Kansas City News Blog

Mark Mangino

​This is what happens during a disappointing, losing season. The Kansas Jayhawks have lost five games in a row and with Saturday's game against No. 2 Texas in Austin looming, looks like loss No. 6 isn't far away.

So the chorus calling for Kansas football coach Mark Mangino's head is getting louder as the losses mount.

No one was speaking out when Mangino led the Jayhawks to an Orange Bowl, a school-best 12-1 record and received National Coach of the Year honors. That's not to discount what's going on with Mangino because, as my buddy Jason Whitlock wrote today, Mangino is a bully.

But with the latest allegations of verbal and emotional abuse, comes names.

ESPN cites several former players, including former receiver Raymond Brown, who referenced a rather low blow from Mangino.

[Brown] said that once, his younger brother had been shot in the arm in St. Louis. Then came a game.

"I dropped a pass and [Mangino] was mad," Brown said. "And I said, 'Yes, sir. Yes, sir.' The yelling didn't bother me. But then he said, 'Shut up!' He said, 'If you don't shut up, I'm going to send you back to St. Louis so you can get shot with your homies.' I was irate. I wanted to hurt him to be honest with you."

An anonymous player told Brown that he had confided in Mangino about his father's alcoholism. The player also told Mangino that he wanted to be a lawyer. Brown told ESPN:

"One day, [Mangino] said in front of the entire team, 'Are you going to be a lawyer or do you want to become an alcoholic like your Dad?' "

Former Kansas receiver Marcus Herford told ESPN that Mangino attacked players with their personal business and could "make you feel as low as you can go."

There's a lot more, including former Jayhawk running back Jocques Crawford saying that Mangino's motto was "break you down to build you up."

Crawford also told The Kansas City Star:

"He would always say things like, 'You're not back home with the homies in the hood,' " Crawford said. "I have to take offense to that. What do you have against guys coming from bad neighborhoods and trying to better themselves by going to college?"

There's more.

KMBC Channel 9 reports that there are 20 families of current and former players ready to turn over info to KU's investigators. They claim Mangino rushed players back from injury, ignoring team doctors. In one instance, Mangino allegedly threatened to pull a player's scholarship if he didn't attend a team meeting -- two hours after the player had surgery.

Parents also complained that Mangino bad mouthed their kids to NFL scouts.

Former KU linebacker Joe Mortensen told KMBC that Mangino once threatened to send him back to Oakland and told him that Mortensen would "be drinking out of a brown paper bag" for the rest of his life.

Mangino has denied doing anything inappropriate.