Print edition: 
It was over. Mark Mangino walked through the celebrating Missouri fans, found Gary Pinkel in the center of the field and shook his hand. Then the Kansas football coach turned around and, perhaps for the last time, walked back toward the KU sideline.
All week, Mangino's world had the air of a funeral. An investigation into his behavior toward players had prompted calls for his dismissal, divided the KU nation and, even among his staunchest supporters, led to one overriding belief: The guy who had turned Kansas football around was finished as a Jayhawk.
There would be no relief Saturday night. After leading for much of the game, the Jayhawks coughed up the lead against their archrival in the final seconds. Missouri 41, Kansas 39.
"There were so many who thought we were going to come out tonight, roll over and play dead," Mangino said.
People thought that because the focus has been entirely on Mangino's potential ouster. Though his season is over, he still faces the investigation into his conduct, still wakes every day with calls for his removal and still has a boss many fans believe is itching to get rid of him.
"In my opinion, this is about (athletic director) Lew Perkins and wanting to bring in his own coach," said former Kansas football coach Don Fambrough, echoing dozens of other Mangino supporters interviewed for this story.
Others feel torn between the allegations against Mangino — that he physically and mentally abused his players — and loyalty to him for transforming a laughable program into a winner.
Those divisions were clear as fans filed out of Arrowhead Stadium, digesting Kansas' seventh straight loss.
"I'm really being candid: I like what Lew's done and I like what Mangino's done and I really believe this thing will be settled by the facts — at least I hope so," former KU quarterback Bobby Douglass said. "Let's hope politics don't settle in here."
Mangino himself weighed in this week in the days leading up to the Border War. Asked whether he was an embattled coach now fighting for his career at Kansas, Mangino tried to dodge the question.
"Let me tell you this, I think every day as a college football coach or a coach at any level, every day is a rough and tumble," he said.
But this rough and tumble? A fight for your reputation and your future?
Mangino laughed.
"Yeah," he said, with an air, for the first time, of certainty. "You bet. This is really a big battle."
On Saturday, as he walked off the field, it was hard not to think he'd just lost it.
* * *
Three days earlier, dozens of fans clustered outside the south end zone at Memorial Stadium in Lawrence. The gathering had been billed as a no-politics, no-choosing-sides show of support for the players.
But many of the rank-and-file fans who'd waited here wanted the moment to morph into a full-fledged Mangino-support movement. Most were angry, frustrated and firmly on the coach's side.
"To me, it's the pot calling the kettle black," said Doug Reynolds, 59. "Perkins sure has some issues and there have been some allegations of how he treats people. And all the things that supposedly happened (with Mangino) happened on his watch. Where's he been these past five years?"
Reynolds rattled off things he says Perkins has done that match what Mangino is accused of: Moving the Border War game to Arrowhead at the expense of local merchants. Kicking fans out of their seats at Allen Fieldhouse. Interacting without enough compassion toward those affected by his decisions.
"It's gotten too personal," Reynolds said. His older brother, standing by, nodded.
"They're both strong personalities," said Russ Reynolds, 64. "The way it was handled publicly, it's clear they had an ulterior motive."
Through a spokesman, Perkins declined to be interviewed for this story or respond to those who believe politics, more than Mangino's behavior, set the investigation into motion.
That concern has been the crux of the argument for those who find themselves backing Mangino over Perkins. Many believe the investigation should never have been made public, not if there was even a small chance of Mangino returning in 2010.
It's also a sticking point for those who feel torn between the two men — a celebrated athletic director who has more than doubled KU's budget, improved facilities and overseen a NCAA basketball title, and a celebrated coach who has brought pride and unprecedented success to KU's football program.
Even how much — if anything at all — Mangino has done wrong serves as a source of disagreement among fans. Some say the alleged behavior is nothing more than every-day, head-football-coach antics. Others say Mangino crossed lines, but not so far that he should be fired.
"Maybe he did get carried away a couple of times," Douglass said, while stressing he'll wait for the report to make any final conclusions. "If so, are we going to set down a law that says we won't accept any of that or, in my opinion, be logical about it and say, 'Well, he needs to be reprimanded.' "
Bridget O'Keefe is a gregarious fan — she's been known to break into dance after a Kansas victory over Missouri — but she looked downright depressed when talk turned to Mangino and Perkins.
"I am so torn over this thing," said O'Keefe, 44. "I have no idea what to think. It's so hard. If he was winning none of this would be coming out. This is the way he's always coached, the way he'll always coach, and if he was winning this wouldn't happen. I've been really putting a lot of thought in to this and I'm like, 'You know, if he was wining none of this stuff would be coming out.' "
Booster Dana Anderson, for whom KU's football complex is named, also hedged when asked about the schism.
"My concern is for the University of Kansas and the football program," he said. "I'm just not comfortable commenting unless I know exactly what's going on. Ideally, with the little knowledge I have, I'd wish the whole thing had happened after the season."
The one thing most folks agreed on is that Mangino has probably coached his last game as a Jayhawk. Having been accused, publicly, of improper behavior, it's hard for most to see how he returns, regardless of whether they support firing him or not.
"I think it's a damaging thing," said Grant Naugle, a KU fan. "This approach is going to affect whether candidates would want to take Mangino's place. It's going to affect recruiting."
Mangino seemed to understand just how much jeopardy he faced all week. No more aloofness, no more tough-guy, get-out-of-my-way demeanor, no more brusqueness that risked being interrupted as arrogance.
So on Wednesday, he moved from person to person, shaking hands, offering hugs, playing the part of the politician. He even kissed and gently rubbed a baby's head.
As he moved from person to person, he was offered several words of support.
When he was done shaking hands and offering hugs, Mangino acknowledged his frustration that there's a fight over his future taking place in the arena of public opinion.
"Yeah, that's what I'm most disappointed in, that to have an investigation and somebody leak it out, I'm not pleased with that," said Mangino, 53. "I don't think that's fair to me. I have seniors who are playing their last two games of perhaps their entire career. No matter what, I'm confident I'll land on my feet. No matter what. But we can't turn the clock back for these seniors. That's a regret that I think some people will carry the rest of their lives who were involved in this leak."
Asked whether politics are pushing the investigation, as his supporters claim, Mangino played the politician.
"Let me say this: If I could tell you that I knew that personally, that it was an absolutely truth (that it's political), I'd tell you," he said. "There are a lot of supporters of mine that are very close to the university. Very close and love this university. Perhaps they know more than I do. That's a possibility. For me to say I know this and am absolutely positive of it, I don't know that.
"I'll say again," he went on, "We can't make everybody happy."
* * *
Lew Perkins certainly wasn't happy. Missouri had just kicked the winning field goal, fans were charging the field and Mangino was about to make his lonely walk to the center of the scrum.
But Perkins had already left. The moment the game ended, he turned and headed off the field, alone. A little later, he could be seen by himself in an empty hallway in the bowels of the stadium. When someone called out for him, Perkins kept his eyes on the floor and his thoughts to himself.
Of all people, it was the Missouri coach who, unprompted, came to his colleague's defense.
"First of all, I've gotta say: Kansas, with all they've been going through, to battle like they did, I was very, very impressed," Pinkel said. "They really, really battled and that says an awful lot about Mark and his football team and all they've been going through."
That may not be enough for those making the decisions on Mangino's future. After the game — and the few obligatory game questions — Mangino was asked what he'd say to those people running and pushing the investigation.
He had a ready answer: Absolutely nothing.
"I have nothing to say to those people," he said. "That's not my place. I'm confident in my ability and I feel good about everything I've done."
Mangino said Saturday that he does not know when an answer will come down on his future and that he has yet to speak to Lori Williams, KU's associate athletics director for risk management, who is conducting the investigation.
"I think it'll be pretty soon," he said.
But if this was Mangino's last news conference as a Jayhawk, he was ready to go out swinging.
"When I was hired at Kansas, they told me they desperately needed discipline in the football program," he said. "The people who hired me said it was the key point. I've done that the right way and I feel good about it and I'm proud of the way I've dealt with our players in the program."
Then, for one of the first times, Mangino smiled.
"A friend of mine told me something one time that I think is a very good way to go about life," he said. "That is, 'I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees.' "
Mangino went on to say he planned to be the head coach next year. He said 99.9 percent of players embraced his coaching style. He said he coaches the way he coaches, period. He rattled off a list of good deeds done away from the football field, from counseling kids to helping with academics to shepherding young men through familial, economic and health problems.
But still, the sense of an end hung over his words. And if it was a requiem, Mangino was going to live by that motto: Better to die on your feet then live on your knees.
Coach, someone asked, would you be willing, if asked, to change your behavior — to tone things down?
"You're coming to the assumption it needs toned down," Mangino said. "We're not gonna change. There's nothing to change."
