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Kansas Sports Hall of Fame inductee Mangino cherishes being part of KU, K-State football turnarounds
By KEVIN HASKIN
TopSports.news
Much has happened since Mark Mangino last coached a college football team.
The game still hinges on the punt, pass and kick. And for that matter, run, cover and tackle.
Former Kansas head football coach and former Kansas State assistant Mark Mangino (left) will join K-State coaching legend Bill Snyder in the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame on Sunday. [Submitted photo]
However, oversight for a program, which Mangino managed as a winning coach and Orange Bowl champion in eight seasons at Kansas, can be far more turbulent. Among today’s issues:
- The onset of NIL collectives:
“I haven't talked to a college coach yet who didn't tell me it was a real pain,” said Mangino, who will be enshrined into the Kansas Sports Hall of Fame during a ceremony Sunday at Topeka Hotel.
“It's really changed the way they operate. It's almost like a 24-hour job throughout the year just to pay attention to everything.”
- Robust activity within the transfer portal:
“I think a player should have the opportunity to transfer at least once if he sees a better opportunity,’’ Mangino said. “But this constant transfer thing … I don’t know if it’s healthy for the game. Guys who have played at three schools and played six to seven years, I mean, that’s not the spirit of college football.”
- Alterations caused by conference realignment:
“If I were in charge for a day,’’ said Mangino, “I'd put everybody back in the conferences they were in back in 1995.”
That year marked the end of Big Eight football. All members joined the Big 12, but four eventually left the conference. Colorado has since returned from the tattered Pac-12, but Nebraska, Missouri and Oklahoma are with the FBS power brokers, the Big Ten and SEC.
“People want to watch Oklahoma and Nebraska play, and some other old rivalries,’’ Mangino added. “I understand the economy and I don't know what the answer is. But I do know this: If things keep going the way they are, I believe there will be about a 40-team super league that is run NFL style.”
That arrangement would potentially leave both FBS programs in Kansas in precarious positions.
However, in his 17 years working in the state and raising a family here, Mangino engaged in one of college football’s greatest turnarounds at K-State and then proved KU could field a competitive program. The Jayhawks went 50-48 under Mangino and 3-1 in bowl games.
Although KU has surprisingly struggled to begin this season, that program still seems in good hands with Lance Leipold, while K-State remains consistently solid under Chris Klieman.
“To be part of that (K-State) turnaround was something else. That was special,” Mangino said. “And then to go to KU, that was another hard job. Kansas has got two hard jobs, boy. Really hard jobs. … You're in a place where there's probably more cattle than people.”
Yet during his time here, Mangino drove past much of that livestock along many backroads while either recruiting or following his son Tommy’s baseball exploits. Now, Mark and his wife, Mary Jane, travel occasionally to Texas to watch Tommy coordinate the offense for the heralded Lake Travis High School program, which produced Todd Reesing, Mangino’s record-setting quarterback at KU. The couple’s daughter, Samantha, and six grandchildren, will also celebrate Mangino’s KSHOF induction on Sunday.
Considering the response from family and friends when Mangino’s coaching path brought him to the state of Kansas, going into the state’s sports hall almost seems surreal.
“When we were leaving to go out there, people were crying in my driveway. I told them, it’s not like I'm going to Vietnam,” Mangino remembered. “Then, they’d come and visit us, and they didn’t want to leave. They’d cancel a flight for a couple more days, or even stay another week.
“They went from asking what’s the place called. Manhattan? Lawrence? And then they’d visit and find out those were great communities. They were awesome places to live, work and raise the kids.”
Washburn Rural's Bordewick moves into No. 2 spot on Kansas' all-time volleyball wins list
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural volleyball coach Kevin Bordewick reached another landmark milestone in last Saturday's Centennial League tournament, using a perfect 5-0 record on the day to raise his career victory total to 1,076 while moving past former Lansing coach Julie Slater (1071 wins) for the No. 2 spot on Kansas' all-time victory list.
Washburn Rural volleyball coach Kevin Bordewick has moved into the No. 2 spot for all-time volleyball wins in Kansas with 1,076. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But there were no celebrations or even a mention of the accomplishment to his Junior Blues, who won their fourth straight Centennial League championship.
"I think it's really cool,'' Rural senior Kate Hinck said. "I didn't know that at all, but that's really awesome. I feel like he doesn't like to brag about himself, but he's such a great coach and just to get to play for such an amazing program is really good.''
By Saturday night, Bordewick, who is in his 30th season with the Junior Blues. was already thinking about what his team could have done better in the Centennial tournament and about getting Rural ready for its next match.
"Our next big game is our next game and our next big tournament is our next tournament,'' said Bordewick, who is 1,076-275 in his career and 1,029-235 at Rural, including an 18-2 record this fall. "We don't play any (matches) this week but we've got plenty of chances this week to correct a lot of things, even though we won all five matches.
"But we dropped a set to Manhattan I don't think should have happened, I thought there were other sets that were too close that shouldn't have been close and for me with this group I think it's more of a mental toughness thing that I think we're slowly understanding. Their sense of urgency needs to speed up since we're kind of gearing towards the postseason here in a couple of weeks.''
Bordewick has led the Junior Blues to eight Class 6A state championships, with the most recent title coming in 2022, and 25 state tournament appearances, but it's the ones that got away that he said are the hardest to forget.
"I still think in '05 we had a chance to get that one and I think in 2010 we had a chance to get that one and we let it slip in the semis,'' Bordewick said. "Those are the ones that you should have had that stick with you. And that team (in 2021) that was undefeated going into championship Saturday, I felt so good about them and we had a team meeting, we had a little film review and everybody felt good and we liked our chances and then we let it slip.
"It's the ones that get away that will eat at you, eat at me anyway. But when you lose, you have to learn from it and go on. And that's one thing these guys have always been good at. You can pick apart things, we can understand things, we try to isolate things and hopefully it transfers to a game the next time.''
