The Kansas men's golf team tied for fifth place with USC at the Prestige at PGA West golf tournament. This placing should break the Jayhawks into the Top 25.
Three members of the soccer team sweep Big 12 Player of the Week honors for the first time in Big 12 history.
WEDNESDAY,OCTOBER 18,2006 WWW.KANSAN.COM
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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
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》SERENITY NOW
Mangino not performing to expectations
BY FRED A. DAVIS III
KANSAN COLUMNIST
FDAVIS@KANSAN.COM
It appears the University of Kansas now has two cases of lack of institutional control.
In addition to Lew Perkins and his band of goodfellas, err, henchmen, err, associates, it's clear to me, and probably the other 41,202 in attendance Saturday afternoon, that Mark Mangino and his staff have lost control of the football team.
Saturday's debacle had an eerie Terry Allen-like feel to it from the beginning. The crowd was slow to trickle in, and when it finally did, people were more concerned with figuring out what bar to go to after the game or whether that free keg was on Mississippi Street or Ohio Street. What, we're winning 17-0? No worries, the big guy will figure out another way to lose this one.
And boy did he ever. In what was the most uncomfortable 17-point lead I've ever seen, there was never a feeling that Kansas had the game locked up. Especially when Kerry Meier was either running a quarterback draw or throwing the ball five yards down the field, or to the side of the field, or as was often the case; not throwing the ball at all and taking a sack.
It was more a lame-duck throw on fourth and goal from the two and turnovers that killed Oklahoma State than it was anything the KU defense was doing.
And that second half? Man, was that some exciting football! Can we clone Qajib Talib? But the most laugh able part of the KU game was afterward when Mangino said hed give his Heisman vote to OSU receiver Adarius Bowman for his 13-catch-301-yard- and four-touchdown performance. Is that so, coach? Well, if you're going to reward players who torch the KU secondary, Bowman will have to fight for honors with his quarterback Bobby Reid, Nebraska's Zac Taylor, or Louisiana-Monroe's Kinsmond Lancaster.
The deal is this: I've maintained my allegiance to the big guy and said that he is the right guy to lead Kansas to Big 12 success. While I wasn't sure about him getting a hefty contract extension, hey, Lew didn't ask for my input. Sure Mangino has done some great things in his time here, like ending streaks to Nebraska and Kansas State and beating Missouri three years in a row.
But there are some glaring, scratch that, blinding blips on Mangino's coaching radar. Most notably? The guy can't win close games and he can't win on the road. Hold on a second, let me check the Handbook for Coaching Success; it's in my bookcase, right next to How to Avoid a First-Round Flameout – Three Years in a Row, Coach Self, feel free to borrow; okay, here it says, "must win close games and road games, at least one in every three, to someday be successful."
Don't shoot the messenger, boys and girls.
Broadcasting with personality
I know Mark Mangino has been successful in the turnaround of two Big 12 programs – I’m reminded of it every time I read KU football notes for an upcoming game. But let’s remember one thing – he did that as an assistant coach, not the head coach. Mangino built himself a lot of equity with the last two seasons when nobody expected much. Now that people do, well, we haven’t gotten much. I want to see Mangino turn around a third program, but I’m not sure how many more close losses and road failures this guy can survive to see it through.
PROFILE
Edited by Brett Bolton
Bob Davis, who has announced football and men's basketball for the Jayhawks for 23 years, will be inducted into the Kansas Broadcasters Hall of Fame on Sunday. Davis's enthusiasm for the Jayhawks and his sense of humor have made him popular with both listeners and co-workers.
Amanda Sellers/KANSAN
Both fan and funny man longtime Jayhawk announcer Bob Davis to be honored
BY C.J. MOORE
Kerry Meier drops back to pass and finds a wide-open Marcus Herford down the field for a 35-yard touchdown. Just like on any big Jayhawk play, Bob Davis lifts out of his chair in the radio booth near the top of Memorial Stadium, head shaking, God-given radio voice booming.
His excitement is heard by those sands of listeners across the state.
Now, after 39 years in the booth, Davis is being inducted into the Kansas Broadcasters Hall of Fame this Sunday.
"Well gosh," Davis said. "I guess I've been around for a while."
The A.M. Man
Davis has done television — he spends his summers doing playby-play on the Kansas City Royals television network — but it's on the radio where his skills and personality shine through.
Davis started his career at KAYS in Hays where he did both radio and television sports and news. He was hired right out of college - he maired in History at Washburn graduating in 1967 - and did a little bit of everything. He was on the noon TV news, played records on the radio in the afternoon and did the 10 oclock sports on the news telecast.
He found his way to the sports radio booth right away after KAYS's play-by-play man got a job in Lansing, Mich., soon after Davis' arrival.
"They were dumb enough to hire me." Davis said. "And not to be braggadocio, but that was a pretty good small-market operation and I think they very rarely hired anybody that didn't have experience fall time. But I was willing to work both radio and TV."
Davis fell in love with his job
while announcing high school and college basketball and football games in Fort Hays. He moved to Lawrence in 1983 to become the voice of the Jayhawks. He loved sports growing up, but because he wasn't much of a player on the field, he decided he would be more of a natural fit in the booth.
"Stumbled around mostly," Davis says of his playing days. "So that why I think I thought, 'man, I think the broadcast might be my catch.'"
Davis not only loves calling games but is also a sports radio broadcast junkie. On the way to away games, his co-workers said he insisted they listen to Friday-night high school games during the entire trip. His son, Steven Davis, said he even listened during the backyard pickup games they played together.
"He always has the radio on," Steven said. "He doesn't know the FM. side exists, but he knows every A.M. station in the Midwest."
Working overtime
Davis struggles to pull himself away from his craft. He announces Kansas football in the fall, Kansas basketball in the winter and spring and Royals baseball throughout the summer. Before he started announcing Royals games, Davis was a sports talk show host on KMBZ in Kansas City.
"Hed be up at the crack of dawn – that booming voice on the phone doing his morning sports report," Newton said. "And I'd open one eye and look over there and he's sitting in his shorts on the bed with his legs
Davis still had to do his gig with KMBZ when the Jayhawks were on the road. Producer-engineer of the Jayhawk network Bob Newton, who used to room with Davis on road trips, remembers the morning broadcasts all too well.
SEE MOORE ON PAGE 4B
FOOTBALL
Away games crucial to postseason play Repeat bowl game appearance relies on overcoming October funk
BY RYAN SCHNEIDER
The temperature around the Kansas football team is starting to heat up this week.
No, Mark Mangino isn't feeling additional pressure in anticipation of the 90-degree temperatures expected this weekend in Waco, Texas. Instead, it's the increasing sense of urgency his team is starting to feel as its postseason goals may slowly be slipping away.
The Kansas football coach said he began to feel that sense of urgency during the team's Sunday afternoon workout. "There's a lot of hard work invested here and there's nobody, there's nobody ready to throw the towel in," Mangino said. "We still have a chance to do a lot of things here."
If Kansas wants to qualify for a bowl game in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history, it will have to pull itself out of its traditional October slump. Under Mangino, Kansas is just 3-15 in the month of October. The only victories in that month have been against Baylor in 2003, Kansas State in 2004 and Missouri in 2005. All
those victories were at home.
"We know that we have to get back on track and get back on track fast because things could get a little tough" sophomore wide receiver Marcus Herford said. "We've seen them make things tough for us these past years, but we're in a position that if we can pick it up now, it'll make it easier for us as we go along."
Getting back to a bowl game is within reach, but could be tough. To do it, Kansas will have to snap its six-game road losing streak and win at least one away game.
A victory this weekend against Baylor could help, but the schedule doesn't get any easier. Three of the team's remaining five games are away from Memorial Stadium, including Baylor (3-4), Iowa State (3-4) and Missouri (6-1). The remaining home games are against Colorado (1-6) and Kansas State (4-3).
While he acknowledged that his team feels a sense of urgency, Mangino said that was no reason to start shaking up the team's routine.
"That's a sign of panic," he said.
"It sends a bad signal to the players."
In keeping with his team's routine, Mangino said he'll continue to stick with some of his younger players, despite their struggles in conference play. Part of the learning curve, he said, is battling through tough times and continuing to improve.
"That's what it's about, just keep at it," Mangino said. "Keep sawing wood."
Football Notes:
Peterson out for the season with an injury, senior running back Jon Cornish has a chance to become the Big 12 Rushing Champion. He's ranked second in the conference, behind Peterson, averaging 109.3 yards a game. Peterson will drop from the list as the season moves forward.
With Oklahoma's Adrian
Kansan senior sportswriter Ryan Schneider can be contacted at rschneider@kansan.com.
Edited by Jacky Carter
Players of the Week
Every Tuesday, coach Mark Mangino and his staff select players of the week from the previous week's game. Selections are made on offense, defense and special teams. This week, no player was selected on defense. This week's winners were:
Offense:
Quarterback
Kerry Meier
Special Teams:
Kick Returner
Marcus Herford
Brad Witerson is no longer just another KU student.
MEN'S BASKETBALL Junior becomes Self's first choice for walk-on player
Witherspoon, Humboldt junior, was chosen to be a walk-on this season for the Kansas men's basketball team.
He participated in open tryouts, held Oct. 15 in Allen Fieldhouse. All full-time students at the University were eligible for the tryouts.
When contacted by The University Daily Kansan on Tuesday, Witherspoon confirmed his selection, but said that he would wait to comment until a formal introduction.
This is the first time in coach Bill Self's three-year tenure that he has chosen a player from open tryouts to join the team.
There are currently 14 players on the roster. Witerspoon would make 15, though the future of junior center CJ. Giles is in jeopardy
Witherspoon joins sophomore guard Brennan Bechard and sophomore center Matt Kleinmann, who were invited to walk on the team.
The most famous walk-on in recent memory was Christian Moody who came to Kansas as a walk-on but later became a starter and scholarship player.
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The women's basketball team currently has one walk-on, sophomore guard Katie Smith.
Michael Phillips