Orange Bowl notes
Mangino fan club
Kansas coach Mark Mangino will have a large group of friends and family from his native western Pennsylvania in attendance tonight.
“A lot of my friends back home have had more fun than I’ve had during this run here at Kansas,” Mangino said. “As far as me personally, those guys would be my friend if I was out there digging a ditch somewhere. It’s just they’re excited it’s one of them. One of their guys that’s having this opportunity to coach in the Big 12. Having an opportunity to coach in the Orange Bowl.”
Mangino expressed the irony that he, of all his friends, is the one people recognize. Many of them are doctors, lawyers and corporate executives, he says.
“I have a friend who is a doctor, and he’s keeping people alive,” Mangino said. “He’s a cardiologist. And he has patents on different things for heart disease. Nobody knows him. I coach football, and it’s a big deal. That’s the way our society is.”
Stay away from the jet skis
Virginia Tech may leave the Orange Bowl tomorrow and never jet ski again. Hokies linebacker Vince Hall bruised his knee while jet skiing on the Atlantic Ocean this week.
So Virginia Tech could have to play tonight without one of its best defensive players.
“It will be a game-time decision,” Virginia Tech coach Frank Beamer said.The Hokies will go with Brett Warren if Hall can’t play.
Mangino keeps things loose
Mangino was told that quarterback Todd Reesing said the coach liked to joke with the players, specifically Reesing.
“Well,” Mangino said, “I do it not just specifically to Reesing. He thinks it’s exclusive to him (smiling). He’d like to think that. But I do it with everybody. And that’s my way of keeping people loose. You know, we’re playing a football game. We’re not going to fight a war. The kids should enjoy the experience. I tell jokes, and sometimes I don’t tell jokes either. Does (Reesing) tell you about the other things I tell him?”
Mangino was asked whether he would relay one of his jokes.
“No,” he said. “It’s exclusive to our team. I only have so much material. I don’t want it to get out (smiling).”
Loyal to KU
Mangino explained why he is not concerned with any of the current job openings in college football.
“I’ve made myself pretty clear from the outset that we not only have a good football team this year, we’re going to be even better next year,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere. I never say never, but the grass isn’t always greener on the other side.
“I’ve invested a lot of hard work and time at Kansas in the face of adversity, among doubters for much of my time here. We’re getting it where we want it to be.”
Beamer: Defensive pressure is key
Beamer wasn’t convinced that his defense’s success would hinge on star cornerbacks Brandon Flowers and Macho Harris against KU’s talented wide receivers.
“I don’t think it will come down to those matchups as much as it will to get some pressure on Kansas,” Beamer said. “That’s going to be the real issue, trying to get the ball out of there a little sooner than Kansas would like.”
kcstar.com