(05-26-2018 12:57 AM)UTEPDallas Wrote: People forget Kansas was ranked in the top 5 until they lost in the season finale vs Missouri (ranked top 5 as well) in 2007. Missouri won the North Division and played in the Big XII CCG vs Oklahoma. The Orange Bowl picked Kansas over Missouri because they believed KU would bring more fans to Miami than Mizzou. #8 Kansas beat #5 Virginia Tech. This was in the old Big XII which was as strong as the SEC from top to bottom. They haven’t been the same since they fired their coach (Mangiano?).
What I’m saying is Kansas with the right coach can be successful. They’ve done it before. Lawrence is a great college town not too far from Kansas City. They play in a P5 conference and it’s a blue blood in basketball. It shouldn’t be that hard to recruit.
There is no reason KU shouldn't be competitive in football. Like you say, it's a P5 school in a great college town near a major metropolitan area. They have fallen behind in facilities, but if their new AD can get their big money donors behind the program, it can happen.
KU caught lightning in a bottle in the late 2000's:
1) They had a good (but sadly lacking in people skills) coach.
2) Kansas State was in the middle of the first Snyder retirement, and had slipped. Ironically, Mangino did things the K-State way in many respects, including recruiting of local junior college players and weak non-conference scheduling. It's hard for KU and K-State to sustain success at the same time due to the lack of population and recruiting base in that area.
3) They had a favorable schedule in the Big 12 North that year, missing the powers from the South. In the old Big 12, teams played 8 conference games, including 5 from the same division. The Big 12 North of that era was balanced, as Nebraska had already slipped from dominance. The round-robin 9 game schedule in the current Big 12 hurts teams like KU, as they have to play the powers in the South every year, and have one less non-conference game that could be used on a creampuff. Of course, KU football today does well to be competitive with an FCS team. They have a long way to go.
