While most members of the media are quick and harsh in their judgement of Kansas football Coach Mark Mangino others are actually doing some fact checking and coming up with an interesting discovery: The big boy might be getting railroaded.

John Taylor from NBC sports is reporting that Mangino is the victim of a "convoluted vendetta" from athletic director Lew Perkins. 

The investigation of Mangino stems from his poking a player in the chest on October 17th when KU was 5-0.  They have now fallen to 5-5 and play Texas tomorrow. 

In calling his secret "bitch to me" meeting, Perkins or someone under his direction, sent a text message blast to the players.  Many of the players were under the impression that Mangino was calling the meeting.  In fact, Mangino had no clue the meeting was taking place. 

It is also becoming clear that Perkins or associates working at his direction leaked items to the media to paint Mangino in a bad light, further helping to discredit the coach and his program.  I have no doubt that Mangino may be Bob Knight like, but then Bob Knight was a pretty successful coach last time I looked.  But leaking negative details, simply to add to your case, is wrong.

Perkins, who did not hire Mangino, is not without sin.  Forced to flee Maryland amid an NCAA investigation, he's not necessarily a paragon of virtue either.  He was also reviled, though successful at U-Conn. By using a technique known as "polling" Perkins is trying to extricate the once beloved Mangino by finding every negative complaint against him and then funneling it to the media.  Of course the media is quick to tear someone down and this week we've read everything from Mangino has anger management issues to his weight makes him mean.  Some of it may be true, but lots of it seems to be a bit on the exaggerated side for the purpose of setting Mangino up for a fall.

There are some that believe that this inquisition might blow up in Perkins' face and that in the end, he may be the one looking for a gig.  I doubt that very much simply because having been in Mangino's shoes before, the people that make the decisions usually side on the case of the man in charge.  That's life in the city unfortunately.  I wonder what Perkins agenda is and why he's waited until now, some two or three years after several of these allegations have occurred to do something about it.

My own opinion is that Perkins wants Mangino out for some reason other than what is being presented.  Maybe it's Mangino's prickly personality.  Maybe a coach at a basketball school wants too much love for his football team.  Maybe Mangino and Perkins have other issues not known to the media.  In any case, the poking incident gave Perkins the opportunity to turn his guns on Mangino and he's been blasting away ever since.

Mark Mangino gets a lot of credit for bringing to life a dormant Kansas football program.  The question is does he have any political capital left and can he find the right people to spend it with before Lew Perkins runs him out of town.