Lew Perkins has never struck me as a dumb man. I don’t think he’d extend the contract of a coach (at 3x his previous salary) whose program was on the hook for major NCAA penalties. I don’t know what the Athletic Department knows, I only know what I suppose.

From the KC Star:

“Kansas football coach Mark Mangino has signed a new contract that will keep him in Lawrence through the end of the 2010 season, a source told The Kansas City Star on Thursday.

The source said Mangino’s new, five-year deal is worth approximately $1.5 million a year. That’s almost three times as much as his old contract, which paid about $650,000 annually and was set to expire after the 2008 campaign.”

     Happy Days are here again 

At least according to some.

Kansas (25:1) fits the definition of a sleeper in the Big 12 for a couple of reasons. The first is that they play in the Big 12 North, and they get to avoid Oklahoma, Texas, and Texas Tech in the regular season. That makes for a pretty soft schedule.

The Jayhawks’ offense will lead the way this year even though they have a freshman at quarterback with Kerry Meier. Defensively, this team was very solid overall last year, and the run defense was tremendous.

The loss of eight starters on “D” dampers the spirit somewhat, but there is a lot of optimism on campus this year and Kansas is a team to keep an eye on.

Texas is favored to win here.

Mike DeCourcy has some advice for the superstars of tomorrow, and BRush gets a little writerly advice:

Brandon Rush, Kansas: attacking. In order to make a point about a certain player’s needing to be more aggressive on offense, you’ll sometimes hear a television analyst — or even a coach — say the guy in question has to be “more selfish.”

Wrong. It’s not selfish for LaDainian Tomlinson to run forward with a football while a bunch of guys block for him. It’s Tomlinson’s job. He gets the glory, but that’s the game. And so it is with Rush. His first job is to score, and 13.5 points per game for a player with his skills (47.2 percent on 3-pointers) getting his minutes (31.7 per game) isn’t enough.

Rush has to be hungrier. The best way to show he has changed is by driving the ball into the lane, not by simply taking more shots. He attempted only 71 free throws last season — one every 14.7 minutes. Only one Jayhawks regular shot free throws less frequently.

Good advice methinks.

The whole story of the strange Micah Downs midnight disappearance is now starting to come out. His dad called friend of Phog Blog Tom Keegan out of the blue this week and explained that he (Steve Downs) was disappointed that Micah had left.

“He hasn’t spoken to me for months now,” Steven said of Micah. “We have personal issues because of his girlfriend. I never approved of her. … My wife is heartbroken over the situation.”

In the message-board world in which we live, nobody is spared from criticism. That’s life, but Steven Downs doesn’t have to like it.

“I don’t like the way people talk about coach Self,” he said. “That man is a good Christian man. I will stand behind Bill Self ’til the day he dies. He doesn’t get the credit he deserves. He’s good with X’s and O’s. … I just want everybody to know in Lawrence that Bill Self is good for Lawrence. It wasn’t Bill at all. It was Micah’s own fault, man. You can’t blame the coach or the staff.”

This seems to mesh with what happened, so I don’t doubt Steve. I might question whether calling his son out in the newspaper is the best way to reconcile things, but his story explains the facts, which is more than any of the rumors did.

And here the weird go pro:

He said his wife, Gerri, attempted to speak with her son at the home of the girlfriend’s parents over the Christmas holidays, but “had no luck.”

“I just think Micah’s a confused young man,” Steven said. “I just really believe the wrong people have gotten in his ear.”

Okay, maybe not so much on the friend thing. But we are back, and this time we’re going to make a habit of it to be here.

Honestly. No, seriously. We swear!

This week’s episode is sans Jeremy, but we’ve got a great interview nonetheless. Kevin Flaherty, former football beat writer for the University Daily Kansan and now a staff writer for Phog.net, helps break down the Jayhawk squad for the coming year.

What can fans expect for the coming year? What players are ready to make an impact? And just what the heck is going on over in Manhattan?

It’s a long episode this week (about 45 minutes), but it’s full of great stuff! So listen, enjoy, and e-mail any questions or comments to phogblog@gmail.com.

Listen here:

Or download here.

One more option for those who just have flash but no like Quicktime

Thanks to reader Michael for sending this in. KU’s own Brandon Rush is a pre-season All American, at least to Dick Vitale.

My guess is that he’ll be getting a lot of attention for this honor if DV is saying so.

Here’s the rest of his selections:

FIRST TEAM
C: Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina

F: Joakim Noah, Florida

F: Brandon Rush, Kansas

G: Arron Afflalo, UCLA

G: Jarrius Jackson, Texas Tech

SECOND TEAM

C: Glen Davis, LSU

F: Josh McRoberts, Duke

F: Corey Brewer, Florida

G: Alando Tucker, Wisconsin

G: Ronald Steele, Alabama

THIRD TEAM
C: Aaron Gray, Pittsburgh

F: Nick Fazekas, Nevada

F: Jared Dudley, Boston College

G: Chris Lofton, Tennessee

G: Taurean Green, Florida

FOURTH TEAM
C: Roy Hibbert, Georgetown

F: Al Horford, Florida

F: Richard Roby, Colorado

G: JamesOn Curry, Oklahoma State

G: Sean Singletary, Virginia

FIFTH TEAM
C: David Padgett, Louisville

F: DJ White, Indiana

F: Curtis Sumpter, Villanova

G: Brandon Heath, San Diego State

G: Dominic James, Marquette

SIXTH TEAM
C: Jermareo Davidson, Alabama

F: Joseph Jones, Texas A&M

F: Marcus Williams, Arizona

G: Adam Haluska, Iowa

G: Kammron Taylor, Wisconsin

When KSU fans come here and gloat about a recruit that hasn’t made it to campus yet as a player, I’m tempted to remind them of the bovine excrement caking their shoeless feet.

But if I wait long enough, their own players do it for me.

Tyler Hughes, the XBox Live loving gentle giant who playes for the Cats, has been dismissed from the team but has his picture on the net as a newly registered sex offender.

In my opinion, the sex offender laws are pretty murky during those transitive years between 16 and 19, and my guess is that this is probably no more than a misunderstanding or misappropriation of the law, but it doesn’t look good for KSU at present.

Here’s the link to Kansas’ official page on him.

UPDATE: Never mind my soft words here. Despite Hughes’ father’s denials, this really doesn’t look pleasant.

The Mercury has learned from Johnson Country District Attorney Paul Morrison that there were two victims, both males and under the age of 14, and that Hughes pled guilty to a single charge.

The Mercury has confirmed that the indecent activities went on for a number of years.

Morrison said that the charges did not come until several years after the incident, which he said was uncommon, but not totally rare.

Lewd fondling of two boys under 14 that took place for a number of years.

Link to Manhattan Mercury story from which above quote was pulled.

According to Phog.net, Kyle Singler will be in The Phog for Late Night.  He’ll be taking an official visit to KU during the weekend of October 14.

OK KU fans.  Let’s show the nation’s #1 ranked SF some love!  Signs, shirts, and smiles all around.  Everybody should know this kid’s name!

Jeff Goodman of Fox Sports notes that Nebraska is in the running for a couple of well-regarded coaches, but their chances of success depend on making a quick hire.

“Nebraska AD Steve Pederson has already met with Texas-El Paso coach Doc Sadler and reached out to South Alabama in an effort to find out the status of its coach, John Pelphrey. As reported by FOXSports.com on Thursday, Sadler and Pelphrey are two names that have emerged to replace former Cornhuskers coach Barry Collier, who left to become the athletic director at Butler last week.

According to sources, Pelphrey would be interested, because of his desire to eventually coach somewhere that he can recruit elite talent, coach a national program and consistently reach the NCAA tournament.

Pelphrey has watched his buddy, Billy Donovan, do it at Florida - but the big difference is that Nebraska doesn’t have much talent in its state while Donovan was able to recruit the Sunshine State and also go out of the area and lure big-time recruits.”

I think Pelphry would be a coup for Nebraska, and the Florida comparison points this up. Jeff Goodman also notes that standout recruit Bill Walker will likely go to K-State if he lands in college at all, and that Billy Gillespie is taking large strides on the recruiting trail, having just robbed Texas and Florida with last week’s commitment from DeAndre Jordan.

These Duke kids are pure heart. You won’t read it in the news, because Duke kids are so humble, but I have it on good authority that Duke’s sophomore phenom (and all around great guy), Josh McRoberts, actually performed back surgery on himself.

There’s another rumor circulating that Duke players all get back surgery to insert an articulating joint halfway down their spines in order to make more dramatic their heroic attempts to take charges from opposing players.

But that’s just a dirty rumor.

I - like Dick Vitale - choose to celebrate life. I predict that Dick Vitale will mention Josh McRoberts self-administered back surgery at least 20 times during the upcoming season on national TV.

Kids got heart and a brain, baby! What more could a girl want!

Link to story.

“Sherron breaks down pretty much any defense,”

Friend of PB Mic points out this Gary Parrish entry on Sportsline and snips out the best part:

On another note, Wright said the pick-up games at Kansas this summer have been intense. He didn’t hesitate when asked for the name of one guy who has been impressive and could surprise with his impact on this team.

“Sherron Collins is looking exceptional,” Wright said. “His ball-handling is great. His quickness is great.”

Collins is a 5-11 freshman point guard from Chicago. He was a McDonald’s All-American.

“Sherron breaks down pretty much any defense,” Wright said. “He’s just smooth with the ball, and he makes everybody around him better.” On another note, Wright said the pick-up games at Kansas this summer have been intense. He didn’t hesitate when asked for the name of one guy who has been impressive and could surprise with his impact on this team.

Link to the rest of Parrish’s thoughts.