For this reason I think you'd have to say CPR has done less with more than any other recent ISU coach. He has no excuse, whatsoever. I think you'd have to rank him below Walden and even Criner, who did whatever they did with nothing.
Bowl or Bust
- Thread starter Haverhill
- Start date
So because something is hard and hasn't been achieved before then we shouldn't aspire to it? Is freaking 8 wins really too much to aspire to? That's sweeping the non-conference and winning 5-4 in conference. That would make us a mediocre team. I sure hope the people that run the AD don't think that settling for 5 win years is acceptable.
Not only is it awful, it's just patently incorrect. In our recent history we could have had Harbaugh or Brian Kelly. We didn't go that way but my god lets not act like it's impossible.
I will say this, we would likely be able to get a coach that would make the people on this board confident we can beat UNI. We don't currently.
I aspire to do all those things. I also recognize that Iowa State is the toughest job in the Big 12. I also recognize that we have had a lot of very good coaches who have had success and then had struggles later. Paul Rhoads is included in that group. What I am saying is that we have had 2 bad years in a row. We have suffered from tons of injuries and some tough narrow losses in that time. Let's see what happens in the coming year and then make an assessment without all these dire predictions that we are going to have a disastrous season.
IMO, we will have an improved team this coming year. Whether that translates into wins, I do not know. And neither do you. IMO, it is better to have a positive attitude and outlook rather than a self defeating negative outlook.
Or is that the way you do things? Saying that you demand 8 wins from our football coach does not make it more likely to occur. That is just stupidity. We have a pretty good staff, with the majority of them here for just over a year now. Let's give them a real shot and cut the negativity while they give their best efforts to give us wins.
I don't think any coach will be immediately successful, including the one we currently have. In fact I don't think any coach will have any measurable success on a 2-3 year timeframe. That's why I'm frustrated even by the notion that Rhoads could keep his job with 4 or 5 wins. His ability to recruit is decimated.
I am confidant we will beat UNI. And Iowa as well.
FTR, Harbaugh and Brian Kelly applied for the job in the fall of 2006. When Chizik left we did not have candidates like that apply for the Iowa State job. The Gene Chizik Era showed just how difficult the job at ISU was and is today.
Changing coaches every couple of years has not worked too well for Kansas football. Why not? You make it sound so simple.
The Big 12 Conference almost disintegrating probably did not help us at all in recruiting. That, injuries and some recruiting misses........we had a ton of attrition due to homesickness of all things......have not helped.
IMO, Rhoads gives us the best chance of success over the next few years.
Because it's a difficult job? The same as ISU? I'm willing to acknowledge it's probably a 25% probability that we get a good coach here in with the next hire. I'd put Rhoads' ability at getting the point back to even mediocre at 5%. We obviously differ in that opinion and that's okay. Neither one is more valid than the other, and neither one makes either of us a better or worse fan.
Of course the team will be improved. The team might have had arguably the worst defense in a power league last year, and probably one of the worst offenses in a power league. That shouldn't be in question, it's almost impossible to even hold the status quo when they were as awful as they were last year.
1) If you'd actually read, I said "let's assume we win less than 5 next year". If Rhoads wins 6+, then I'll be a happy fan and happy to have him continue as our coach. But we were talking hypotheticals (that's allowed on a message board right?) about next year.
2) When has Kansas given a coach 7 years? Your example isn't even close to being applicable.
Excuses get old after so long, I bet if one of CPR's guys complained about something being too hard he wouldn't give them the leniency we've given the program.
And where are all of these tough narrow losses? Last year we beaten handily by 7 teams, 3 narrow losses, oh and our 2 wins were narrow wins. Hell, we were flat out embarrassed by TCU, to the point where TCU was giving us mercy, like we're play freshman HS football. You make it sound like we are so close to flipping it around and being a good team, when the reality is we were a couple plays away from not winning any games last year. I for one have gotten tired of that.
The ISU job is a difficult one because the program has never been successful and because it's not located in fertile recruiting grounds. However, that doesn't mean the fans should rollover and be happy with a couple wins a year. The AD has made football a priority the last several years and made the facilities top-notch. The only thing missing is the right staff. The right staff here is defined as a group of coaches that can recruit the right personnel and develop them over the player's 4 to 5 years. When that happens, ISU football can focus on going to bowl games and being respectable. Until then, well, you know.
Being content with Paul Rhoads doesn't stir up support for more projects to reach "top-notch" status either. Justifying additional facilities to lure a better coach than Paul could work though.
The facilities are not average as you're alluding to. They are on-par with most of the elite programs in a lot of ways. Are they the biggest, brightest and best? No, but they aren't just average either. Recruits have been stating as much for the last few years. You know, the kids that have been to these different colleges and have seen what they are using. That's really the only metric worth noting when it comes to recruiting.
There is a difference between a two star recruit calling a facility elite compared to a four star recruit making the same statement.
Why? If the kid has seen the facilities at OU, for instance, and then sees ISU's and thinks more highly of them, why does it matter? Are 4* kids more intelligent?