying my Makers and begin enjoying some South Park. One or the other has to improve my mood at least a little, right?

Thoughts?

Article Tags:

Arist Wright, College Football, Kansas Jayhawks, Lew Perkins, Mark Mangino

48 Responses

Raefzilla said:

November 18th, 2009 at 8:16 pm

Great write up.
BluManGrp said:

November 18th, 2009 at 8:45 pm

If this doesn’t end with a helluva product on that field for the next 10 years, I am going to hate Lew more than I ever hated Roy. This KU football program is a delicate creature right now. So close to big things and so close to falling into Terry Allen-esque suck. If this pushes it the wrong way I am going to go apesh!t on that Ogre.
kuoirad said:

November 18th, 2009 at 9:31 pm

Nice, Hip. Very nice.
gingerballs said:

November 18th, 2009 at 9:52 pm

In my best Mangino voice:
Hiphop, you better fucking bring some better shit than this drivel or I’m going to send you back to the ghetto where I found you. If anyone from Barking Carnival is reading this and wants to promote Hiphop to a job on the main blog, well he is a lousy piece of shit and is a horrible writer. Oh, and tell Bowen to that he’s fired when you see him later.

All fun aside, regardless of what you think of the guy and whether or not he is getting a raw deal, I’m pretty damn worried about this shaky ground that we are on right now as well. I am going with the “trust Lew until he fucks us” approach I think…let’s hope we don’t turn into ISU.

Out of curiosity, if the stuff being reported that the parents are complaining
about coupled with all of the other various incidents that have transpired over the years(reported and not) are totally factual, who on here sees it as enough reason for a firing? I’m still pretty undecided but I am curious what everyone thinks even though I realize it is a totally done deal obviously. The people that piss me off in this are the ones outright praising Lew or the group that is totally in defense of Mangino. Trying to rationalize how jaded most are by this horrible season is challenging as well, not to mention wondering how much this possible internal struggle was hurting chemistry and development.

Sorry, just some rambling thoughts on crap I’m still trying to wrap my head around, respond if you want anyone. One thing I do know is that this whole situation needs a catchy name for us to refer to it…anyone have ideas? Pokegate? Lew vs. The Volcano? Blue Wings Uprising? Yeah, I’m going with Blue Wings Uprising…you heard it here.
gingerballs said:

November 18th, 2009 at 9:57 pm

I of course meant no disrespect to your write up Hiphop, very nicely done as always. Really sums up this shitty mess as well as one can without naming names.
gingerballs said:

November 18th, 2009 at 10:13 pm

Joe Mo on KMBC interview said that Mangino told him “you better play or I will ship you back to Oakland and you can drink booze out of a paper bag for the rest of your life”(loosely quoted)…this was shortly after coming back from his surgery and obviously felt he was rushed back too soon. When asked if Mangino should be fired he said “definitely yes.”

No one wins in a situation like this, but that is a nail in the coffin.
glamourmuscles said:

November 18th, 2009 at 10:55 pm

so at first i was buying the coup de tat theory about lew, and while i suspect that lew probably was looking for an excuse to get rid of mangino and get his own guy in, what arose substantiates more than an excuse. just read the stuff about mort. i’m guessing the first person to come out and talk probably opened the floodgates of stories of mangino ass-hattery. if the legends of his douche-y-ness are indeed true, i think it’s pretty reasonable grounds to fire him when compounded with the recent on field underachieving.
Chet Gristler said:

November 18th, 2009 at 11:59 pm

Great stuff, Hip.

Perkins gives me the shivers. Based on what I’ve seen from him I’ll bet you guys come out of this well. If Lew has orchestrated the front end of this saga to the degree mentioned above there is absolutely no way he hasn’t planned out the conclusion as well. My guess is once he saw his opening to can Mangino, he had your new coach picked out as the wheels started rolling. That makes me lean towards Edsall, but who knows.

Related…my high school football coach was the meanest SOB I’ve ever seen. He said stuff that would make Mangino blush and routinely physically assaulted players. There were parents of players in my hometown that thought he was truly evil. He won 400 games and 9 state championships and they named the stadium after him. Just sayin’.
Seth C said:

November 19th, 2009 at 4:31 am

I found this fascinating. Great stuff.
Phenomenal Smith said:

November 19th, 2009 at 6:21 am

Thanks for posting this, hip.
Gene Claude said:

November 19th, 2009 at 7:42 am

This is great.

Chet, I feel the same way about Lew generally, although it seems Occham’s Razor ought to apply here….why invent a Lew Perkins-led conspiracy when you can just approach it straightforward? Maybe Lew did want Mangino gone, maybe his investigation would not have happened if KU was 8 – 2, but once he looked at it and found out the extent of Mangino’s douchbaggery, Perkins might just have decided that he couldn’t tolerate it. No orchestrating necessary, just a real fat dickweed.

Who wants to see Mangino v Whitlock on a televised sumo match? (Hand raised)
Phenomenal Smith said:

November 19th, 2009 at 7:52 am

GC, I can’t believe Perkins hasn’t known the full extent of Mangino’s douchebaggery. If he didn’t, then he’s at fault for not having more control/oversight over his athletic department.
CZ said:

November 19th, 2009 at 7:55 am

Am I the only one getting flashbacks from that scene in “Varsity Blues” where the next 20 mins of football is only for the next 20 mins?

Sorry…just the only hope I have vs. UT this Saturday.
Hiphopopotamus said:

November 19th, 2009 at 7:56 am

Personally, I’d label this as surreal, rather than great. But to each his own.

But hey, at least this will give ABC something to discuss once the viewing public loses interest in the game. Talk about some really good publicity!

Phenom: He definitely knew. Otherwise he wouldn’t have orchestrated this with so little to stand on. Knowing what he did about Mangino, he knew once the ball was rolling, others would come forward. If you look at everything reported, almost nothing is recent, but rather ex-players and parents revealing in detail what we already knew.
TaylorTRoom said:

November 19th, 2009 at 7:58 am

Is the idea here to build a case to fire Mangino without paying the full buyout? If a case can be made to fire him for cause, Mangino will have to settle for a negotiated buyout (somewhere between the cost to KU of legal representation defending a lawsuit, and the amount that Mangino might actually be awarded in said lawsuit), or risk having a bunch of negative career-killing info publicly revealled?
Hiphopopotamus said:

November 19th, 2009 at 8:02 am

His buyout is relatively small ($600k, I believe), so while I’m sure Lew would like to save that money, I think it’s much more about establishing cause with the public, beyond a disappointing season. Lew wanted to get rid of him, but given that he’s 2 years removed from an Orange Bowl win and NCOY, a disappointing season wasn’t enough to justify a firing. So he uses this investigation as his scapegoat and now he can say to potential coaches, etc.. that though Mangino was doing a great job we just couldn’t have a guy like that representing our University…
Gene Claude said:

November 19th, 2009 at 8:08 am

Why does everyone think he knew? He might have known he wasn’t that pleasant of a guy, but it seems very plausible he didn’t know all the racist/evil stuff. It isn’t like people walk in and tell the AD stuff like this. Workforces in America are repleat with mid-managers who are awful and upper management has no idea.

I’m sure Lew is using this to his advantage now, and it is possible that he went into this with planned machinations, as Hip suggests. I’m just presenting a slightly alternative hypothesis.
Triston27 said:

November 19th, 2009 at 8:09 am

If this doesn’t end with a helluva product on that field for the next 10 years, I am going to hate Lew more than I ever hated Roy.

I understand what you’re saying, but has Mangino put a great product on the field? He has 3 winning seasons in 7 full seasons (would probably be 3 in 8 if he finishes this year), and 1 Top-25 finish. By comparison, Glen Mason had 4 in 9 and 2 Top-25 rankings. Granted, Mason left, but nobody was crowning him as the savior of Kansas Football like many have done with Mangino. Not saying anyone here is doing that, but there are those out there.

People often say, “well Mangino has taken you to 4 bowls.” Well, if the six win rule applied during the Mason era, he’d have also gone to 4 bowls. Basically, the only thing that changed in the past 20 years of KU football was the Terry Allen debacle. He put KU into such a deep hole that anything would look better by comparison. But how much better is it really? We’re the same program now as we were in the Mason years.

I guess what I’m saying is that if/when Mangino gets fired, sure you run the risk of another Terry Allen situation, but let’s face it, at 5-5 there’s still more upside potential than there is downside.
Gene Claude said:

November 19th, 2009 at 8:48 am

I think that Mason/Mangino comparison, the way you’ve done it, is a little misleading. Mangino got you to the Orange Bowl and a 12 win season. Of course, one could argue (and I certainly have) that season was more of a random occurrence based on a fortuitous schedule and good fortune than a harbinger of a glorious KU football future.

I say get rid of him, at least you parlayed that season into fine facilities and maybe even a few long term fans….
Triston27 said:

November 19th, 2009 at 9:08 am

Mangino got you to the Orange Bowl and a 12 win season.

True, but Mason went 10-2 in 1995, beating #5 CU, and losing to #1 and NC Neb. and #7 ksu. Much tougher schedule and still finished 2nd in the league. What I’m saying is that he didn’t rise up from the 50 yard line and “save” the program. The program as a whole is a little better than .500, and so is Mangino. Sure, it looks like he’s done great but that’s because he gets compared to Terry Allen.
Hiphopopotamus said:

November 19th, 2009 at 9:34 am

But that really doesn’t matter, Triston. It’s all about program perception – and Orange Bowl win has a whole lot more clout than Aloha Bowl, no matter the surrounding circumstances.

Mason did a fine job as well and that’s why we didn’t want to see him go, but regardless of how it looks on paper, the perception (and reality) is that Mangino has changed the culture of Kansas football. And for us to take the next step, we had to first change the culture. Now we have and it will apparently be up to Lew to find the right guy to build on this and take us further.
Neon Boudreaux said:

November 19th, 2009 at 9:36 am

Make a case to the public and more specifically the future coaching candidates (unless he’s already hired that guy). However, I think it is reasonable that he didn’t know the depths of Mangino’s inappropriateness. Football is a rough game, but as Mortenson said, these stories are over the line.

Whether the success was mostly due to Reesing or Mangino, I never would have guessed this era would end like this…
Triston27 said:

November 19th, 2009 at 9:50 am

but regardless of how it looks on paper, the perception (and reality) is that Mangino has changed the culture of Kansas football

Until going 5-7 (possibly) this year, in which case the perception goes back to KU as a cellar team. And most non KU people I know never thought the perception changed. They just thought it was a year or 2 of good fortune. Nobody, outside of Kansas, thought the Orange Bowl was a sign of sure greatness to come. And going 8-5 and now being 5-5 only strengthens their argument.

I liken it to the Iowa State basketball team in the early 2000′s. For 2 years they were pretty damn good. Top-10 good in fact. But my overall view on the program did not change. Did yours? I never thought they’d be a consistent contender once Tinsley and Fizer left. And it was true.
Gene Claude said:

November 19th, 2009 at 9:54 am

I’m curious to see how this impacts KU’s recruiting, both this year and next. Would be tough to pull the trigger as a parent, I imagine.

I don’t think the perception of KU football has changed much. Hell, the perception fo Mizzou football hasn’t changed much. I do think that Mangino has upgraded the talent base of the program significantly, and whomever comes after will reap those benefits. The question is whether you are going to have a dry year or two, which would be very bad. And whether Pick 6 is the QB of the future…..
Neon Boudreaux said:

November 19th, 2009 at 10:09 am

I disagree GC. As a guy that travels nationally for work I never heard about KU when it came to football conversations. When the “What school did you go to?” comes up no one ever said anything about football. My answer would usually turn the conversation to basketball through no effort of my own.

Now, during football conversations when someone asks that question they start talking about how tough the B12 is and if we think we’re going to win it (or at least the North) or if Reesing is a real deal Heisman candidate. Most guys I’ve talked to know Todd Reesing at least by name and know we have a big fat blob of a coach even if they don’t know his name.

I also get FAR more “ROCK CHALKS” in the airport during the fall than I used to (KU bag tags).

I’ve seen the perception change massively in the past 3 years.

As for recruiting, I think it was about to take a bigger hit from the transfers that would come by keeping Mangino.

A bad hire could definitely ruin the momentum, but I would think the gobs of new money being poured into the program would give us a good chance to hire a guy better than Mangino. We’ll at least have a few guys better than Mangino interested whether our search committee recognizes which is the best choice…
Hiphopopotamus said:

November 19th, 2009 at 10:36 am

Without a doubt the perception of both has changed. Maybe we’re still easily to cast aside, but if nothing else, just look at the preseason rankings the past 2 years. But more than that, look at the gameday atmosphere at both places. It’s night and day in Lawrence – and as much as you see it there, you see it even more in retail sales.

Triston – I think that’s a little drastic. They’d been building up to that succuess over 3 coaches (Orr, Floyd, Eustachy) and probably wouldn’t have fallen off a cliff like they did had they not had the Eustachy incident that led to his firing. If anything, I’d say we’re more similar in that an incident/firing could lead to our demise. Given the inroads we were making in recruiting and as a program, it’s pretty difficult to assume KU was set to follow the ISU bball path with Mangino at the helm.

GC – That’s an extremely big concern at this point. Could go either way, I guess, but at this point it’s a pretty big variable.
Phenomenal Smith said:

November 19th, 2009 at 11:12 am

Workforces in America are repleat with mid-managers who are awful and upper management has no idea.

I don’t think of a head football coach at a major university at mid-managers. It’s more like a CEO/COO relationship. And, hell, even David Wallace knows Michael Scott is a jerkoff.
Triston27 said:

November 19th, 2009 at 11:47 am

Hiphop: Yes, perception has changed when you compare it to the Terry Allen era, but has it changed as a whole in regards to the overall program? Do people consider KU as a conference contender? This year they did but that didn’t work out. And after this season, even without this coaching mess, we would have been picked in the lower half of the league again.

I don’t think the ISU comparison is all that far off. They had a slight build up with some tournament appearences, just as we had the Tangerine and Ft. Worth Bowls. Then they peeked with 2 Top-10 season, just as we did with the Orange Bowl season. After that were 2 seasons averaging a .500% (under Eustachy), just like us. They may not have fallen AS hard if not for the Eustachy debacle, but they were already falling.

Also, during Mangino’s tenure as HC we finished, on average, 8th in the Big 12 regarding recruiting classes. Even if you throw out the first four ‘rebuilding’ years, he’s managed to have us at 7.5 in the Big 12 classes. There’s nothing elite about his recruiting abilities.

I know people proabably think I’m filling up on the haterade, but I’m just seeing things for what they are. Did Mangino do a good job? Sure he did. Did he perform miracles? Not a chance. As a whole, this is still a .500 team under Mangino, just as it has been during the entire 120 year history of the program. People are so afraid of this program falling back to mediocrity, but the truth is that it never left.
Hiphopopotamus said:

November 19th, 2009 at 12:41 pm

I think you’re just mis-intepreting what I’m saying. I’m not trying to argue that the program has undergone a seismic shift in status.

But the culture has undeniably changed, as evidenced by: Neon’s stories above, a Gameday atmosphere for which we can actually be proud, a facility that stacks up against anyone, the proof that BCS games/competing for conference championships is attainable, etc…

I don’t think anyone is afraid of it falling back to mediocrity, but rather, afraid that it could fall back to where it was pre-Mangino, or just as frustratingly, fail to continue on it’s upward path (I’m looking beyond W/L records here – as in state of the program and not just short term on-field results).

re: ISU. Your data isn’t supporting your opinion. If you say we’re on the ISU path – which your evidence suggests – then you can’t just stop and assume that Mangino/KU were about to fall off the map like ISU did, because who is to say they would have had Eustachy not chased some Wildcat tang. More directly, you’re saying that this scandal parallels the Eustachy one and we will fall off the map just as they did. Which, I think, is what everyone is afraid could happen. For what it’s worth, I’m not one of those people, but consider it a legitimate concern.
BluManGrp said:

November 19th, 2009 at 12:59 pm

What is beginning to bother me is the piling on from every former player who ever had a story to tell. It’s not helping the situation at this point. Mangino’s as good as gone (how long is it seriously going to take before making it official?) so there really is no need for more of these stories unless you’re trying to hurt KU football. I just read an essay from Todd Haselhorst who is by all accounts the biggest pu$$y around. And people are taking it like gospel and turning on the assistant coaches and Dawson. The mob mentality is so dangerous.
Hiphopopotamus said:

November 19th, 2009 at 1:36 pm

I haven’t seen anything from him yet, but I couldn’t agree more. The point has been made. I’d be stunned if I started hearing players talk bad about position coaches (or even Dawson) though… have you heard any of that or has that just been coming from fans?
kuoirad said:

November 19th, 2009 at 1:54 pm

BluMan: got a link to the Haselhorst thing?
BluManGrp said:

November 19th, 2009 at 1:54 pm

Haselhorst basically said everyone was mean to him, but he’s also a worthless POS, so I disregard it. Unfortunately, that’s not common knowledge and I feel bad being the one to say it in a large forum. Everyone else I’ve seen/heard says nothing but good things about the assistant coaches.

That being said, who’s with me for starting a rumor that Matsakis has been feeding lines to Mangino for all the horrible things he’s said to players? Anything to be sure that waste of a salary isn’t within miles of our special teams ever again.
BluManGrp said:

November 19th, 2009 at 1:55 pm

Sorry, it was on a premium board so I can’t.
Triston27 said:

November 19th, 2009 at 1:57 pm

Sure, gameday, atmosphere, and facilities have all changed but I credit Lew for that as much as I credit Mangino. If not more. Did anyone watch Pacquiao/Cotto 24/7? The question was raised as to whether Roach made Pacquiao a great fighter, or did Pac make Roach a great trainer. Some may say the same thing can be said in the case of Perkins/Mangino. I’m a believer that Perkins gave Mangino everything he needed to succeed.

afraid that it could fall back to where it was pre-Mangino, or just as frustratingly, fail to continue on it’s upward path (I’m looking beyond W/L records here – as in state of the program and not just short term on-field results).

Mangino directly affects the W/L, and Perkins and Hadl affect all other aspects. So the upward path beyond W/L has little to do with Mangino. Hell, I’d be far more worried about losing Perkins than losing Mangino. (off topic: if Roy were still here, would he force the University to bully Lew out like he did Bohl?)

I meant the ISU comparison to be about perception more than paths. In that, just because they had a good year(s) didn’t mean people perceived them as being year-in year-out conference contender. People still perceived them as a lower half team in the conference.

I’m not assuming ISU would have fallen had Eustachy not been chasing some strange, because they were already falling WHILE he was still there. The 2 seasons after their 2 year run ended they were 12-19 and 17-14. Both under Eustachy. They were already in decline before the Eustachy incident. Given 5 more years would Eustachy be able to right the ship and get ISU back to the tournament every now and then? Probably. Given 5 more years can Mangino get us to a bowl game every now and then? Probably. But I’d rather risk a few bad seasons and get someone to coach this program to 7-10 wins per year, than to keep what we have and be ok with 5-8 wins per year.
kuoirad said:

November 19th, 2009 at 2:01 pm

BluMan: Fair enough, thanks.

FWIW, I can’t imagine Matsakis is gonna stay if Mangino doesn’t. I can’t see much of our current staff being retained.
BluManGrp said:

November 19th, 2009 at 2:08 pm

Oh yeah, there’s no chance. I would, however, like to see certain staff members be retained. It’s tricky though, because a quality HC has to be given a certain amount of autonomy or he’s not going to even consider taking the position. Assistants I would like to see retained in one capacity or another: Bowen, Miller, Beaty — for sure. Jackson — in some role other than d-backs coach, because he’s becoming a dominant recruiter. Sims I honestly have no clue, but I do like the vibe I get from him.
kuoirad said:

November 19th, 2009 at 2:51 pm

I wasn’t aware of Jackson being a good recruiter – he was first on my “has to go” list with Matsakis. Bowen was on there two, but as a maybe.
ArmyJayhawk said:

November 19th, 2009 at 2:53 pm

How did Arist Wright become the start point? He looks like a good kid who plays hard and is a great teammate player.

On Sept 25th (?) before the Southern Miss, when investigating the basketball/football fight Lew was quoted, “I’m 64 years old, and I’ve been doing this over 40 years. I can honestly say that I was about as mad as I’ve been in a long time.” He went on for 10 minutes about anger and disappointment and ongoing internal investigations. It seems to a distant observer this was last time a KU played inspired football.

I got to the OU game and no one seemed interested, prepared or focused. It looks like Lew learned something from KSU about how to fire a coach.
Gene Claude said:

November 19th, 2009 at 3:03 pm

The thing that some former player said, that made sense to me, is that over the course of a couple days you are hearing, in lurid perhaps-not-so-accurate-detail, every bad thing that happened over 5 years. Hell, any of us would look fairly awful if you compressed the worst moments of our past 5 years into 10 anecdotes over a couple days.
Hiphopopotamus said:

November 19th, 2009 at 3:11 pm

GC: I believe that was Russell Brorsen and it’s a pretty astute comment, given what most everyone else is coming up with. Couldn’t agree more.
hiphopopotamus said:

November 19th, 2009 at 5:52 pm

Army – I’m not sure how you interpreted what I wrote, but I was trying to actually disprove that Arist was the start of this whole thing. Not to absolve him of his part, but just saying that he never “went to” Lew Perkins to complain.

Also, I thought we were just as inspired against Iowa State as anyone else, despite a poor defensive showing. And I definitely thought we played our asses off against Nebraska – just made some costly mistakes when it counted.
Ben F said:

November 19th, 2009 at 6:34 pm

ArmyJ – I think Arist was just a coincidence: Lew was looking (conspiracy theory here a little bit) for an opening to expose all the complaints he’d gathered on Mangino over the years, and Arist plus a couple other semi-public complaints came together at the same time the team is on a down-swing and also at a time when opening an investigation has relatively little impact on the current season.
NateHeupel said:

November 19th, 2009 at 6:49 pm

Evil Genius? No. Is he going to pay less than buyout? Keep dreaming.

He’ll be lucky if Mangino doesn’t try to find some sort of tort claim against him and bleed KU of an extra million or two. This was a gamble on Perkins part. From what I’ve read, none of these kids have enough ammunition to give you “cause” that will uphold under even a mediocre cross-examination. You proved it yourself. And the paper trail is just a basic “cover your ass” tactic.

“He took the opportunity to usethat [seriously flimsy shit], Arist Wright, and a few other guys as his excuse to run the Big Man out of town.”

“Especially with how many former players have come forward. And yet, he can conduct an investigation – play like he’s an innocent bystander”

No, he can’t. In fact, I think his tactic is an aggressive move to get an arrogant, stubborn jackass to take a buyout and move on.

Here’s the major, and I mean MAJOR hole, in the “evil genius” thinking. At some point, it’s going to get out that Perkins knew about this behavior before and/or during the 2007 Orange Bowl season. Because it’s a statistical certainty that Perkins knew and just was waiting for a better window. Let’s face it, Mangino didn’t turn into this asshole overnight. This is exactly who he’s been from the beginning. Once that hits the fan, the “innocent bystander” approach will fail. Perkins will become an opportunistic prick and that will be that.

KU does not want this to go to a court, because anyone with half a brain knows they’d get skullfucked. They’re maneuvering Mangino into a position where he either takes the full buyout or he drives the team, and his career, into an irrecoverable oblivion.
Hiphopopotamus said:

November 19th, 2009 at 8:18 pm

I never labeled him an evil genius because he was going to get out of paying less than buyout ( which is a mere $600,000, by the way), but rather that he created enough cause to get away with it publicly. He may not prove cause to attorneys, but he’ll prove it to justify a firing to the masses.
Trips Right said:

November 20th, 2009 at 8:08 am

Nice piece, hip. Look on the bright side. It’s basketball season.
ArmyJayhawk said:

November 20th, 2009 at 8:50 am

Hiphop, we’ll chalk it up to stylistic difference. You did hit the nail on the head with the article. The administration wants to fire Mangino and we’ll probably never know why. We’ll hear a lot of excuses and rationalizations, but little to the point. The abuse issue resonates with a lot of parents and alumni. Protecting young men from an evil, vulgar fat man is easy to defend legally and publicly.
Nate – I hope your not right and Lew has something more.

MM’s comments last night did nothing for his defense. How does a man making millions go on record with a prepared statement and blame his players? I was expecting him to man up and say, “this is my organization and this is what we are doing to prepare for Texas.” He sounded indignant and self-protecting. He’s the coach, even if kids are trying to get him fired, as the coach he has an obligation to protect the players and take the heat. He came across as a pussy.
I stand corrected on the Nebraska performance. The Cornhuskers really played well in the fourth and caught some breaks. Todd got the ball out on time most of the game and the play of and changes to the O-line were beautiful. I’m looking forward to seeing Reesing and the rest of the Texas natives play Saturday. Hope to see you all at the game. At least it’s a short walk to 6th St.
Barking Carnival — Blog — The Disciplinarians: Pinkel and Mangino said:

November 24th, 2009 at 8:31 am

[...] The shock and awe of the smear campaign is really disturbing. If Mangino verbally attacked a player by referring to the kid’s slain brother getting shot, then he’s a giant a-hole. If he told some kid that he was a bad grandson because he wouldn’t play hurt, then the man’s a prick. That’s obvious. Hell, many of the stories make me cringe. I would hope that they make Pinkel cringe too. If true, Mangino wasn’t being a stern father-figure, he was being a petty tyrant. (Scipio brilliantly analyzes this distinction here and here). I am not here to condone these alleged actions. Still, you know what, if you take the top five meanest things any coach said over an eight year period you’re going to get some provocative stories. It behooves Perkins now to dredge up all the dirt he can find and the media is thoroughly enjoying the ride. (Check out Hiphop’s article about the evil genius that is Lew Perkins). [...]

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Sweet Lew Just Might Be an Evil Genius

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