Orlin Wagner / AP

Former Kansas football players are speaking out about the treatment they received from embattled coach Mark Mangino.

Brown and former wide receiver Dexton Fields said a player was having a bad practice one day when Mangino became exasperated. They said they did not want to embarrass the player by naming him.

“He wanted to be a lawyer,” Brown said in a telephone interview from his home in St. Louis. “He messed up, and Mangino said to his face, in front of everybody, ‘You want to be a lawyer? You’re going to be an alcoholic just like your dad.’ ”

Fields, speaking from his home in Lawrence, said he was present.

“We all knew his father had a drinking problem,” he said.

Mangino also said on the radio interview that some of the problems stemmed from players’ parents.

“I can’t do the work of some parents, what they should have done before they got to me. And some of those guys are bitter. And some that’s the problem. And I can’t do anything about that.”

After starting 5-0 and rising to No. 16 in the AP poll, the Jayhawks have lost five in a row. Mangino indicated this week that the investigation was related to the losing streak.

“I’ve seen some instances where he said some pretty mean things to people,” Fields said. “Did that motivate guys to play hard? Yes and no. It got you mad. So when you went out onto the field you had to do whatever you needed to do to take your anger out. But I don’t think it makes you a better player. The negative outweighed the positive.”

Senior quarterback Todd Reesing, a Mangino supporter, noted the program was in shambles when Mangino arrived in 2002.

“He’s always been very stern in his resolve,” Reesing said. “He came here to a team that was undisciplined and a program that lacked it and he established discipline and got guys to work hard and believe in themselves. He’s done a lot of good things. The way he’s approached football is the way a lot of coaches approach it.”

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