Kansas football: How former head coaches fared in their second years

Kansas football has been a tough program to succeed at, and Les Miles is going into his second season. Here are a few former head coaches and their records in year two.

So far, it’s too early to tell whether or not the Les Miles era has been a success or failure. The three win season in 2019 was acceptable, but the expectations are only going to grow year by year. The Kansas football program does seem to be heading in the right direction under Miles, so what can we expect from the 2020 Jayhawks?

One way to establish some expectations is by looking at how former head coaches did in their second season.

Glen Mason

In his first season with the Jayhawks, Mason led the team to a meager 1-10 record before getting Kansas to a more respectable 4-7 record in 1989. Mason would go on to lead the Jayhawks to one of their best seasons ever in 1995 where Kansas finished No. 9 in the AP Poll and with a 10-2 record.

Terry Allen 

Allen took over for Mason in 1997 and had a decent first season with a 5-7 record. The following year, Kansas regressed to 4-7, and Allen would never be able to lead the Jayhawks to more than five wins in a season.

Mark Mangino

Mangino’s first team at Kansas stumbled to a 2-10 record, but he got the Jayhawks bowl eligible in year two with a 6-7 record. Mangino would end up leading Kansas to a No. 7 finish in the AP Poll and an Orange Bowl victory just a few years later.

Turner Gill

Gill’s short time in Lawrence began with a 3-9 record in 2010, and then a subpar 2-10 record the following season. Gill would be the first of four coaches the Jayhawks would hire during the 2010s.

Charlie Weis

After the disappointing Gill era, Weis finished his first season with a 1-11 record and then improved to a 3-9 record the following season. Despite the uptick, Weis was never able to get over the hump.

David Beaty 

The David Beaty era began with a winless season, the worst of all time. After that, Beaty and Kansas football were only able to scrape together a two win season.

Out of the six coaches here, four of them improved between their first and second seasons. Obviously, that doesn’t tell us a ton about how Miles will do in 2020, but it does give us a benchmark for him to meet and show us that it’s definitely possible to improve in such a short period of time.

Miles doesn’t even need to lead the Jayhawks to a bowl game or anything, just a five or even four win season would be enough. Keep in mind, Kansas hasn’t won more than three games in a season in over a decade now, and that likely won’t magically change in 2020.

Then again, a football season with a bowl win would be a nice consolation for the cancellation of the 2020 NCAA Basketball Tournament.