Jayhawks glad to arrive in sunny Florida

MIAMI (AP) -- Eighth-ranked Kansas, greeted by fire trucks spraying water on its airplane, arrived in sunny Florida on Thursday in preparation for the Jan. 3 Orange Bowl against No. 5 Virginia Tech.

Despite doubts by critics who question the selection of Kansas in a BCS game, coach Mark Mangino insists his team deserves to be there.

"Since when is 11-1 not good enough to play in a BCS bowl?" said Mangino, the AP Coach of the Year.

Kansas will be playing in its first January bowl game since 1969. The Jayhawks were chosen over rival Missouri, which beat them 36-28 on Nov. 24 in the regular season finale.

Though Missouri was ranked two spots higher than the Jayhawks in the final BCS standings, Kansas received the BCS bid while the Tigers, who lost to Oklahoma twice, found themselves in the Cotton Bowl.

"I can't be concerned about other teams because I don't have control over other teams or the process," Mangino said.

The 11 wins are a school record for Kansas, which was ranked as high as No. 2 by all four major polls on Nov. 18 before the loss to Missouri. Kansas has won 14 of its last 16 games dating back to last year.

"It's been a great season," said Mangino, in his sixth year at Kansas. "It's arguably one of the best seasons ever, maybe the best ever at the University of Kansas, but it's not over. We got one more game to play. This game is really important to our players. They want to play well and win on a national stage."

Kansas traveled with only 33 of its 104 players Thursday on flight from Forbes Field in Topeka, Kan. The rest of the Jayhawks were allowed to fly to Miami on their own after spreading out across the country for the holidays. The team practiced Monday morning before getting time off.

The players were all smiles when they landed after leaving the 27-degree weather behind them in Kansas.

"The sun is hot, people were spraying water on the airplane, it was nice," said fifth-year senior running back Brandon McAnderson. McAnderson, who rushed for 1,050 yards and 16 touchdowns while earning All-Big 12 second-team honors, is a key to a Kansas offense that ranks second nationally in scoring with an average of 44.3 points per game.

Virginia Tech (11-2) earned a spot in the Orange Bowl after beating Boston College 30-16 in the ACC Championship game. The Hokies have the nation's second-best defense, allowing 15.5 points a game.

"They're athletic, speedy, play very well on defense, great special teams, some really talented kids on offense, and it's a very good team," Mangino said.

Mangino compares his Kansas program to Frank Beamer's Virginia Tech program as it began its rise in college football.

"We're trying to change the way people think about Kansas football just the way coach Beamer changed the way people think about Virginia Tech football," he said.

Mangino hopes the Orange Bowl is a sign of things to come for Kansas, which is 4-6 all-time in bowl games.

"It's a start," he said. "A lot of people think going to the Orange Bowl is the destination, but we'd like to think this is just the beginning for our program."

Forbes send-off planned for KU football team

Gathering will be Thursday morning in airport terminal
The Capital-Journal

University of Kansas football fans will be able to see their team off Thursday morning at Forbes Field, where the Jayhawks are scheduled to depart at 10:15 a.m. on a flight to Miami to play in the Orange Bowl.

The public will first be able to say goodbye to the Jayhawks Thursday morning at the south end of Allen Fieldhouse, where the team will leave between 8:30 and 9 a.m. on a bus that will take it to Forbes. Parking will be free and available in the parking garage north of the fieldhouse or in the baseball and softball lots at its south ends.

At Forbes Field, fans will be able to greet the team in the public area of the terminal. Parking will be free for fans in an area west of the terminal, said Michael Humberd, president of the Metropolitan Topeka Airport Authority.

Staying the course

Big year doesn’t change recruiting strategy

By Ryan Wood Lawrence Journal World and News

Aqib Talib and Anthony Collins gave their best pitch earlier this month.

Kansas University’s two All-American football players, each lightly recruited coming out of high school, were interviewed on national television during the ESPN College Football Awards Show on Dec. 6. Given the opportunity, Talib spoke eagerly into the camera about what Kansas can provide recruits that the tradition-rich programs can’t — namely, early playing time.

You see, recruiting never, ever ends. But at Kansas, it never seems to change, either.

If you need any more proof on how confident KU’s football coaches are in their plan, look at how recruiting has evolved since the Jayhawks’ magical 2007 season started to take shape.

From their end, it hasn’t.

“When we made it to a BCS bowl, we didn’t say, ‘OK quit recruiting these guys. We’re going to go recruit all these other guys,’” KU coach Mark Mangino said. “We’ve stayed on the type of kid that fits the profile of our program, that wants to be at Kansas, that has some of those values that we talk about all year here. The value of hard work, teamwork, wanting to be a good citizen, wanting to earn a college degree.”

From the other end, though, it is getting better.

Kansas locked up another popular recruit Friday, when Rivals.com reported that touted cornerback Greg Brown out of Cedar Hill, Texas, committed to the Jayhawks this week.

Brown, a former teammate of current KU receiver Dezmon Briscoe, picked Kansas over Kansas State, Virginia, Arizona and Arkansas. Cedar Hill High coach Joey McGuire said the Jayhawks’ new shiny resume had something to do with it.

“When you are 11-1, that sure does help,” McGuire told Rivals. “When you are doing that, you can get kids like Greg. … Kansas is catching up.”

But like many aspects of the KU football program, recruiting will take baby steps toward greater heights.

Right now, Kansas is noticing increased interest from their top targets more than anything. More commitments from the top targets — especially over schools that can thrive off name alone — is the next step they’re approaching.

“We’ve always recruited great players,” Mangino said. “But some of the great ones, by September, tell you to get lost. This year, some of them are visiting, have visited and are really interested.”

One is Cyrus Gray, a 6-foot, 190-pound running back out of DeSoto, Texas. Gray is being recruited by several of the traditional powers, including Notre Dame and Florida. The Jayhawks offered early and have since stuck around in the top five of Gray’s lengthy list. He took an official visit to KU earlier this month.

Examples like Gray are slowly starting to become more common at Kansas.

The Jayhawks are more than halfway home on their 2008 recruiting. Brown’s commitment on Friday gives KU 16 known pledges for the class, with signing day on Feb. 6.

The 11-1 regular season and Orange Bowl berth certainly don’t hurt. But the Jayhawks aren’t getting over-inflated heads over it, either.

“People ask me all the time if recruiting gets easier. It never gets easier,” Mangino said. “That term doesn’t fit with recruiting. But we have kids that maybe would’ve dropped off earlier in the season.

“We are competing with more successful programs in the country. It never really gets easier, but more doors have opened and more kids have kept their interest with us.”

Bowl ticket allotment sold out!

Hawks hunker down, prep for Hokies

It's officially time to start talking about the Hokies. Today Mark Mangino and his Kansas football team began to insert a game plan for the upcoming Orange Bowl against Virginia Tech.

For the Kansas football team, it's all about the wait. Kansas last played on November 24. Since then, 23 days have elapsed, and it will be another 17 until KU plays in the Orange Bowl against Virginia Tech.

The procrastinators are going to have to find another way now.

Kansas University sold out its allotment of Orange Bowl tickets Monday, meaning the quadrant of Dolphin Stadium reserved for KU fans should be full Jan. 3 when Kansas plays Virginia Tech.

KU announced that its share of 17,500 tickets all were accounted for Monday afternoon, about two weeks after they went on sale.

“We knew Jayhawks fans would be excited about supporting their team,” athletic director Lew Perkins said. “Miami is not an easy place to get to at the last minute during the winter. But our fans persevered. We’ll have a large, loud and excited fan base in Miami, and we can’t wait to get there.”

Kansas fans will be located around the northwest corner of Dolphin Stadium, extending from the 50-yard line to the west end zone. That accounts for 17 sections in the upper deck and 12 in the lower level.

Virginia Tech will be on centered on the southeast side of the venue. As of Monday evening, the Hokies still had upper-deck tickets available out of their 17,500 allotment.

Kansas fans still looking for tickets have plenty of avenues. Ticketmaster had Orange Bowl tickets available Monday evening, as did a number of online ticket brokers like StubHub.com and TicketsNow.com.

Idol cameo: The Orange Bowl Committee announced Monday that American Idol television star Katharine McPhee will sing the national anthem at the Jan. 3 game.

McPhee was the runner-up on season five of American Idol, with Taylor Hicks winning the contest. McPhee has since signed with RCA Records and released a self-titled album.

In addition to McPhee, rock band ZZ Top will perform at halftime of the Orange Bowl.

KU football coach Mangino has enjoyed the whirlwind of attention

By J. BRADY McCOLLOUGH
The Kansas City Star

LAWRENCE | Barry Alvarez knows turnarounds. So when Alvarez, the former Wisconsin football coach, visited the University of Kansas campus Friday and caught up with KU coach Mark Mangino, he could sense that something special had happened here.

It was the same feeling that Alvarez had in Madison, Wis., years ago when he built a program with little to no tradition into a perennial Big Ten power.

“You take over a losing program, you have to change a culture,” said Alvarez, in town to prep for his duties as an Orange Bowl commentator on Fox. “It’s very hard to do, which is why most people can’t get it done. You have to change the attitude of everyone that touches the program, and I can sense that Mark has done that here.”

Alvarez and Mangino shook hands and chatted for a few minutes on Friday before Mangino had to cut it short. Surely, the reigning consensus national coach of the year had somewhere important to be. It’s been a whirlwind couple of weeks for Mangino, who spent part of last week down in Orlando, Fla., receiving the Home Depot coach of the year award. He was back in Lawrence on Friday and had a chance to reflect.

“To be quite honest, I appreciate the awards that have been given to me,” Mangino said. “I’m humbled by them. I’m not an intellectual giant, but I’m smart enough to figure out that it has to do with the players. I’m coaching the same way in 2007 as I did in 2002. We were 2-10.

“Here’s what I’ve told everybody: Head coaches get far too much credit for winning, far too much blame for losing.”

There is no doubt Mangino is right. After all, it was just five months ago that KU athletic director Lew Perkins told The Star that six wins wouldn’t be good enough. It became clear that Mangino needed to win seven games at the very least to feel secure.

Of course, the Jayhawks used an easy nonconference slate to build confidence and then rattled off seven Big 12 wins in a row. Now they’re headed to the school’s first BCS bowl game, and Mangino is getting all the credit.

“I’m just taking it all in stride,” Mangino said. “I am thankful for it, but it really reflects the entire program. I couldn’t do it alone. I don’t have the ability or the talent to do it alone.”

It’s that attitude that made a large group of KU players gather around the TV at the Burge Union last Thursday night for the awards show on ESPN. When Mangino was announced as the coach of the year, the place went nuts.

“That was a crazy moment for all of us,” KU cornerback Chris Harris said. “It’s a great experience to be coached by the best coach of the year.”

KU cornerback Aqib Talib and offensive tackle Anthony Collins were in attendance at the show.

“Coach Les Miles was in there,” Talib said, “Coach (Jim) Tressel, (Dallas Cowboys owner) Jerry Jones, so many people. And then our coach won coach of the year. Me and AC kind of looked at each other like, ‘Yeah, that’s our coach up there.’ ”

On Friday, Mangino was as jovial as he’s been all season, generating several laugh-out-loud moments. He was busy again explaining that all of the milestones KU has set this year just roll off his back.

“This is a program that has not been able to sustain success in football for nearly a century,” Mangino said. “When we do something good, our (sports information director) tells me after the game, ‘This is the first time since Christopher Columbus landed here that KU did this.’

1899, 1876, we’re just glad to do it. I can’t tell you I run in and tell the team, ‘We have to win this Orange Bowl because we never won one, and in 1969, we had 12 men on the field. So I’m taking a calculator with me and I’m going to count to 11 every snap.’ ”

Mangino has come a long way since his days as a lowly assistant on Kansas State coach Bill Snyder’s staff. Alvarez, a close friend of Snyder and Bob Stoops from their days under Hayden Fry at Iowa, knew Mangino had the right pedigree for success.

“I know what kind of grinder Bill Snyder is,” said Alvarez, now the Wisconsin athletic director. “For Bob Stoops to hire him and give him a title tells me what kind of coach and what kind of person he is.”

Years later, on Friday, Alvarez and Mangino got to talk, architect to architect.

“The thing I see from watching him from afar and knowing him, he never compromised what he believed in,” Alvarez said. “He’s engrained in them a team spirit. They talk about team. They win and lose as a team. They hold each other accountable. Those are the reasons you win, and that comes from the head coach who devised it that way.”

Orange Bowl ticket sales limp towards finish

Both KU, VT have plenty of tickets left
By Ryan Wood

After a furious sprint out of the gate, Orange Bowl ticket sales are limping toward the finish line with just more than three weeks to go.

Both Kansas University and Virginia Tech have tickets remaining for the Jan. 3 Orange Bowl. Virginia Tech assistant athletic director Sandy Smith said Tuesday the Hokies had sold around 15,000.

KU associate athletic director Jim Marchiony, meanwhile, said at Tuesday’s Kansas Athletics, Inc., board meeting that the Jayhawks had sold about 16,300 tickets.

Both schools are allotted 17,500, which are all together in Dolphin Stadium.

“It’s slowed down,” Smith said of Virginia Tech’s sales. “I’m sure it has for (Kansas), too.”

Athletic director Lew Perkins is confident that the tickets — which go for $125 each — will be gobbled up soon, perhaps within a week.

But just in case, Kansas has marketed the availability of seats for the game. Thousands of KU fans received an e-mail from “Mark Mangino” on Tuesday, which actually was an Orange Bowl reminder and an opportunity to announce that tickets remained on sale. The team’s marketing campaign was adjusted to “This is what January was made for.”

In addition, Kansas has started a small Web site, orangebowlbound.com, to promote the game.

About 10 percent of KU’s ticket sales so far have been to students, and KU has offered student tickets for just $50. Perkins said KU plans to pay the difference.

Though the game expects to be a relatively full crowd in the 72,000-seat venue, online ticket brokers still have many available. Ticketsnow.com reports that the average price for Orange Bowl tickets through its site has dropped from $212 to $188 in recent weeks.

If Kansas doesn’t sell its full share, the Big 12 Conference covers the cost of the remaining tickets. But both Kansas and Virgnia Tech are hopeful that all 17,500 will be scooped up at each school.

It just won’t be in a hurry.

“It’s a long way for everybody,” Smith said. “It’s really difficult to get a flight. That’s a big tourist destination this time of year.”

Mangino one of Kansas' Top Ten Most Fascinating

Top 10 fascinating Kansans
Posted by Kasha Stoll

David and Victoria "Posh Spice" Beckham may have fascinated Barbara Walters, who is presenting her annual "Top 10 Most Fascinating People" of the year on ABC tonight, but they never did much for me.

So in the spirit of Ms. Walters' special, this column is dedicated to the Top 10 Most Fascinating People of Northeast Kansas in 2007.
And as is the case with the national special, you will probably agree with some of my choices and think I am totally off my rocker with others.

Feel free to let me know what you think, but this is my opinion.

10. Paul David Meek — The Stormont-Vail Regional Health Center nurse was named one of the nation's Top 10 nurse heroes in 2007.

9. Darren Canady — The Topeka High School graduate and former Topeka Capital-Journal intern won a national award for one of his original plays.

8. Eldon Ray — The Kansas Board of Technical Professionals fined the 83-year-old man $500 for doing work on the Mayetta Christian Church, claiming he was providing architectural services without a license, but Ray got the last laugh when a legislative committee said he should receive $3,122 because of the trouble the board gave him.

7. Dorianne Rees — This local actress in February played the title role in the Topeka Civic Theatre's production of Neil LaBute's play "Fat Pig" so she could bring attention to the issues facing large women.

6. Jaide Ramirez-Jennings — The 8-year-old Topeka girl received the Yahoo! Purple Act of Kindness award for her "KICK paper and plastic to the curb" campaign.

5. Mark Mangino — The University of Kansas football coach raised the standard of KU football.

4. Deborah Rose — She made Kansas military history in April when she was promoted to brigadier general in the Kansas National Guard.

3. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan. — His bid for the presidency was unsuccessful but definitely newsworthy.

2. Mary Magdalene Lorang — The owner of the Topeka RoadRunners says she is more concerned with bringing hockey to Topeka than in making a profit.

1. Anthony Cox — The 21-year veteran of the Topeka Fire Department died Aug. 13 after collapsing while battling a two-alarm apartment fire. About 1,000 people, including more than 500 firefighters, attended his funeral at the Kansas Expocentre.

His sister, Dottie Cox Karnowski, told the crowd: "Why did Tony risk his life for you, and you, and you? ... Because he believed you were worth the risk. He believed that the human life, friend or stranger, was worth risking his own life."

KU to play in Orange Bowl

BY KIRK SEMINOFF
The Wichita Eagle

The Jayhawks were selected to play in their first Bowl Championship Series game. Kansas will play Viriginia Tech in the Orange Bowl, Jan. 3 in Miami, Fla.

How fitting.
Kansas' record-setting football season will end in the same bowl game as the school's previous most successful season -- the Orange Bowl.
The No. 8 Jayhawks were chosen Sunday night to play No. 5 Virginia Tech in the Jan. 3 game in Miami.
The nationally televised game will be KU's first appearance in the 10-year-old Bowl Championship Series and the first appearance in a bowl game Jan. 1 or later since the 1969 Orange Bowl.
"We want to come to South Florida ready to play the game and we'll have great fan support following us," KU coach Mark Mangino said.
During the days leading to Sunday's selections, reports indicated KU had a good chance to be chosen for the Fiesta Bowl. But when Fox revealed bowl pairings during a national telecast Sunday night, the Fiesta had Oklahoma facing West Virginia. Kansas fans had to wait until the Orange Bowl to see the Jayhawk logo.
"I was optimistic," said Mangino, who will take a team to a bowl for the third time in his six seasons at KU. "We're an 11-1 team and we played consistently well most of the year. In fact the entire year, except for the last game.
"But you just don't know until you get the final word."
The Orange Bowl provides a sense of deja vu for KU football followers. In 1968, the Jayhawks climbed as high as third in the polls before reaching the Orange Bowl. That game is known as "the 12-men game," when KU had an extra player on the field for Penn State's failed two-point conversion try late in the game. With a second chance, Penn State scored, and won the game.
Getting to Miami from Wichita isn't tough, but airline tickets seemed to be going fast Sunday night. Prices on online travel services increased as the evening wore on, though airfares of less than $500 were possible if the traveler isn't picky on arrival and departure times.
Orange Bowl ticket costs range from $110 for upper-level seats to $210 for club seats. They are available by logging on to http://www.ticketmaster.com/, or by calling 305-341-4701.
KU is also working on fan travel and tickets to the game. Call 877-713-1982 or check www.doddsathletictours.com/kansas.
The final BCS standings, released Sunday night, determine the top two teams to play in the Jan. 7 national championship game. The standings also determine schools eligible to play in the four other BCS bowls: Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta.
Kansas, which suffered its only loss in 12 games to Missouri on Nov. 24, qualified as an at-large candidate by finishing eighth in the BCS standings.
"I don't know that we're looking for vindication," Mangino said. "We've played a conference schedule here and won some games in tough venues like Texas A&M and Colorado.... I think you're judged on the merits, on how you play week in and week out."
Virginia Tech won the Atlantic Coast Conference championship game on Saturday, defeating Boston College to earn the league's automatic berth to the Orange Bowl. The Hokies finished third in the BCS standings.
KU's rival, Missouri, was ranked No. 1 before Saturday's Big 12 Championship loss to Oklahoma and was left out of the 10-team BCS on Sunday. The Tigers will settle for the Big 12's best non-BCS bowl, the Jan. 1 Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

KU’s ranking not adding up in academics

By Jonathan Kealing

It’s a good thing for some schools that the Bowl Championship Series, or BCS, rankings are computed based on athletic performance and not academics.
While Kansas University is ranked No. 5 in the BCS standings, its theoretical “academic BCS” puts KU at No. 17.
The academic rankings are based on a formula that relates team graduation rates to the university’s graduation rates, with allowances for disparity among races. That total is added to the difference between the NCAA-computed Academic Progress Rate and the average APR for all Division 1A football teams.
The formula was created by the New America Foundation, the group that seeds the 65-team March Madness bracket based on team academics. This is its first football ranking.
KU’s numbers add up to about 34 points, better than Big 12 school Texas and about the same as rival Missouri. Texas picked up 7.85 points, and Missouri had 34.25 points.
The poll was led by Boston College with 127.8 points, Cincinnati with 97.25 points and Auburn with 73.15 points.
KU came up short primarily in that its 2005-06 APR was 16 points below the national average. In the most recent year, KU’s APR moved up dramatically; however, the APR is based on a multiyear average.
In its analysis, Lindsey Luebchow of the foundation wrote that for some schools, including Missouri, a racial disparity was a major factor in weighing down the school’s point total.
“Its overall football graduation rate masks a large black-white gap: 40 percent of Missouri’s black football players … graduated, compared to 68 percent of its white football players,” Luebchow wrote.
Kansas was cited in the report, but merely to illustrate a broader point and not because its data was particularly high or low in any area.
The foundation pointed out that a team full of Todd Reesings — an economics and finance major — is hard to compare with a team made up entirely of general studies majors.
KU Associate Athletic Director Jim Marchiony said he was pleased with the direction the football team’s academics were taking.
He pointed out the team’s rising APR as well as the fact that two Jayhawks, Russell Brorsen and John Larson, were named among ESPN The Magazine’s Academic All-Americans on Thursday.
“I think it shows the emphasis in the program and of the coaches on academics,” he said.