Relaxed atmosphere marks Gill's first spring at KU

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- First clue that Mark Mangino isn't at Kansas anymore:

No cussing.

"The first day, we kind of made a couple of mistakes," Jayhawks receiver Bradley McDougald. "We kind of all looked around at each other. We didn't hear anyone getting dogged out or getting cussed out."

Players are enjoying a more easy feeling around the program. (Jeff Jacobsen, KU Athletics)

New Kansas coach Turner Gill won't allow any profanity by his coaches. That, apparently, is a huge change from the previous regime that changed in December when Mangino resigned amid allegations of mistreatment of players. Gill doesn't like to dwell on those changes from the first Mangino-less spring practice in Lawrence in nine years. Besides, isn't that the way everyone does it?

To put a G rating on it: Heck, no. For eight years, Mangino was the unquestioned authority who brought Kansas from the dregs of the Big 12 to the Orange Bowl and back again considering last season's 5-7 finish. To others, he was abusive, both verbally and physically.

Either way, that's a wild ride. What is left from a whirlwind deconstruction of the KU program is a new calm over the idyllic football complex. Memorial Stadium is one of the more underrated aesthetic college football experiences on a football Saturday. The new football offices and practice field show how much AD Lew Perkins was willing to go to make football more than a little brother to the top-five basketball program.

From the offal of a program burned to its foundations has emerged at least a brighter outlook. The scandalous reports of alleged mistreatment made KU a national story for the first, and worst, time since the Orange Bowl run. Gill is the antithesis of Mangino, hired to coach up the Jayhawks, sure, but also to relate.

"He's a more family-oriented coach," McDougald said. "He believes in people values. He's really religious. That's a big difference. It's not uptight, it's not as serious at times. We are allowed to relax and smile.

"He is trying to connect with us on a personal level. We didn't have too much of that on the old coaching staff."

That tells you the fragility of egg shells players were walking on. If it wasn't for an unfortunate incident when he confronted high school officials in one of his son's football games, Mangino was going viral on YouTube after a sideline rant against a player.

Through all of it, no criminal charges were ever brought. In fact, it was reportedly a mere poke in the chest of a player during a walk-through that started the firestorm. Mangino has not surfaced publicly since his resignation that resulted in a sizable settlement with the university.

Fans might question the hiring of Turner, 20-30 in his career at Buffalo, but they cannot question his approach so far. Most of his players don't know he was a legendary quarterback at Nebraska, or that offensive coordinator Chuck Long was the runner-up to Bo Jackson for the Heisman in 1985.

"There's that feeling-each-other-out period," said Long, who was hired a year after being fired as head coach at San Diego State. "All of us have been on a transition before. It's the same story. It's learning and trust. They're trying to trust us, we're trying to trust them. It's always that battle until you get to that point, 'Hey, we're pretty good.'"

The Jayhawks have to get better quickly. They will start 2010 riding a seven-game losing streak. Nebraska is going to be favored to win the division, at least. Missouri has established itself as a top 25 program. Rival Kansas State played into November last year with a chance to win the North.

The country will be watching as Kansas, Texas Tech and South Florida work through shared experiences. Gill has a standard answer when asked about the regime he replaced: "You have to move on."

"Really, we've always been a strong-minded team," cornerback Chris Harris said. "That really had no effect on us. We were ready to start over."

Mangino was so paranoid about spies that he would seldom use the state-of-the-art practice fields. There are site lines from a nearby parking garage and a couple of houses. Mangino had the school spend $90,000 to plant trees around the fields to obstruct the view.

That seemed a bit much. This is Kansas football, not Oklahoma -- and, as Gill pointed, everybody knows what everybody is doing anyway. It's nice to see the spring is being treated like it should, with some air of informality. Basketball reserve Conner Teahan is being allowed to work in at quarterback.

It's probably a good thing that few of the Jayhawks connect Gill's playing career with his current job -- it would be too confusing. Gill is in his fifth year as a head coach, 10 games below .500 and armed with a Mid-American Conference title. The player was a superstar in Tom Osborne's I-option offense.

"I'm thinking about going home and YouTubeing him," McDougald said.

Better the current coach than the previous coach. Just don't let that tongue slip when you see coach Gill deke a linebacker back in the day. The same fate could await you, Brandon, as your coaches.

"I don't know," the receiver said, "No one's cussed yet."