Jan. 4, 2008

NEW ORLEANS, La. -- Kansas football coach Mark Mangino was named the winner of the 2007 Football Writer's Association of America/Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award at a reception in New Orleans.

The Eddie Robinson award is sponsored by the Tostitos Fiesta Bowl and was presented in conjunction with the BCS 1-2 game to be played in New Orleans on Monday night. The entire FWAA membership votes on the association's Coach of the Year Award, which was narrowed to eight finalists in early December.

"Mark Mangino won 11 regular-season games at a school which traditionally has not been a major player in college football," said FWAA executive director Steve Richardson. "That, in itself, is reason enough for the award to go to him."

The FWAA has honored a major-college coach with its Coach of the Year Award since 1957.

Kansas finished the 2007 season with a 12-1 record, losing only to Missouri, 36-28, in the final game of the regular season. Kansas closed out its season with a 24-21 win against Virginia Tech in the FedEx Orange Bowl Thursday night as the team won more games in a season than at any time in school history.The Jayhawks won more games in a season than at any time in school history.

Kansas has made three bowl appearances in Mangino's six seasons at the school.

Mangino, a 1987 graduate of Youngstown State, served as an assistant on Kansas State and Oklahoma staffs before arriving in Lawrence. He inherited a KU program which had not gone to a bowl game since the beginning of Big 12 play in 1996. But he took the Jayhawks to the Tangerine Bowl in 2003 during his second season. Mangino's six-year record at KU is 37-36.

The FWAA Coaching Award is named after Robinson, a coaching legend at Grambling State University for 55 years. The late Coach Rob has more Division I victories (408) than any other coach. Coach Robinson passed away on April 4, 2007. But his legacy will certainly not be forgotten. He coached his entire career at Grambling State University and produced numerous professional players and coaches as well as players who graduated and went into other professional fields.