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Okay, sports fans, here's your existential question for today:

How much abuse of players is justified in sports? Some? None? A lot, especially if you win? Where is the line?

And if a coach crosses that line, then what?

ESPN is reporting that former Kansas football players are speaking out about verbal and physical abuse by Mark Mangino, head coach at Kansas since spring of 2002. Here's some examples:

(From Raymond Brown, a senior last year) He said that once, his younger brother had been shot in the arm in St. Louis. Then came a game.

"I dropped a pass and [Mangino] was mad," Brown said. "And I said, 'Yes, sir. Yes, sir.' The yelling didn't bother me. But then he said, 'Shut up!' He said, 'If you don't shut up, I'm going to send you back to St. Louis so you can get shot with your homies.'"

"So you can get shot with your homies." After your younger brother has been shot. Wow.

But there's more:

Brown said another teammate had confided in the team that his father was an alcoholic and the player dreamed of becoming a lawyer.

"One day, [Mangino] said in front of the entire team, 'Are you going to be a lawyer or do you want to become an alcoholic like your Dad?' " Brown said.

Read the story. Read the other stories. Catalog the grabbing, the poking, the insults, the emotional abuse. Then ask yourself: If you were the AD at this school, and this was your coach, what would you do?

I don't even have to think twice. A coach that did this at my institution would be gone. One chance, maybe two, and then it's Buyout City and time for a search committee.

Bobby Knight kicking and choking his players? Gone.

Tom Cable punching his assistant coach? Gone.

Shaunte Fremin forcing her players to play injured, and threatening to pull scholarships if they didn't? Gone.

So, what's it going to be, Kansas? Are we going to be able to chant "Rock, Chalk, Jayhawk" with enthusiasm, knowing that you did the right thing? Or are you going to succumb to the standard temptation in sports:

"But, he's winning."

Time to choose.