Out of Bounds: The Great Poke War

The Mark Mangino era at Kansas is quickly and painfully coming to an end.

“I can confirm an internal review is under way,” Perkins said in a quote released by the school. “It involves a personnel matter, and as a result, is confidential. It would be inappropriate for me to provide further information right now.”

“While some are under the impression that this incident could be the beginning of the end for Mangino’s run in Lawrence, there are those — including the unnamed university source cited in this story — who feel that the axe could fall on Perkins before it’s all said and done.”

“The notion that the university is conducting a review of Lew Perkins is false and completely unfounded. I am confident in the athletics director and his management team’s ability to administer our athletics program in the highly capable and professional manner for which they are known. The review of the football program is consistent with the process outlined in Coach Mark Mangino’s contract. I encourage everyone to wait until this process is completed before drawing any conclusions.”

 

“I’ll be honest with you, some of the stuff is flat-out embellished and just not true…I think there are people embarrassing this program just for their 15 minutes of fame.”

“I can’t do the work of some parents, what they should have done before (the players) got to me. Some are just bitter … and I can’t do anything about that. There’s some things, for 18 years, that happened in their lives that I can’t change in four years of college. I can’t do it. Can’t change their behaviors, can’t change their attitudes.

“When you do things the right way and you do things to help young people and bring some discipline and structure and try to lead them to earn a college degree, that’s all I’ve done. I’m at peace with myself. I’ve got nothing to worry about because I know how we take care of our program and how we take care of our players.

“I can’t tell you that every guy we’ve had here has been an outstanding person to work with. We’ve had our share of slackers and corner-cutters and all those kind of things. We just try to show them the w

ay. Some young people want discipline in their life. They benefit by it. They want structure. They understand the big picture. And some don’t. But to me — I’m good, man. I’m feeling great. I’m doing what I know how to do and doing it to the best of my ability.”

One of those players who spoke out was Jocques Crawford who left the program this summer. Crawford was charged with aggravated rape before his senior year of high school. Crawford left soon after an incident with former Kansas player Ben Leuken, “who was either struck by or fell from the hood of a vehicle in parking lots of the Jayhawker Towers.”

Crawford has been outspoken on his twitter account about Mangino and his deep hatred for his former coach. Link: @JocCrawford.