Leach Weighs in on Mangino Flap

Leave it to Texas Tech coach Mike Leach to come up with a brutal assessment of the issues surrounding Kansas coach Mark Mangino and the allegations last week he has been both physically and mentally abusing his players.

Kansas athletic director Lew Perkins has launched an investigation into Mangino's actions after one of his players reported that the head coach poked him during a walk-through practice a couple weeks ago. Since then, several former players have come forth to discuss Mangino's alleged abusive behavior and sometimes mean-spirited verbal attacks.

Leach has never been guilty of playing the politically correct game and he certainly didn't disappoint during this week's Big 12 football coaches call when the subject turned to the storm Mangino is facing.

"I think you try to select the most effective way to coach your guys, but my suspicion is -- and nobody truly knows what went on in Kansas -- but my suspicion is Mark is in the middle of a witch hunt, which is unjustified," said Leach, who is known to be disciplinarian with his players. "Heaven forbid somebody should ask a guy to pay attention, focus and for the sake of his coaches and teammates pay attention. Well there are different ways to do that. Sometimes after you've asked them a number of times, you raise the bar.

"The interesting thing to me in all this murmuring is he went from hitting this guy in the face to he didn't even touch anybody, but he just said mean things to him. Well the mean man told some player some things he didn't want to hear. There is a mean man in Lubbock who tells people things they don't want to hear, too, and it's just part of it, you know."

Several coaches, however, admitted that seeing this situation become national news offers pause to be aware of their players' feelings in times when tough coaching is necessary.

"Anytime something as unfortunate as this takes place, it gives pause to look at your program," Kansas State coach Bill Snyder said. "Everything is so visible that whatever it is that comes to light everyone has to kind of reassess exactly where they are.

"It's a matter of not taking anything for granted. But by the same token, I think we are who we are. Most of us have an ingrained sense of how we coach and interact with people, interact with players."

But in Mangino's defense, Snyder said he never heard of Mangino being abusive towards players when Mangino was an assistant coach on his staff at K-State.

"That didn't happen to my knowledge and there isn't a whole lot that slips under the old radar," said Snyder, who says he has talked with Mangino about the incident. "In that respect, I think he handled players well and I think he had great respect from his players while he was here."


Bedlam Reversal

More often than not, it has been Oklahoma that has a lot riding when the Bedlam rivalry game against Oklahoma State rolls around at each regular-season end.

This year, it is the 11th-ranked Cowboys who have a great deal at stake, while at 6-5 the Sooners are simply trying to improve their second-tier bowl positioning. In eight of the 11 seasons Bob Stoops has been coaching the Sooners, this game has had some type of Big 12 South implications but not this season.

OSU (9-2, 6-1 Big 12), meanwhile, could well be looking at an at-large BCS bid with a win over its rival. It would be the first BCS bid in program history.

So how is that for a reversal of fortunes?

"That's something that some of the guys were talking about the other day," OSU offensive lineman Noah Franklin said. "Everything comes around full circle. From where we were when Andrew Lewis and I got here, it's come a long way since then."

It's a reversal many of the players had hoped they would see come to fruition but in the back of their minds had doubted.

"We definitely believed that we could put ourselves in this type of situation, just in some of the teams we've had we've just been unable at times to win those close games that we've been winning this year," senior linebacker Andre Sexton said. "We found ways to lose those games instead of win them. This year I think the maturity and experience that we've had in those situations has enabled us to pull those victories out."

Even Stoops finds the reversal a bit odd.

"This is different, but we are still in a situation where we are trying to improve our situation and that's what our focus will be on is playing the best we can and trying to make our situation better," he said.

But now for a few doses of reality for Oklahoma State as it heads into Memorial Stadium on Saturday: the Sooners own a national-best 29-game home winning streak. And despite the disparity in success this season, OU comes in as a 6 1/2-point favorite.

Thus, you have OSU coach Mike Gundy declining to get caught up in all the role reversal hoopla or the national implications talk. He knows even in a down season for the Sooners, they are still a dangerous team.

"The important thing for our players is to have a good week of practice and meetings and absorb the information in the game plan and go play hard on Saturday and with great effort," Gundy said. "No matter what is involved, what's on the line, it's important that the players play well and go play."

Brown Praises FG Kicker

When you think of the magical season second-ranked Texas is having, the initial names that pop up are quarterback Colt McCoy, wide receiver Jordan Shipley, defensive end Sergio Kindle and middle linebacker Roddrick Muckelroy.

Rarely does placekicker Hunter Lawrence's name come up.

Well, the senior is actually putting together a pretty special year, one that has been quietly key in the Longhorns' 11-0, 7-0 record that has them knocking on the doorstep of the BCS national title game. Hunter, who is at the top of every statistical kicking category in the Big 12, has converted 20-of-23 field goals this season.

During last Saturday's 51-20 win over Kansas that secured the Longhorns the South division title, Hunter was true on field goals of 49 yards (season high), 47 and 35 yards.

"He has been unbelievable. In fact as much as we've talked offensively about Colt and Jordan, Hunter has been a Most Valuable Player for us," said UT coach Mack Brown, whose team concludes the regular season Thursday night at Texas A&M. "He has just been an unbelievable weapon for us and a guy that is older, mature and very confident. I feel like he is as good a kicker as any in the country."

Brown says there is a huge comfort level to knowing you have a kicker as capable as Hunter. Having that security also affects strategy.

"When you are playing great defense like we are this year, the other team may not be scoring as much as have in the past and now you can get guaranteed points," Brown said. "You go for less fourth downs, you take less chances and you know you have a guy who can put points on the board.

"He has changed our philosophy some. We still want to be aggressive, but if we feel like it's going to be a tight game, but one the other team won't score much, we do not hesitate to send Hunter out there. The guys are blocking so well for him now because they know he's going to make it."


Quick Slants



The news continues to get worse for the Sooners. Stoops announced that center Ben Habern had surgery Saturday to repair a broken leg suffered in last week's loss to Texas Tech and that he is done for the season. Middle linebacker Ryan Reynolds also suffered a hamstring injury in that game that will keep him out against OSU. The Sooners have lost seven starters to injury this season. ... McCoy joined Florida's Tim Tebow and Houston's Case Keenum as finalists this week for the Dave O'Brien Award, given to the nation's top quarterback. ...Texas senior wide receiver Jordan Shipley is a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award, which is given to the nation's top receiver. Shipley has caught 91 balls for 1,204 yards (13.2 yards per catch) and nine touchdowns this season. The sixth-year senior has five double-digit receiving games and six 100-yard receiving games so far this season. ... Texas A&M running backs Christine Michael (116 yards) and Cyrus Gray (107) both eclipsed the 100-yard mark during Saturday's critical 38-3 win over Baylor, marking the second time this season that both have rushed for 100-plus yards in the same game. Michael also set a school record for longest touchdown run with a 97-yard touchdown sprint against the Bears. ... Missouri receiver Danario Alexander continues his late-season run, catching 34 passes for 578 yards and five touchdowns in the Tigers' last three games.