Is Football, as we knew it, over?

You must have missed this story from this morning. Or the numerous other claims from players regarding mistreatment abuse. In the very beginning of the investigation there was enough to fire him. And it takes time to uncover all the truth. How much more do you need to suggest that he might have crossed a line or twelve? Plain and simple, he’s not good for football and needs to go.

Punishment for missed assignments or stepping out of line is one thing. This fat bastard stepped WAY past that on numerous occasions.

Physical and mental abuse is not acceptable in any way. To suggest otherwise is deplorable.

hey, they used to make us practice in over 100-degree weather and not allow us to drink water. Did that make us men? Was that part of “the football we grew up loving”?

Or was it machismo born of ignorance? Let’s face it, a lot of stupid and harmful things were done in the name of this “football we grew up loving”. It’s a great game, and I don’t want for a minute to minimize the good things that have come out of the discipline of playing it. But continuing to do stupid things once we know better doesn’t make us tough. It makes us, well… stupid.

Some things, we just need to learn from, and move forward. Bear Bryant later in his life expressed regret at the whole “Junction Boys” experience, and said he would never do it again that way. Sounds like Mangino hasn’t learned that lesson. If that kind of meanness were what it took to be truly successful, that’d be one thing, but there seem to be plenty of vastly more successful coaches who don’t roll that way…

Mangino allegedly ridiculed his players over their socio-economic backgrounds, and inflicted corporal punishment that went above and beyond a little finger-pointing in the chest, and with zero remorse.

From the article linked above:

"It must have been the worst pain I’ve ever felt," Kipp said.

After pointing out a tackle that Kipp had missed during the previous week’s game, Mangino allegedly threatened to burn the player’s other hand if he ever missed a tackle again.

And you approve of this? Is this some kind of fratboy-macho thing? Because, as a certified Austin Hippie, I wouldn’t know.

I just hope that my children never see you as a coach!

And my gut says this many players and former players wouldn’t be piling on if Mangino hadn’t crossed that line.

I don’t think yelling is the problem. You can’t tell me these guys have never been yelled at before and are suddenly shocked at finding themselves in the unique position of having a coach who gets pissed when they screw up. It wouldn’t have become nearly this big of a deal if yelling was all that happened.

The things Mangino has been accused of saying are things no coach should ever say to a player, period. And the physical confrontations that have been alleged are also well outside the realm of acceptable behavior between coach and player.

As to whether or not Mangino should be fired, that is none of my business. I don’t know all the facts. I don’t know how much of it is the players overreacting out of frustration in the midst of a bad season. I don’t know if maybe the players tried to bring this up before, but, because Mangino was winning, the AD didn’t care. But if what these guys are saying is true, then I don’t see how Kansas can afford to keep him around.

To illustrate how Mangino is out of line and will inevitably get canned, let’s contrast with the ideals set forth at Texas.

To be certain, our players get their fair share of whoopass; Curtis Brown was no doubt doing his share this week, and Sergio was probably hating his life after his embarasssing run in with an apartment building. Mack is jolly and comes off as nice ol’ grandpa with the press, but he probably gets colon stuck in his teeth every now and then.

The difference is in the purpose, objective, and outcome-most players come into college ball cocky as hell, come from undisciplined lives, or whatever the case may be. Anything like that going on at Texas is probably for the purpose of breaking down behaviors or attitudes for the purpose of ultimately bringing someone more into control of their life, a better player, and a better part of the family, and ultimately comes with some positive reinforcement.

To move to cliche- breaking them down to build them up again, to make them better. What Mangino is doing is for the purpose of breaking down his players so they do what they say and make him feel better. Burning the skin off a dude’s hands is a control thing, nothing more, nothing less.

The activities are mostly the same, the outcomes are very different. If this were a legal issue that wouldn’t matter, but this trial is happening in the court of public opinion.

This could also be looked at as a comparison to the father or father figure in every dude’s life. Most everyone got whooped at various times throughout their youth, yet there is a clear distinction: was it done out of love, or was it plain abuse? Was there a positive purpose, or just cause the guy was pissed off at his own life? In this metaphor, Mangino is the psycho alcoholic.