College Football: Ex-Jayhawks say Mangino abusive

LAWRENCE, Kan. (AP) — Former Kansas wide receivers Raymond Brown and Dexton Fields said Thursday they watched as coach Mark Mangino verbally abused a Jayhawk player who was having a bad practice.

Brown and Fields said they did not want to embarrass the player by naming him.

“He wanted to be a lawyer,” Brown said from his home in St. Louis. “He messed up, and Mangino said to his face, in front of everybody, ‘You want to be a lawyer? You're going to be an alcoholic just like your dad.'”

Fields, speaking from his home in Lawrence, confirmed the story. Fields said: “We all knew his father had a drinking problem.”

KU officials have said they are willing to talk with former players about allegations of abusive behavior by Mangino. A probe began Sunday after senior linebacker Arist Wright complained to Athletic Director Lew Perkins that Mangino had poked him in the chest while chewing him out.

The coach said Thursday during his radio show that some of his problems with players stemmed from the players' parents.

“I can't do the work of some parents,'' he said, “what they should have done before they got to me. And some of those guys are bitter. And some of that's the problem. And I can't do anything about that.”

Brown recalled how in 2007, after his younger brother was wounded in a shooting near his home in St. Louis, teammates gathered around and warmly pledged their support.

A few days later, Brown said, an angry Mangino ordered him to the sideline during practice and made a shockingly insensitive comment.

“He went off on me yelling, which is fine,” Brown said. “I kept saying, ‘Yes, sir, yes, sir,' to everything he was saying. A teammate asked me what happened. Then he started on me again and I said, ‘Yes, sir,' and he said, ‘Don't you ‘yes, sir' me. I'll send you back to St. Louis where you can get shot by your homies.”'

Fields said: “I've seen some instances where he said some pretty mean things to people. Did that motivate guys to play hard? Yes and no.

“It got you mad. So when you went out onto the field, you had to do whatever you needed to do to take your anger out. But I don't think it makes you a better player. The negative outweighed the positive.”

Mangino said there were “people who are embarrassing this program just for their 15 minutes of fame.”

“More than anything some guys might be a little bitter because we have structure and discipline, because I've asked them to represent the football program and the university in a class way,” he said. “Ninety-nine percent of our guys have done that. They have been great. I'll be honest with you — some of this stuff is flat-out embellished and not true. Just not true.”

Senior quarterback Todd Reesing, a Mangino supporter, noted the program was in shambles when Mangino arrived in 2002.

“He's always been very stern in his resolve,” Reesing said. “He came here to a team that was undisciplined and a program that lacked it, and he established discipline and got guys to work hard and believe in themselves. He's done a lot of good things. The way he's approached football is the way a lot of coaches approach it.”

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