KU lured Mangino from Sooners, but it took some work
Published: 5/12/2008 9:52 PM
Last Modified: 5/12/2008 9:52 PM
You would be wise to bookmark the Kansas City Star website if only to read Joe Posnanski's columns. Nobody gets inside a subject like him. Check out some of the gems he dug up on Kansas coach Mark Mangino:
*When the Jayhawks called asking him to take over for Terry Allen in December of 2001, OU's offensive coordinator said no THREE TIMES before finally giving in.
Posnanski quotes an anonymous friend of Mangino's: "Mark really, really didn’t want to take it. I think he felt like he had worked so hard to finally get to a place where he was happy."
*Mangino worked 18-hour days under K-State coach Bill Snyder before joining Bob Stoops in Norman. And, with a credit card for the first time in his life, went thousands of dollars into debt.
*At the age of 35 and with kids in school, Mangino took a $220-per-week job as a K-State graduate assistant and slept in the basement of the Wildcats' offensive line coach, John Latina.
*Before taking his first coaching job at New Castle (Pa.) Junior High, Mangino played semipro baseball and drove an ambulance around the Pennsylvania Turnpike.
*He hasn't completely rinsed out the baseball; he loves the Cleveland Indians.
-- Guerin Emig
Written by
Guerin Emig
Sports Writer
