Sports Radio Interviews

Jocques Crawford on Mark Mangino: “He made me get to the point where I just didn’t have any love for the game anymore.”

Former Kansas football players are speaking out about the treatment they received from Kansas head coach, Mark Mangino. The allegations are both physical and verbal abuse. Are these kids just being soft? Some might ,but there is a fine line between being scolded and abused. I myself played football and I have had coaches grab my facemask and scream and yell at me and an occasional kick in the butt. But not quite to the extent of Mangino’s “abuse.” Jocques Crawford, who once played for Mangino at Kansas, has since transferred to Tennessee Tech where he feels he is wanted and will be eligible to play next year. Crawford left the university because he couldn’t take being verbally and physically abused over and over and mistreated over a situation that occurred with another player (see the quotes below with what happened with Ben Leuken.)

Some people want to just laugh off the tactics of Mangino as being a tough guy bullying tough football players. After all, football is a brutal game and coaches should be allowed to push and bully their players within reason. But Mangino has repeatedly crossed the line time and time again and for that his former players are coming forward to “air out their dirty laundry” on him. Another former player, Raymond Brown, says he once dropped a pass in practice and Mangino threatened to send him home, where he might be shot like his little brother had been only days earlier. That is down right dirty for Mangino to stoop that low and to say that to a young man. I don’t blame these players for coming out and lobbying for “Jabba the Hutt” to get fired.

Jocques Crawford joined WHB in Kansas Cityto talk about why he decided to tweet about his experiences with Mark Mangino in Kansas, why he decided to leave Kansas, what happened in the situation where Ben Lueken was injured, and what happened during the aftermath when Ben Leuken was injured.

On why he decided to tweet about his experiences with Mark Mangino in Kansas:

“Well just having a basic conversation with one of the guys that I knew at Kansas but he is no longer there no more. I just want to say that it was ironic because I wasn’t aware of the situation that happened there with Arist and Coach Mangino and the night before that when the allegations were brought I had been tweeting about my situation and the reason why I left. I just find that kind of ironic and I don’t want anyone to  think that everybody is stepping up now because Arist did. I had no idea about what happened the previous time with Arist and Mangino.”

On why he decided to leave Kansas:

“The reason that I am not at Kansasanymore is because Mangino. He made me get to the point where I just didn’t have any love for the game anymore. I had been playing football since I was six years old and not one time have I ever been treated, verbally abused, physically abused by any coach. So when I got to KansasI loved Knasas. I was excited about being there and once I got there probably two weeks after two-a-days that is when I saw the really Mark Mangino come out and he would say stuff that would make you feel ashamed of where you come from.”

On what happened in the situation where Ben Lueken was injured:

“Mangino wouldn’t let me speak out to the press or tell my side of the story at all. That night when Ben Lueken was injured, me and Joe Lewis were sitting in my truck alone in the Towers parking lot talking with a couple of my teammates and Ben comes into the parking lot and he is belligerent yelling and kicking cars and things. We are trying to calm him down but Ben is a big guy so there is not many people who are trying to step and calm this guy down especially when he is drunk like that. Ben starts coming up to my truck and start kicking it. I don’t know what he is mad about but he kicked on my truck and so I am like: I am about to leave so Joe was like: Why don’t we just go? So Ben continues to kick on my truck and I put my car in drive and Ben hops on my hood so I am like: Ben get off. But at this time I am not even pushing the gas. The truck is in drive I am just letting it ease off and I put on the brake kind of. So I yell out the window: Ben get off. Ben get off. He wouldn’t get off so I hit my brakes. Ben stumbles off of my truck, he wasn’t standing on all fours on my hood he was just leaning over the hood. So I hit my brakes, Ben stumbles back and he just falls right back on his head. So I get out the truck and everybody is like: Oh my god he is bleeding from the back of his head, which he really ended up getting one stitch but he was bleeding out his ear. That is where the blood was coming from and so guys kind of… In a situation that happened in the summer I got in trouble for being the person who broke up a fight between the basketball players and the football players so in my mind I was like we got to get out of here. I got into trouble for breaking up fights and they told me that any time an altercation comes up to just get out of there. So I wasn’t in the right mind frame of staying there and making sure he is alright because my other teammates were. So we all left once we saw the campus police come. I felt kind of bad so I came back to the scene probably about five minutes later and they said he had been taken to the hospital and I called all of my teammates. No one knew where he went so I just called from hospital to hospital, you know from Morris to Kansas City and I found out that is where he was.”

On him being told to leave a place when something gets out of hand or in trouble:

“Exactly. I just want to put that on the record. Mangino and Coach Warner themselves, anytime an altercation came about or anything like that because of my reputation and I guess how the media was putting me out there for being a top recruit, they told me if you get out ,get away from the scene.”

On what happened during the aftermath when Ben Leuken was injured:

“After that, I found out where he was. I went up there to see him everyday, just about, and I met with his father and I explained what had happened and he apologized to me. He told me that he didn’t want to put any fault on anybody and I told him that I didn’t blame Ben for being as drunk as he was. It was his birthday even though he was underage drinking. He blew a .34. I mean that is crazy but at the same time we both was in the situation and I just felt like I was suspended and Ben wasn’t suspended. He didn’t get in trouble for being drunk or anything like that but I was thrown under the bus by the media once that leaked out. Rumors were saying that I hit him on purpose. I just want to clear that up that me and Ben never had an altercation. We never been into it. Ben is one of my favorite lineman we was in the same signing class. We talked on Facebook just about everyday before we actually reported to Kansas so there was never any problems or conflicts between me and Ben at all. We even talked about it after the situation happened.”

Whether any of the players went to Mangino to try and exonerate him:

“Yes I gave reports to coach and the police, everybody who was there. They confirmed the story. They told them how drunk Ben was, how he was acting and Mangino still decided to suspend me because there was an actual investigation going on.”

Why he decided to leave Kansas:

“At this point in time I thought that the fact that he said that I had violated team rules. I thought that was outrageous. I was furious at that point in time I got suspended. I never participated in the Spring game so I was really excited. I had been doing good all spring, all the players can vouch for that, I was really out trying to get the starting spot and he suspended me. He didn’t try to hear me out or anything so I was furious that I didn’t get to workout with them team or anything. Even when Briscoe had gotten suspended he still got to workout with the team so I just felt well I am probably going to get suspended and kicked off the team anyways so I started talking to teams and he gave me the ok to talk to teams so I was like he didn’t want me here in the first place so when we had the final talk he gave me the option of staying or leaving and I just told him about how I felt about being here. I enjoyed KU and I enjoyed the experience and it was nice playing on front of 50-70,000 fans but I am going to go somewhere where I can play and I am not going to be mistreated.”

Jocques Crawford on WHB in KC with the Border Patrol PART I

Jocques Crawford on WHB in KC with the Border Patrol PART II

Tags: Big 12 football, Former Kansas football players speak out against Mangino, Jabba the Hutt, Kansas football, Kansas Jayhawks, Mangino abuse, Mangino abuses players, Mark Mangino, Mark Mangino is a bully, NCAA