Hawkins, Mangino speculation abounds

Those who speculate that Kansas' Mark Mangino and Colorado's Dan Hawkins will soon be job hunting don't really know what's in store for those guys. Unfortunately for Mangino and Hawkins, the speculation game that's played almost annually this time of year usually doesn't turn out well for contestants. In each of the past four years, at least one Big 12 Conference school has fired its football coach. And right now, a lot of folks in Boulder, Colo., and Lawrence, Kan., would be shocked if that streak doesn't go to five years. Hawkins has produced one bowl team and no winning seasons in four years at CU. His current team is 3-8 heading into Friday's game against Nebraska - making his mark at Colorado 16-32. Regardless of whether you believe Hawkins' contention that he inherited one the largest meltdowns in college football history, to look beyond the win-loss record would take a lot of trust and risk by athletic director Mike Bohn. Same goes for Kansas AD Lew Perkins with Mangino - but for a much different reason. In his eighth year, Mangino is the only coach to take the Jayhawks to bowl games in consecutive seasons. But last Tuesday, with Kansas mired in a five-game losing streak, the school announced it had launched an internal investigation after news of possible player abuse surfaced. According to an unnamed source in the Lawrence Journal-World, a person not on the team aired concerns to the athletic department about Mangino's behavior, including his allegedly poking senior linebacker Arist Wright in the chest during a recent practice. Assistant athletic director Chris Howard then spoke with Wright before Perkins met with the team last Monday. Since then, other former players have come forward with claims of verbal abuse and threats. I have a problem with explayers airing gripes. If their treatment was so bad while they were on the team, speak up then. But one comment from a former Jayhawk left me thinking Mangino may not survive this wildfire. "If Lew Perkins called me up and asked me what I thought they should do, I'd be like 'Let him go,'" Joe Mortensen told the Journal-World. Mortensen is far from the Average Joe backup with an ax to grind. He was a firstteam all-league player who was a team captain. If I'm Bo Pelini, who we all know can have a short fuse, I'd pay attention to how this thing with Mangino plays out - because one day you can be viewed as the guy to get a program going, the next you're a foulmouthed bully. Texas Tech coach Mike Leach said Monday the current situation with Mangino amounted to a witch hunt. "Heaven forbid somebody should ask a (player) to pay attention and focus in for the sake of all his teammates and coaches and everyone else," said Leach, who coached with Mangino under Bob Stoops at Oklahoma in 1999."Well, there's different ways to ask a guy to do that, and sometimes, after you've asked him a number of times, you raise the bar." As for Hawkins, who came to Colorado from Boise State with the top winning percentage of any active major- college coach? Though a buyout would cost Colorado nearly $3.5 million, Hawkins could wind up in the same shoes as Bill Callahan and Frank Solich - replaced following a CUNebraska game played in Boulder. Remember, though - we're just speculating. Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com