So, Jeff Long gets named athletic director at Kansas and fires the head football coach. You may remember the heavy lifting that man had to do because of Charlie Weis’ spectacularly inept job of roster management ($$).
In the recruiting classes of 2012 and 2013, Weis and his staff brought in a combined 27 junior college transfers. Only two were academic qualifiers coming out of high school. Fourteen did not graduate, and 10 — including touted signees Marquel Combs, Chris Martin and Kevin Short — never saw the field. And then, by the end of 2014, they were all gone. So was Weis. Going into 2015, only 12 of Weis’ first 56 signees were still on the roster.
Jeff proceeds to bring in Les Miles as the new man. And guess what?
… Miles ended up signing 11 players during the early signing period. Kansas went from having the fewest commitments of any FBS team to tied for the fourth fewest with Maryland and UMass.
Junior college prospects were a big part of Miles’ plan and class. He added ESPN JC 50 defensive end Malcolm Lee, juco defensive tackle Caleb Sampson, juco wide receivers Andrew Parchment and Ezra Naylor, junior college safety Justin Ford and juno quarterback Thomas MacVittie, who originally signed with Pitt in the 2016 class.
Miles inherited an uphill battle to say the least, so being able to sign 11 prospects in a little over four weeks after being out of coaching completely has to be commended. But if Miles wants to turn this program around quickly, 11 commitments is not going to give him enough help.
Having a weak first recruiting class isn’t an impossible obstacle to overcome, but the small class could put a big dent in the roster a few years down the road. The staff will have a chance to fix that in the 2020 class, but as of right now, Kansas does not have any 2020 commitments.
Over half his first signing class comes from the juco ranks. What’s that old definition of insanity again?
Get The Picture 
But he won a natty so he must be like good or something, right?
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But these jucos don’t have a decided schematic advantage so all is well Senator.
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Oh lord have Mercy. No shit Senator that’s just damn crazy. Geez… suwannee to goodness. I did that Suwannee for the river. I know you know where that’s at. Great post 👍
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There’s no easy way to say this: Kansas sucks. The entire state. No one with any better option WANTS to go there.
The only reason they can make it work in hoops is a) it only takes a handful of guys, and b) they are as neck deep in the AAU racket as anyone.
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Well… Kansas does have Amber Waves of Grain and at least they have a basketball team unlike us 😡
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Give Crean time for goodness sake. Everyone knew this was going to be a tough year going from someone who wanted to play in the 60s with a grinding style to someone who wants the game in the 80s with a wide-open offense.
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I have no choice but to give him time.
He has an excellent resume and has taken two different Power Conference teams to the Sweet Sixteen, so I know he can coach.
Despite that this year’s team may very well finish with on of the worst records in UGA history.
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I’m not sure the record would be any better with Fox … maybe marginally better with Hagans as a 1 year PG.
They can’t handle the ball and go into scoring droughts against anyone who can disrupt the flow.
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The record under Fox wouldn’t be any different, and could possibly be worse. I seriously doubt Fox would have beaten Texas.
I say the record would have been about the same, except this team is much more entertaining. Given that Fox had plateaued and Crean is just starting out with Fox’s team, I like the future.
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Yeah… I agree with what you said. We may end up with the worst team and record. Seriously our best wins are over Tech, Vandy and Texas. And we are 1-7 in conference play. We have a right to be upset. It’s unexceptable for our school. We deserve better and it makes me sick to Tennessee and Auburn doing good and we always fail in BB it’s disgusting.
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Not everybody is able to achieve what CBS has as < 25 % of JUCOs actually work out. The lack of sound academics or character issues (& size,development) ….) is that monkey they can’t overcome. Yet Aaron beat the odds and developed into one fine NFL qb.
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I think this is unremarkable in either instance, given that it is my understanding that Kansas is the #1 state for juco football, I believe…
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Eric Mangino may be the worst thing that ever happened to Kansas football. He came in, and through will or magic produced several REALLY good teams in the midst of a sea of despair. He gave them unrealistic expectations for Kansas football. Once he was gone so was the magic. Now mediocre if truly the ceiling for Kansas. They produce what, maybe 1-2 true D1 prospects in the state each year. If you are in the surrounding state are you going to Kansas? If you are not from the Midwest why would you go there? The only D1 talent that they can count on is going to be academic or behavior rejects from EVERY other D1 school. Hell, even the University of North Texas or Tulsa is more appealing the Kansas.
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Mark (not Eric) Mangino was and is an excellent football coach who later became the OC at Iowa State and IMHO is in large part the reason for ISU’s turnaround from Big 12 doormat to a respectable program. He was probably the best football HC Kansas ever had and Kansas fired him because…wait for it…he cussed at the players. One tongue-lashing that led to his ouster came when a KU player ran back a punt for a TD, but show boated as he ran into the end zone incurring a “celebration” penalty. Mangino let the guy have it with both barrels which was caught on tape and made the rounds on social media and TV. One of Mangino’s teams went 12-1, the most wins by a Kansas team in history but they fired him for a chickenshit reason like that. Personally I think the Kansas Jayhawks are getting exactly what they deserve. That firing led directly to decent of the Kansas program into oblivion and the financial disaster with Charlie Weis. My second favorite team, after the University of Georgia, is whoever is playing Kansas.
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I had forgotten that he was fired by that. Imagine that, a college football coach raising his voice and using a few expletives. I’m sure that has never happened before or since then on a college campus.
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I like Les but he should have stayed retired, or moved to the broadcast booth.
As for Kansas, they should have gone for some Air Raid guy that flings the ball all over the place. They could get a few decent skill players and win a few games. In other words, the opposite of Miles.
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I like him as well, hate to hear things are starting out so slowly. That isn’t a good sign considering the low bar already established there. With Snyder retiring and a new regime coming in, I would have expected some excitement in the beginning. Doesn’t take long for those recruiting connections to get tarnished, or recruits to forget the titles from the aughts.
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This is not going to end well for Les. He’s 66 and should have gone into the booth. Its a little late to be starting all over with a new program at that age (I can relate). The kids will think he’s not going to be there long and won’t sign with him. Plus, he is one of the greatest offensive football minds of the 19th century. Too much to overcome.
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The reason Kansas is doing this is because there is very little HS talent in-state, but there are quite a few good JUCO football programs in the area. And, THAT’S HOW BILL SNYDER DID IT.
So, I get the why they’d be crazy to try this when it didn’t work for Weis, but it’s not as if they don’t have a highly successful model about 100 miles away or anything.
Also, for all you assholes that think Kansas is that bad, I live in said state (and Kansas City and Lawrence are definitely not bad places to live). Let me tell ya, though: you can’t convince people around here to spend 5 minutes in your Southern neck of the woods (even the good parts, like Athens and Savannah). You know why? CSA legacy, people. Pot calling kettle black: that “your state sucks” business goes all the way around.
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(Lest anyone wonder, I lived in NC and GA for 27 years and am in fact UGA ’92, so I was rather surprised to find, when I moved out this way, how people living in a “not great place to live” had firm opinions about other places in the country they would never go to. LOL at them, too, for the record.)
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When I was in Poland, they had very firm reasons why they’d never live in Romania. And Baltimore and DC feel the same way about each other.
You are right, it is a thing said all over the world, but not many places have the animus that Kansas and Missouri have for each other!
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It’s a good thing Kansas and Missouri don’t play football anymore. That animus only created over 100 years of bitter athletic competitions (the oldest west of the Mississippi). Goodness knows, we can’t have rivalries like that. It messes up the super conferences and playoffs.
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I think that animus runs back a little further than collegiate athletics.
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And deeper.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_and_Missouri
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I always liked that the Missouri-Kansas brutality was the jumping off point for The Outlaw Josey Wales.
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If gastric lives in Kansas, then we know why it sucks.
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I wonder what all those JuCos do to Kansas’ Graduation Rate?
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In fairness, it’s Kansas. It’s almost impossible to win there, and the highs don’t last long. Mason and Mangino only combined for 7 winning seasons in their 17 years, and they’re by far the most successful coaches in eons at Kansas. Mason’s second best season was 8-4, and Mangino’s was 8-5.
I don’t know if Jucos are a solution, as I’ve never seen anyone be successful with that formula outside of Snyder, but I don’t think there’s an actual formula for success there. Unless you consider hoping you luck into enough overachievers that break out as upperclassman a formula.
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…the style of play and community these players will….in the community…will…uh….uh… Geez…I’m having a moment here….did I forget to do something?
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