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University Daily Kansan
Tuesday, Nov. 19, 1963
THIS EVENING...
By Roy Miller
This is one of the easiest sports columns I've ever written.
The following—with which I agree completely — appeared in column form in the Topeka State Journal last week.
By Bob Hentzen
Like a lot of other football fans, I don't always agree with the coach. Take Kansas' Jack Mitchell.
I don't think he ought to signal plays from the bench, nor do I believe he should red-shirt as many players as he'd like to. And I think his teams might pass more.
But I don't think I'll join the group grumbling that Mitchell isn't doing the job at KU. In fact, today I think I'll defend Jack, whether he needs it or not.
Mitchell's critics, and you're bound to hear them after a loss or two, claim Jack (1) doesn't win the big ones, (2) doesn't win the close ones and (3) doesn't win enough.
TAKING THESE points in reverse order, the record book shows that Kansas right now has a 33-22-4 record under Mitchell. That's a percentage of .600.
Is that good? You darn right it is, at Kansas. Only Bud Wilkinson and Dan Devine in the Big Eight are winning games at a faster rate than Mitchell.
It is true that Mitchell's team have lost some close ones. In games decided by seven points or less, the Jayhawks have won 6 and lost 13 under Mitchell.
But can the coaching be blamed? That's a debatable point. Perhaps it's to Mitchell's credit that the Jayhawkers could play some of those foes so close.
FIGURE FILBERT Elon Torrence of the Associated Press has discovered that Kansas has lost just one game under Mitchell to a team that finished the season with a losing record.
That occurred in the 1961 opener
when TCU, which wound up with a 3-6-1 mark, shaded the Jayhawks, 17-16. All of the other KU setbacks in the 1960, '61 and '62 campaigns were sustained against teams that didn't lose more than twice.
The complaints about not winning the big ones usually are heard in reference to Mitchell's record against Oklahoma (1-4-1) and Missouri (1-2-2).
But what coach isn't open to criticism on this count? Wilkinson, the most successful college coach in the nation, stands 1-5 against Notre Dame, and his Sooners have lost six straight to arch rival Texas. Devine is 1-4 against Oklahoma, and his Tigers failed to score a point in every one of these losses.
THIS HAS BEEN a particularly discouraging season for some Jayhawkpartisans who can't understand why a team with so much talent in the backfield isn't winning most of them.
The answer is easy and it was available before the season started. The Jayhawks do not have one of the better limes in the conference. And a couple of handfuls of injuries haven't helped the situation.
Still, the KU forwards have performed brilliantly at times against superior manpower, perhaps deceiving everybody about their true strength, ability and experience. But it's still not the type of line a team wins championships with.
Here's hoping the Jayhawks win their last two against Colorado and Missouri. This would give them a 6-4 record, exactly what all but the fanatics thought they'd have before the season started.
If they don't, I don't think the coach needs to be fired. He's brought KU up to where it's awfully close to being a better than good football team.
-Topeka State Journal
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