Success could make KU’s Mangino more attractive to other programs

LAWRENCE | If Kansas does as expected and plays in back-to-back bowl games for the first time in school history, KU athletic director Lew Perkins will more than likely have to listen to more talk about his coach leaving for other programs than he did this offseason.

Wake Forest athletic director Ron Wellman can attest to that. Wellman saw firsthand how interest from other schools in his football coach, Jim Grobe, increased after Grobe followed up his seemingly miraculous 11-3 season in 2006 with a respectable 9-4 effort in 2007. It was even rumored that Wellman had lost Grobe to the more-established Arkansas program, but Grobe decided to stay at Wake Forest.

“Everyone is looking for a consistently good program, and once a coach proves that he can produce that type of program, then there are going to be suitors interested in that individual,” Wellman said. “The fact that we proved last year that the previous year was not a fluke certainly proves to everyone that this is going to be a championship-caliber program. And that obviously increases the credibility of the coach of that program.”

Coming from the other side of the situation was Arkansas athletic director Jeff Long, who lost out on Grobe and hired Bobby Petrino from the Atlanta Falcons. Long would not say whether Mangino was a strong candidate for the Arkansas job.

“What Coach Mangino has done there, the way he’s turned that program, is a credit,” Long said. “Will they be able to maintain that high level this year? Certainly, if they do that, the schedule gets tougher, and if he keeps it going, absolutely that will raise his level of awareness across the country with athletic directors who may be looking for a football coach.”

Mangino, despite being the consensus national coach of the year, did not receive much buzz in the coaching searches last offseason — at least publicly. Maybe it was because he didn’t want to leave Kansas and he knew that a $2.3 million-a-year extension through 2012 was on the way. Or maybe it was because he didn’t actually get a lot of consideration.

The comparison to Grobe is valid because of the similarities between the Kansas and Wake Forest programs, both of which came out of nowhere to play in the Orange Bowl.

“There was interest in (Grobe) in both years,” Wellman said, “but in terms of the number of schools, there were probably more last year than the Orange Bowl year.”

Wellman, glad to have Grobe back in charge this season, acknowledged that more coaches are interested in staying at their current homes than jumping at the first big-name job that comes available. Just this year, Grobe stayed at Wake Forest, and Greg Schiano spurned interest from Michigan to stay at Rutgers. Mangino, with his new contract, certainly appears comfortable at KU.

“Coaches want security, and universities are willing to provide that security,” Wellman said, “whereas way back when, the terms of contracts were not nearly as lengthy as in some cases they are today.”

After the Orange Bowl season, Grobe signed a 10-year extension with Wake Forest.

“That’s a pretty good feeling for a coach to be on that type of contractual obligation from the university,” Wellman said. “And, secondly, programs that have not been all that powerful in the past, like Kansas and Wake Forest, coaches realize that with the right commitment, those coaches can be very successful as well. Coach Mangino and Jim are both proving that can be the case. In the past, that may not have been nearly as realistic.”