8A SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2009
PROGRAM (CONTINUED FROM 10A)
before the season, the matchup has stirred interest amongst Kansas fans. After all, it's Duke.
The two schools share a storied and intertwined past. They've met in big games with big name players and they've done so in front of big crowds.
Yet all of that happened on the basketball court, far away from the football field. And Kansas and Duke share one more item from the past: The label of being a basketball school.
Really, it's hard to argue. The Jayhawks rank third in victories; Duke ranks fourth. Kansas has won five national championships; Duke has three. And so on.
The football field has yielded none of that success — at least not until recently. Duke has played in just two bowl games since 1960.
In the last two decades, Duke has won 47 games
"I signed before I even visited so I didn't really know what I was getting into ..."
while suffering 167 losses (28 percent). They've tried five coaches in that span. None have had much success.
BILL WHITTEMORE Former KU quarterback
Since 2002, though, Kansas football program has slowly wiggled out from under the basketball team's shadow.
Facilities gradually improved, victories accumulated and postseason games were won. Not long ago, none of that seemed realistic. Not in football anyway.
This season represents an opportunity time to reflect on Kansas football's rise: From afterthought at a school associated almost solely with basketball to sellout crowds and national rankings.
"We've made a lot of progress in the last few years," former coach Don Fambrough said. "We've made a lot of programs in the women's programs. We've made a lot of progress in everything. And yet we've kept our basketball program one of the best in the country along with that."
In 2002, after spending two years
at Fort Scott Community College, Whittemore wasn't concerned with tradition or winning pasts. Nor was he concerned with rabid fan bases or national exposure.
Instead, Whittimore's search for a school focused on one point: the opportunity to play at the highest level. So what if Kansas hadn't posted a winning season since 1995?
Kansas played in the Big 12. It was the best offer he had.
"I signed before I even visited so I didn't really know what I was getting into," Whittemore said. "When I got up there, that's when Mangino and his staff were coming in. It was different."
It was also bad.
Between 1980 and 2000, Kansas had more losing seasons (15) than winning ones (five) while playing in just two bowl games.
From 1997 to 2001, the Jayhawks won just 20 games in Terry Allen's five-year ten-
are as coach. They never finished higher than fifth in the Big 12 North. Never won more than five games in a season. Never defeated Kansas State or Nebraska.
Somewhere, losing crept into accepted culture. It became expected.
"The prior classes, the (Terry) Allen classes from before, they weren't trying to do anything at Kansas," former running back Jon Cornish said. "They didn't have the same mindset as our recruiting class had."
That first year, Whittemore said, was centered on tough love. Real tough love. Mangino set high standards and didn't waiver. Those who couldn't handle the expectations left.
The losing had to go, and it wouldn't go easily.
"Coach's goal coming in was to run that attitude out, weather the storm at that point, hunker down and make it through work out," Whittemore said. "A lot of people were quitting and he was just weeding out the program. There were too many guys there that were content with what Kansas football
had been in the past."
The turnaround started then, with a recruiting class that featured just one four-star player. The rest were two or three star recruits turned down by most other schools.
Derek Fine entered college as a 218-pound tight end. Charles Gordon was a diminutive receiver with a modest forty time. Both plaved in the NFL.
Mangino and his staff landed Cornish in British Columbia as a linebacker before converting him to running back. He's Kansas' all-time single-season rushing leader.
Mark Simmons left as Kansas' career leader in receptions, while Nick Reid switched to quarterback to linebacker and earned Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year honors as a senior.
That ability to evaluate and develop players is a staple of Mangino's tenure as coach. His first recruiting class serves as a prime example.
"He has taken kids that other schools have turned down and they've turned out to be first class students and citizens." Fambrough said. "Plus, they've been good football players. If I had to pick out the number one asset as far as coach Mangino is concerned, it would be his ability to pick out these kids."
But it wasn't until Perkins arrived in 2003, a year after Mangino, that facilities drastically started improving. Without up-to-standard facilities in the Big 12 recruiting and winning became that much more difficult.
Mangino wasn't hired by Athletics Director Lew Perkins. Sometimes that's easy to forget.
--coach, said the lack of facilities made it nearly impossible to compete with the Big 12's elite school.
Perkins clearly understood that. So, too, did Mangino.
"Lew Perkins came in and said what do you need for football?" Mangino said. "I distinctly remember telling him, 'Well, let me go to the restroom and get a roll of toilet paper because that's how long the list is going to be."
For years, Kansas' facilities ranked near the bottom of the Big 12. Fambrough, who served two four-year stints as Kansas' head
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Bill Whittemore, former Kansas player, drops back for a pass against Southwest Missouri State. Whittemore hadn't visited the University before signing with Kansas' football program, which had 15 losing seasons between 1980 and 2000.
And he said the problem started at the top.
"I'm not sure if the athletic directors were the type of people who were interested in having a great football program." Fambrough said.
Since Perkins' arrival in 2003, though, Kansas has built a new football-specific facility. New practice fields have been built and a new playing surface was installed before this season. Next year, a bigger scoreboard will replace the current one.
Leo Bookman, former defensive back, tackles a Nebraska player. Bookman is originally from Dickinson, Texas.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Former and current coaches and players said facilities are at the heart of any consistently successful program. For the first time in a long time, Fambrough said, Kansas isn't lagging in that area.
"I know in talking with some people, they don't like playing us," Perkins said. "Ten years ago, when Kansas popped up on the schedule they said 'that's a win'. Now they have to really get ready and prepare for us. That tells you something."
Own a little piece of history.
"I really liked where coach Mangino was taking the program," Reeing said.
Combined with the obvious academic benefits, Reesing considered becoming a Blue Devil. Then he received a scholarship offer from Mangino.
question: After the Orange Bowl victory — continuing to earn national recognition — is Kansas' label as a basketball school still considered accurate?
--from Duke
Of course, Reesing proceeded to thrust Kansas onto the national scene two years ago with an Orange Bowl victory. That game against Virginia Tech in Miami sent a message throughout the country — Kansas football can make postseason noise too.
"Our play and what we've done the last couple years speaks for itself," Reesing said. "That question a few years ago maybe would stand true. But I like to think that people would consider us a football school, too. I think we've proven that we can compete with anybody, compete for championships, go to bowl games and win them."
Before Todd Reesing committed to Kansas, he visited a football camp at Duke, one of the few Division I schools showing serious interest in the diminutive quarterback. After the camp, Reesing said he received a scholarship offer
So Reesing is asked the obvious
— Edited by Megan Morriss
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