Pity The Poor Jayhawks Reporter

Is Mark Mangino leaving Kansas to become the new coach at West Virginia? Well, no, obviously. Who would think that? Unfortunately for him, Lawrence Journal-World reporter Ryan Wood, who became the victim of one of them thar hoaxes.

The paper had to post a correction last night, but the damage was done. (The cached version of the story is at the end of the post.) How did all go down? A poster on a KU Fan board explains:

So here is how this deal went down....This was a very professional hoax.

Apparently, Wood gets a call around dinner from somebody that there are rumors surrounding Mangino to West Virginia and he is given the number to Neil Cornrich who is indeed Mark Mangino's agent.

Ryan calls that number and gets a very professional voicemail saying that this is the office of Neil Cornrich. Wood leaves a message.

Moments later a man calls wood claiming to be Cornrich and says he is releasing the news of Mangino and his contract negotiations with West Virginia .

Ryan posts the quotes and the story and waits call backs from the Sports Information Dept and other sources.

Eventually they call and tell Ryan he has been tricked. Wood changes he story on the website.

We feel bad for Wood, whose only real mistake was not checking Phone Cornich's number against the real one, though in a story as explosive as this one, it's a big one. But come on, random Internet people: Be nice to the beat reporters. Their lives are hard enough.

Mangino To West Virginia Rumors A Hoax [Lawrence Journal World]