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Glen Mason
Football coach emphasizes discipline
By Tom Stinson
Associate sports editor
First-year Kansas football coach Glen Mason lives with a constant fear.
Mason leapt into the deepest, lack of desire and insistence on his team comprise a Mason nightmare: It is a fear he places on himself, and a fear he resembles himself.
That fear could be resolved partially or could become a painful reality tomorrow afternoon in the Jayhawks' season opener against Baylor.
"I think fear is a great motivator, and I have a fear," Mason said. "I have a fear that we're not going to play hard, and we're not going to look well-coached.
I don't have a fear of losing my job. I never fear losing my job. I've always thought that if somebody doesn't think I'm doing what they want, then they can fix me. I am.
"But, I have a fear that the team is going to play well, and that it is not going well coached. Not that other people are going to think that, but that I'm going to think."
"When I evaluate it that way, that's when it upsets me. It's a fear no matter when. I've always had that fear since I've been a coach."
Mason and his last first appeared in Memorial Stadium last September when he was coached by Kent State. His team definitely did not lack discipline, desire or motivation.
hal of all.
His Kent State Golden Flashes of the Mid-
American Conference looked well coached
and employed the Jayhawks to the point of
embarrassment in a 31-17 victory. Kent
State went on to finish 7-4 and second in its
league last season.
The previous year, Mason's first year as head coach, Kent State finished second in the conference at 3-4 up from 3-4 in 1986. In his second season Coach of the Year in 1986.
Mason developed his intense coaching style during his playing career at Ohio State and his 14 years of various assistant coaching position, Iowa State, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Ohio State.
before Coach Todd
Before Mason went 12-10 in his two years
at Kent State, the school had won only eight
games in four seasons.
Although he was part of the legendary Woody Heway, staff at Ohio State and coached with Earle Burke at Iowa State and another pro-trainer, it didn't consider an optimal role either.
gameday in a similar restructuring role at Kansas, Mason is trying to instill those traits and that success in a program that has won only four games in two years and hasn't recorded a Big Eight Conference victory since 1985.
and enthusiasm."
"I think we've got an improved attitude," the 30-year Mason said. "The guys are working hard. That's how I judge it. It' easy to talk about things, but when you watch the mood and the action of a football team, that totally reflect their attitude."
He dealt with the payers *spirituals* and *tubes with a more disciplined and enthusiastic approach than most of the dayhawks* were used to. The physical tools Kansas State University has peaking last month with twice-a-day practices in 100-degree temperatures.
"You could tell it was different almost immediately when he got here." senior wide receiver Byron Hornung said. "He made a lot of life to him. He's a young coach full of intensity."
"I think I'm my own coach," said Mason, who saw the Buckeyes play in eight bowl games during his eight years as an Ohio State assistant. "I don't try to imitate
Kansas football coach Glen Mason holds up a play book for the offensive players to look at during practice last week at the fields behind Oliver Hall.
"When guys can I show up for meetings on time, then the hock can be all of a sudden they run the right plays at the right time? If you can' l line up and call the play correctly and break the huddle correctly, host the session with an attractive, defensive and schemes?"
**definitive sentences**
"The only thing when I talk about discipline."
"I want guys to do things right because we're all counting on each other."
we're an onboarding team,
Although everyone on the Jayhawk swift
not make a lot of mistakes, foolish mistakes
makes that we can control
The Jayhawk numbers have deteriorated since Mason took over last December with 23 players leaving the team for various
I've worked for a lot of good people, and I've played for a lot of good people and I try to take something from each one of them. There's a lot of lessons that I learned from Woody Hays because I played and coached for him, and most of the guys that I trained under had Woody Hays' background. But I'm a lot different than Woody Hays.
"When you use the word discipline, a lot of people think you want the guys to march around like wound-up, wooden soldiers," the self-proclaimed perfectionist said. "I don't care about that. The only thing I want them to do is the things that are right."
A disciplined squatter, whether on the football field or in the classroom, is one thing Glen Mason believes in. To Mason, this simple thing is doing what's right in the right direction.
"But, there's certain things that he believed in that I also believe."
to do it best. You are to down on the goal line and if you score you win and if you make a mistake you lose. The well-disciplined teams do the things that are right.
is counting on everyone else, Mason readily accepts that the result reflects on him.
accepts that the Pledge
He said that the team was his product
he looks good, looks good he looks good;
when his product looks poor, he looks poor.
Mason said he knew "looking good" would
not be easy with a young team and Kansas
tough schedule.
"I think a lot of people are aware of some of the shortcomings that we do have," Mason said. "We are extremely short, dangerously short, in the number of ship players that we have. And our crew is less than spectacular, to say the least."
- What I'm concerned about is that the players that are out there play with a tremendous amount of effort. The players who play hard because, regardless of your talent level or really the outcome of the game, everybody can at least have enough people to play with their best effort.
involved are giving them. And, along with that, we expect to be a team that looks like we are well-coached —
M,
W) when you use the word discipline, a lot of people think you want the guys to match around like wound-up, wooden soldiers. I don't care about that. The only thing I want them to do is the things that are right.'
— Glen Mason
Kansas football coach
reasons. Kansas only has 64 players on scholarship, well below the NCAA limit of 45. Over half of the 64 athletes are freshmen
95. Over mail in the bureaucracy.
The number of players on scholarship was a problem Mason said he never encountered during his two years at Kent State.
"We didn't have a numbers problem per se at Kent State," Mason said. "We had a full complement of players. So it's a back of a little different than at Kaiser. We have to play more young players here."
vinyard physics
Deepak Kapur downsills. Mason said he had the opportunity to coach in the powerful Big Eight Conference was too great to pass up.
great there is a difference between performing off-Broadway and On-Broadway in the theater business," he said. "And I think that it is important to give Eight Concertatories you are on Broadway."
you are offered a job. "I Kansas in a major, major conference, and you get a chance to compete against the best. I think that when you get a chance to compete against the best, if you can become successful, then you've proven something."
Becoming successful on the gridiron in Kansas is not easy. Mason readily admits The Jayhawks are picked to finish seven or eighth in the conference by virtually every poll and armchair quarterback in the county. Penthouse magazine even picks Kansas as the worst football team in the nation, slightly below rival Kansas State.
Mason doesn't worry about that. He just wants to get to the Saturday afternoon coaching that he loves when his players are hard and hard with his coaches are tough hard.
"I guess that when you are picked last by virtually everybody, and the players are aware, it's different than we were picked last time, said Burt. "But, at the same time, we have lost a game yet."
"We're playing some good football teams when you take the likes of Baylor, Auburn, Nebraska, Oklahoma and some other big Eight school teams. We have to play well, we aren't going to win. They have more talent than we do. What we have to do is that we have to hope that we play better than they do and give us a chance to win the game.
"But, don't take me wrong. I don't like to
see. I don't like to be picked to finish last
to see."
University Daily Kansan FOOTBALL '88 September 9, 1988
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