Mark Mangino Mistreats His Players In Cruel, Exotic Ways

The hand you see here belongs to a former Kansas defensive lineman, who says that in 2003, surly parade balloon Mark Mangino made him "bear-crawl" across a hot AstroTurf field. It was punishment for missing, oh yes, a weigh-in.

The player, Cory Kipp, sought out the Lawrence Journal-World to refute Mangino's claims that he has never mistreated his players during his time in Lawrence. "I'm doing this," he tells the paper, "because I've got proof how horrible a coach he is." His account:

Kipp began the crawl and, after moving several yards, felt a burning sensation in his hands. On multiple occasions, Kipp said, he stopped to complain that the turf was burning his hands - according to a University of Arkansas report, artificial playing surfaces have been documented at up to 199 degrees in temperature - but was ordered by Mangino, who was walking alongside the crawling player, to keep going.

By the time Kipp had finished, the skin near the heel of his hand had been completely seared, and photos provided to the Journal-World depict blistering and a sizable area of missing skin.

As a result of the injury, Kipp said, he was forced to undergo extensive treatment on his hand by then-head football trainer Carol Jarosky throughout the next three weeks, and although he said at least two members of the coaching staff were aware of the injury, he was told to practice through it.

"It wasn't like because my hand was burned, I took a couple days off," Kipp said. "They made me practice."

Kipp took photos of his hand after the incident, but he decided not to report anything lest he lose playing time or even his scholarship. Mangino will now no doubt lump in Kipp with the 1 percent of KU players who don't "appreciate" his style of coaching, which style includes: taunting a kid for having an alcoholic father; threatening to send a guy back to St. Louis, where he could get shot with his "homies"; threatening to send another guy back to Oakland, where he could spend the rest of his life "drinking out of a brown paper bag"; poking and grabbing players and occasionally making them crawl across 200 degree turf for the grievous crime of missing a weigh-in. He's basically Don Rickles meets Junction Boys meets Ponderosa. It sounds like he'll be fired very soon.

Ex-player accuses Mangino of mistreatment [KUsports.com] News Flash: Mangino's fate awaits [Yahoo!]