Mangino: KU will keep 'sawing wood'

So what will Kansas coach Mark Mangino and his program do for an encore on the heels of delivering the best season a Jayhawks football history?

You guessed. It's right back to sawing that wood.

Following a 12-1 season that ended with Kansas beating Virginia Tech 24-21 in the Orange Bowl and earning a No. 7 ranking in the final Associated Press poll, Mangino isn't about to stray from the formula for success. That means more "sawing wood"  -- the team's catch-phrase for 2007, which served as a constant reminder to never let up.

"We do the same things every day, whether things are going great or whether things are not going so well, because we believe as players and coaches in what we're doing," Mangino said Tuesday at the Big 12 Conference's football media days. "We keep things even. Pretty simple. I know you get tired of clichés  -- and I would, too, if I were you  -- but it's true.

"We take each day one at a time. We focus on the task at hand and we keep zeroed in on what we're trying to accomplish."

After all, Mangino admits the Jayhawks are only human. After a season like 2007, it would be easy not to want to bask in the afterglow, at least a little bit.

Mangino is determined not to let it happen. Following the team's awards banquet just prior to the start of spring practice, he declared that it was time for everyone in the program to cease talking about the magical 2007 season and turn the page.

"We're human, but we're not going to let that affect the way we prepare, the way we work, our mindset  -- we're not going to let those kinds of things affect us," Mangino said. "As I say all the time around our program, and it's been used a lot, but I mean it sincerely: We just stay at it, keep after it and keep sawing wood. Just keep going."

Besides the obvious answer, exactly how do you improve upon 12-1 if you're Kansas?

"You work on filling the voids in the games where you didn't do as well as you should have or execute the way you should have," Kansas free safety Darrell Stuckey said. "I think we have a lot of room for us to get better."

While all the Rock-Chalkers have to be thrilled with what transpired on the gridiron last season, Mangino has been around long enough to know that the expectations of fans are insatiable. Past experience as an assistant coach at Kansas State and Oklahoma taught him that.

As Mangino sees it, facing high expectations isn't necessarily a bad thing. It means his program has arrived. Football will always play second fiddle to basketball at KU, but it would seem that the gap is closing.

"We embrace those expectations," Mangino said. "Because there was a time when I first arrived here that there were no expectations for Kansas's football program."

Still, there's plenty of work to do. Kansas lost defense coordinator Bill Young. Offensive play-makers like wide receiver Marcus Henry and running back Brandon McAnderson will have to be replaced as well as a pair of offensive tackles and All-Big 12 cornerback Aquib Talib.

The schedule will also be more challenging. In addition to playing a non-conference road game at South Florida, the Jayhawks trade Baylor, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M on their South Division schedule rotation for Oklahoma, Texas and Texas Tech.

"We're not really as good as we need to be today," Mangino said. "I'd like to think by the end of August we'll be pretty good football team, but we are looking forward to the season with the same great expectations that our fans have."

Certainly, it seems the Jayhawks have plenty of motivation to keep sawing wood.



Terry Douglass is sports editor for The Independent.