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KANSAN.COM/SPORTS | THURSDAY, OCT. 1, 2015
'Keep sawing wood:' Beaty and Bowen praise Mangino ahead of matchup with Iowa State
CHRISTIAN HARDY
@ByHardy
Former Kansas coach Mark Mangino, now offensive coordinator at Iowa State, paces the sideline on Nov. 7, 2014.
JAMES HOYT/KANSAN
Mark Mangino has not set foot inside the Anderson Family Football Complex in almost six years, when he split ways with Kansas in the December of 2009. Yet, when Kansas head coach David Beaty stepped to the podium to talk about the team's upcoming matchup with Iowa State — the team Mangino is now an offensive coordinator for — Mangino's presence was inescapable.
After all, Beaty himself first came to Kansas on Christmas Day in 2007. Just days before Mangino's victory in the Orange Bowl and two years after Beaty had moved to coach at the Division I level with Rice, the Texas native received a call from Tim Beck, the receivers coach under Mangino.
Beck was set to leave for Nebraska after the Orange Bowl, and Beck and Beaty were old buddies. So Beck popped the question that would alter Beaty's career and subsequently link Beaty to Mangino for the next year and future years: Would Beaty replace him as the receivers coach at Kansas under Mangino?
"Yeah, I'd be interested," Beaty remembers responding to Beck in 2007. "But, dude, he's not going to hire me. I mean, I was at Rice."
Yet, soon after, an inexperienced — maybe even undeserving — Beaty would sit down for an interview with Mangino that he can still recall today. Mangino was frank, calm and comedic through the interview process, and he kept Beaty comfortable with
his laid-back interview style. He quizzed Beaty on what he could bring to the table for Kansas, what his style was.
Then Beaty got the job at Kansas, which began in 2008. Years later, that connection to Kansas would land Beaty his first Division I head coaching job. But even three coaches removed, Mangino has not been forgotten.
On Tuesday, Beaty stood in the Mrkonic Auditorium among sprawling pictures of standouts of the Mangino era
— Todd Reesing and Aqib Talib, specifically. He answered a handful of questions about his former coaching superior, Mangino, who has quietly haunted the football program since his departure amid investigation.
Defensive coordinator Clint Bowen eventually spoke in the auditorium, the only other coach on the staff who was hired under Mangino. Under Mangino, Bowen moved up from special teams coordinator to defensive coordinator — an opportunity that has proven to pay off for Bowen.
"I learned a tremendous amount from the day one until very last day of helping me to become a better football coach," Bowen said. "I'll forever be indebted to coach Mangino for giving me the opportunity to coach, and all the things that I've learned from him."
More than anything, Beaty has applied one of Mangino's favorite sayings to the week leading up to the matchup against Iowa State to open up Big 12 play: "Keep sawing wood."
"If you've ever spent any time
around coach Mangino, I think the one phrase that people always have common ground with is "keep sawing wood." Beaty said. "That's probably the thing that we have started with and we are going to continue with."
As a whole, this team Beaty is taking over is similar to that of the one Mangino turned around when he took over the program in 2002; Mangino's team didn't win a single Big 12 game that year. Before Big 12 play has even begun, the odds to win a Big 12 game — or any game at all — this year for Kansas appear bleak at best.
That's precisely where Mang:
ino's catch phrase has revealed itself this week, and the players have taken notice of it.
"Keep on sawing wood, keep chopping away at it, and eventually it's going to come," senior defensive end Ben Goodman recalled Beaty saying this week. "Basically what he's saying is just keep on believing, keep doing the little things right, and eventually things are going to fall in place."
Mangino likely said the same thing as he led up to his first game with Kansas against Iowa State in 2002. The Jayhawks would lose that game, 45-3, and hobble their way to the finish line of the season. But
Mangino took big strides in his second year at Kansas, taking Kansas to 6-6 in regular season play and to a bowl game.
Even if Beaty doesn't explicitly use the wood metaphor again after this week, the only way he can stay in favor is if he continues to chip away at the massive tree that lies ahead of him and will continue to lie ahead of him for the rest of the season. Mangino did exactly that; it's the only reason he stayed in favor with the team for eight years.
If things go south on Saturday, Beaty can always peek across the sideline, look at Mangino and remember that
only a few years ago, Kansas was a thriving football program.
"Listen, I hate losing. I do not like it, at all," Beaty said. "However, I understand that everything is a process and we understand it's a positive, and part of the process is learning to stay positive in the eyes of adversity.
"To borrow from coach [Mangino], we are going to 'keep sawing wood,' and that's the way they are going to get this thing done."
Edited by Abby Stuke
Softball gears up for Fall play against regional foes
NICK COUZIN
@Ncouz
October is finally here, and with that comes the return of KU softball.
The Jayhawks will have their version of spring training — but in the fall. The team will host eight games in Lawrence at Rock Chalk Park starting on Oct. 1 at 6 p.m.
Kansas will first square off against Baker University followed by seven games against regional foes Avila and Labette on Oct. 3; Washburn and Butler on Oct. 4; Cowley
Community College on Oct. 8; Rockhurst on Oct. 155; and Johnson County Community College on Oct. 20.
Fall ball will conclude with the Kansas Softball World Series.
The Fall circuit will allow many to see nine of the new faces the Jayhawks added this summer, including assistant coach T.J. Hubbard and transfers Jordan Zolman and Andie Formby. However, the level of competition may be a little misleading.
The Jayhawks should have no problem with these eight opponents as none of them
Freshman catcher Jessier Roane sprints to first base during the first game of the series against Texas. The Jayhawks lost 0-6 to the Longhorns at Arrocha Field on Friday evening.
MISSY MINEAR/KANSAN
are Division I schools. These tuneup games will give the team an opportunity to see where it is at after offseason conditioning.
Coach Megan Smith will also test out new defensive alignments at first and third base. Since Maddie Stein, who played first base last season, and Chanin Naudin, who played third, graduated, sophomore Daniella Chavez will hold down the fort at first while sophomore Jessie Roane will see time in the hot corner — third base.
Smith will get a good feel for how the players have progressed coming from different roles last season. Chavez was primarily a designated hitter and strictly hit in the cleanup spot for power last year, while Roane will make an interesting move from the backstop where she played last season because of Harley Ridley's injury.
When all is set and done on Oct. 20 and Fall ball play concludes, Smith will have a good idea about the direction she wants this team to go for Spring.
Fall ball will be different for the Jayhawks this season as they look to replace the majority of the leadership from last year. There is a lot of young talent on this team, and Fall ball will help develop young talent even more and identify what they need to improve on before the season starts in February.
- Edited by Minami Levo-
nowich
CAROLINE FISS/KANSAN
Sporting KC forward Krisztián Németh drives the ball against FC Dallas on Sept. 18. On Wednesday, Nemeth scored the team's lone regulation goal against Philadelphia in the U.S.Open Cup Final.
Sporting wins U.S. Open Cup
SKYLAR ROLSTAD
@SkyRolSports
It hadn't been two months since Jordi Quintilla joined Sporting Kansas City before the Spanish center midfielder made club history Wednesday. As his penalty rolled cleanly across the line, past Philadelphia Union goalkeeper John McCarthy, Quintilla handed Sporting KC its third U.S. Open Cup win in club history, as the team topped the Union at PPL Park in Philadelphia: 1-1 (7-6).
In regulation, Sporting KC fell behind early, as Sebastien Le Toux found the back of the net in the 23rd minute.
"I think it's the only way we know how to win championships," Vermes joked on the 810 WHB Broadcast after the game. "It was amazing. We fought hard."
Le Toux ran onto a pass across the field from Vincent Nogueira. Sporting KC defender Seth Sinovic could not
However, about 40 minutes later, Sporting KC forward Krisztián Németh found the equalizer.
With the teams tied at 1-1, the game was destined for extra time; 30 minutes later, it was on to penalties.
The shootout dragged on into the eighth round before Quintilla finally sealed the win. On the previous penalty,
Németh found some open space on the left side of the 18-yard box and sent a curling shot into the opposite side netting. Graham Zusi recorded the assist on Németh's goal, which actually marked a milestone of sorts.
Nemeth's goal gave him at least one in every round of the U.S. Open Cup this season, and really, it was a game of firsts. For Sporting, this match was the first away game in this year's U.S. Open Cup run.
keep up with Le Toux, as he fired past Sporting goalkeeper Tim Melia to put Philadelphia up one.
In the shootout, Németh and Union defender Maurice Edu both missed penalties, each in the third round. There would not be another missed penalty until Wenger's.
The title for Sporting is the club's third in four seasons as Sporting won the MLS Cup in 2013 and the U.S. Open Cup in 2012.
Melia dove to his right and saved Union forward Andrew Wenger's penalty off his shin to set up the historic moment for Quintilla, who transferred to Sporting KC from FC Barcelona on Aug. 6.
The final was the third US Open Cup final Sporting had played in and the third it has won. Sporting now joins DC United as the only active MLS team with three Open Cup titles. Those two teams are one behind Chicago Fire and Seattle Sounders FC for the record of Open Cup titles (four) among active teams.
Edited by Scott Chasen
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