N. Castle’s Mangino worth celebrating

Mark Mangino is the type of guy you like to see succeed.

Football and coaching have been his tickets to the top and most recently the coach at the University of Kansas reached one of the pinnacles of success when he was named the Associated Press Coach of the Year. And that award came prior to coaching his Jayhawks to a convincing victory over Virginia Tech in this year’s Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla.

“Little Bear” as he is known to his friends in Mahoningtown (near New Castle) had a fabulous year with the Jayhawks. He posted a 12-1 mark which was a school record, coached two All-Americans while earning a berth in the Bowl Championship Series for the first time. Not bad for a guy who played his high school football for the New Castle Red Hurricane.

Not even close

Mangino ran away with the voting for the AP Coach of the Year honors.

He collected 28 of a possible 58 votes, winning easily over runner-up Gary Pinkel of Missouri with 11, and Hawaii’s June Jones, who collected seven. The entire story held true to that theme of “local boy makes good” and they’ll be celebrating for years to come in New Castle and Mahoningtown.

There’s always a stage in one’s life when things turn out better if the right moves are made. Mangino, in 1991 got his first big break when Bill Snyder took him aboard as an assistant at Kansas State along with Youngstown’s Bob Stoops. When Stoops became the Oklahoma coach in 1999 he took the “Bear” along with him as offensive line coach and later offensive coordinator. Oklahoma won the national title in 2000 and Mangino was named the country’s top assistant. One year later Mangino decided to take the Kansas position.

Something new

Playing the first NFL game in the outdoors (a clash between the Penguins and the Sabres) may have rubbed off on the officials at Mercer Raceway Park. Not to be outdone by their counterparts in Buffalo, Mercer Raceway decided to stage a huge stock car race recently, right in the middle of winter. They called their extravaganza “Crashing Through the Snow.” And if success is measured by the amount of cars and drivers entered, (no pun intended) it had to be a smashing success. There were 108 drivers, ranging in ages 14 to 64 competing in the featured race of the evening, the Jack Frost 150 Enduro.

Three states were represented in the feature and with so many cars on the track it was hard for the drivers to really pick up the momentum.

Adding to the rugged conditions were snowfall and rain that turned the track into a hockey rink. The track was treacherous.

Walking away withe first-place and $1,000 was three-time Mercer Stock Car winner, Leigh Wheeler, who hails from Stoneboro, Pa.

Will the Raceway host another mid-winter race next year? That depends on how many dents and banged-up cars surfaced from the first one.

Academic award

The Hickory High School soccer team was recently honored for its high academic standards.

Coach Mike Pascarella was notified that his soccer team was the recipient of a Team Academic Award, presented by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.

In order to qualify for the award, a team must show a minimum grade-point average of 3.25 for the entire academic year. The Hornets showed a 3.39 GPA.

The association handed out awards to 154 boys teams and to 258 girls teams across the United States.

Congratulations to Pascarella and his entire team.