BLUM: Paul Rhoads deserves another climb

[clonedude]

Regarding Clonedude's post, of course Rhoads is to blame for last two years. It is just my belief he can still be successful. I respect your opinion to disagree and call me a "homer."

I don't mean to be condescending in any way to you as a person. You seem like a great guy and you are a fellow Cyclone fan, so what's not to like, right?

But can you just answer whether or not you think Paul would deserve another year if he was in his last year of his contract right now? And if you think he does, then fine. Everyone has a right to their opinion.

I just think if you ran a poll and asked Cyclone fans if Rhoads deserved to be signed to another extension if this was his last year, you'd get about 90% or higher thinking he should go.

This decision by JP is ALL about money. Nothing else. Of course he isn't going to say that publicly, but it is. Any other rationale used to come up with a reason for keeping him come up completely empty. It is the definition of a sinking ship.

Could he turn it around, sure. There's always a chance. Now whether or not you would sign him to an extension to find out is another question entirely.

 

[joefrog]

Regarding Clonedude's post, of course Rhoads is to blame for last two years. It is just my belief he can still be successful. I respect your opinion to disagree and call me a "homer."

And that is where people like me have to ask, what is going to change that will bring more wins? Better players? Coaches? Schemes? Looks to me like more of the same, which means a high probability of similar outcomes.

I cannot understand why ISU is doing the same things as the rest of the conference with inferior pieces. Why not go 3-4 defense? Power running game with ball control?

Where would you rank preparing to play ISU for other coaches in the conference? 9th or 10th. Without a doubt. That alone is why he should be shown the door. The only move I have seen PR make that was exciting was hiring the Manginos.

 

[Tornado man]

This decision by JP is ALL about money. Nothing else. Of course he isn't going to say that publicly, but it is. Any other rationale used to come up with a reason for keeping him come up completely empty. It is the definition of a sinking ship.

I had a university fundraiser tell me at an ISU function over the weekend that if Pollard and Leath needed $5.5 mil to buy out CPR, "they could that amount in the sofa."
This is all about Pollard's loyalty to Rhoads.

 

[Rabbuk]

Get ready to eat **** sandwiches next year boys... Remember to say thank you and pay your dues.

 

[clonedude]

No it's not. I had a university fundraiser tell me at an ISU function over the weekend that if Pollard and Leath needed $5.5 mil to buy out CPR, "they could that amount in the sofa."
This is all about Pollard's loyalty to Rhoads.

So if Rhoads' contract was over after this Saturday's game, JP would be signing him to an extension, right?

If so, my view of JP has really changed then. He should not be in charge of a Big 12 athletics department if he would sign Paul Rhoads to an extension right now.

 

[clonedude]

Get ready to eat **** sandwiches next year boys... Remember to say thank you and pay your dues.

I sincerely hope you are right. I would love nothing more than to see Rhoads succeed here. I like the guy a lot.
All I'm saying is that he's done absolutely NOTHING that shows me that he can get it done. Yes, nothing. He took us to a few bowl games with other coaches talent. After that was gone, we've done nothing but get worse and worse.

And doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is.... well you know... insanity.

 

[Tornado man]

So if Rhoads' contract was over after this Saturday's game, JP would be signing him to an extension, right?

If so, my view of JP has really changed then. He should not be in charge of a Big 12 athletics department if he would sign Paul Rhoads to an extension right now.

This was one Iowa State fundraiser's opinion mind you, but he was emphatic. That's all.
I agree with you - I doubt that JP would sign him to an extension if the contract was up this year. Maybe the money does play a role: JP would be embarrassed to have to pay the buy-out amount.

 

[roundball]

I sincerely hope you are right. I would love nothing more than to see Rhoads succeed here. I like the guy a lot.
All I'm saying is that he's done absolutely NOTHING that shows me that he can get it done. Yes, nothing. He took us to a few bowl games with other coaches talent. After that was gone, we've done nothing but get worse and worse.

And doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results is.... well you know... insanity.

I believe Rabbuk is saying that we'll suck next year.

And you don't have to hope he'll be right, because he will be.

 

[dirtyninety]

2009-2012. Would have thought a diehard Cyclone fan like yourself would have remembered those four seasons.

The Liberty Bowl was the apex of his 2012 climb????
Who isn't on the AD payroll? Are we laundering Texas money now? Is that all we are? If we are not going to play to win and are just the Washington Generals, I'll go do something else.

 

[clonedude]

I believe Rabbuk is saying that we'll suck next year.

And you don't have to hope he'll be right, because he will be.

Oops, my bad. I took it as us people that wanted Rhoads out the door would be having to eat our words.

 

[clonedude]

The Liberty Bowl was the apex of his 2012 climb????
Who isn't on the AD payroll? Are we laundering Texas money now? Is that all we are? If we are not going to play to win and are just the Washington Generals, I'll go do something else.

Amen brother!

If we're supposed to be happy with mediocrity or worse, then I'm not interested. Do we want to be in the Big 12, or do we want to be in the MAC? Which is it?

I like Rhoads, I really, really do. I wanted more than anything for him to succeed here. But he hasn't. If the CEO of my company runs us into the ground, he needs to go too.... and not be kept around just because he's a likable guy. It doesn't work that way.

 

[Cyclonin]

I had a university fundraiser tell me at an ISU function over the weekend that if Pollard and Leath needed $5.5 mil to buy out CPR, "they could that amount in the sofa."
This is all about Pollard's loyalty to Rhoads.

No disrespect to you, but I can't imagine this is true. There is no way that much money could just "hide" in a sofa.

 

[IAStubborn]

If you are the CEO of a company, and you have to go in front of your Board of Directors and tell them you are operating at a massive loss, do you think you get to keep your job by saying "Listen, this isn't my fault. We have terrible management, we've lacked innovation and we keep hiring ineffective workers, but aside from that I've done a really good job"?

1. That isn't what he said
2. I chair a board that is facing this exact decision. In this scenario I have come to the conclusion that I don't believe the CEO has the attributes to take us where we need to go. Boards can tolerate mistakes and failure to a degree if the potential is there and you learn from that failure. I think Rhoads has the attributes to
Be a strong head coach and has demonstrated the ability to right his wrongs and learn from his mistakes if I were pollard or the chair of the ISU football board I would opt for continuity if I think continuity has a reasonably good chance of being successful in the long term and I do with Rhoads. So yes as a someone who will be firing a CEO in the next couple weeks because I don't have that confidence, a guy I call a friend and really think has done some things well, I can say that unless he feels that Mangino is better or he has a better option in the hopper that is time sensative I think he would be foolish to be reactionary and fire Rhoads now. Next year will tell us if we we are on the right course or not, I don't think Rhoads is a great coach but I think he has the potential to be a very good one and he is a safer bet than starting from scratch still.

 

[dirtyninety]

Anybody know how much money Klenakis took out of Iowa? I want Brandstat on this!!! Hire a consulting firm from New York City to dig into this! Granted, it is a lot of Texas Money we are passing over to these cats, but the guys who come in here and take our cash and then laugh to the bank really should trouble people. Seriously, I would like a dollar amount paid to Klenakis.

 

[IAStubborn]

If you are the CEO of a company, and you have to go in front of your Board of Directors and tell them you are operating at a massive loss, do you think you get to keep your job by saying "Listen, this isn't my fault. We have terrible management, we've lacked innovation and we keep hiring ineffective workers, but aside from that I've done a really good job"?

while true todays bowl standards are different than back in the day, heck even Walden would have had us in a bowl!

Which season?

 

[Rhoadhoused]

Paul is a great motivator and a great person from what I can tell, but I can not say he is even an average decision maker as coach. He has made so many catastrophic mistakes in his time here with some of his hires and his attitude towards the program and it's culture. He's reactive instead of proactive. His aggressiveness in game with onside kicks, going for it on 4th down, the Nebraska 2 point conversion, fake punts and trick plays that worked almost perfectly up until the 3 win season last year, that is probably his greatest attribute after his motivational skills from what I can tell. And that has dried up a bit the past two years, understandably with the horrible terrible records.

I understand that the circumstances of ISU putting in the SEZ and his buyout mean he will be here next year, and I am ok with that but I am not convinced he's got what it takes. Players don't seem to be developing, he doesn't seem to make a big impact on the defense and makes absolutely no impact on the offense. He is incredibly reliant on coordinators, although I do believe coaches love working for him.

Maybe he turns it around and I hope as much as anyone he does but I wouldn't say there is any proof or evidence that he will.

My biggest hope for next year is Mangino and SR take the offense to the next level, and the JUCOs that we bring in and that sat out this year along with all the young guys who had no business playing this year got some development time out of it and our defense can be competent for the first time since Knott and Klein graduated. I am not holding my breath though.

 

[Tre4ISU]

So if Rhoads' contract was over after this Saturday's game, JP would be signing him to an extension, right?

If so, my view of JP has really changed then. He should not be in charge of a Big 12 athletics department if he would sign Paul Rhoads to an extension right now.

Shut the **** up about a damn extension. It's an incredibly stupid thing to discuss for numerous reasons mostly because he's not in the last year and, furthermore, no one gets to the last year of their contract. This isn't about money. I think Tornado Man is right in what he says. This is about exactly what Pollard said. You can disagree with it if you want but your utterly ridiculous arguments about the situation make you look like an idiot.

 

[NATEizKING]

All going to come down to the lines.

 

[Tre4ISU]

Paul is a great motivator and a great person from what I can tell, but I can not say he is even an average decision maker as coach. He has made so many catastrophic mistakes in his time here with some of his hires and his attitude towards the program and it's culture. He's reactive instead of proactive. His aggressiveness in game with onside kicks, going for it on 4th down, the Nebraska 2 point conversion, fake punts and trick plays that worked almost perfectly up until the 3 win season last year, that is probably his greatest attribute after his motivational skills from what I can tell. And that has dried up a bit the past two years, understandably with the horrible terrible records.

I understand that the circumstances of ISU putting in the SEZ and his buyout mean he will be here next year, and I am ok with that but I am not convinced he's got what it takes. Players don't seem to be developing, he doesn't seem to make a big impact on the defense and makes absolutely no impact on the offense. He is incredibly reliant on coordinators, although I do believe coaches love working for him.

Maybe he turns it around and I hope as much as anyone he does but I wouldn't say there is any proof or evidence that he will.

My biggest hope for next year is Mangino and SR take the offense to the next level, and the JUCOs that we bring in and that sat out this year along with all the young guys who had no business playing this year got some development time out of it and our defense can be competent for the first time since Knott and Klein graduated. I am not holding my breath though.

Yep, no one's developed. George didn't develop. Klein didn't develop, Knott didn't develop. If only we would have had a DT be a 1st team All Big 12 guy AFTER he lost 100 lbs due to illness. If only our two starting safeties weren't pretty darn good as a sophomore and a freshman.

 

[Cyinthenorth]

If T.J. Mutcherson doesn't transfer/get kicked off the team, we could see the defense make a stride or two next year.

Our D-Line should be better. I know that's saying a lot with the loss of Morrissey, but like Blum mentioned we'll have Luna and Ayeni with 2 years of eligibility, Trent Taylor should continue coming into his own, Dale Pierson has been solid, Meyers, Aka, and Cousin are sophomores, Trent and Garcia are Freshman...the D Line in all of its watered down disgrace this year now has a considerable amount of experience and will continue to improve. Give Aka, Cousins, Trent, and Garcia another year to develop behind Meyers, Pierson, Taylor, Ayeni and Luna and I think D-Line will slowly become a strength of the defense like it was in years 1-4 of Rhoads. It will still be low-level Big 12 talent at best, but playing with a chip on their shoulder and all the experience in the world. This doesn't even include whatever new guys Rhoads is bringing in for the D-line

LB is a scary position IMO. Each year someone has stepped up in the absence of losing a great one (JG for Klein/Knott, Miller for JG etc.) but I'm not sure who fills Miller's shoes next year. Could be Jordan Harris, or we could see Alton Meeks finally come into his own (he is just a FR). LB our weakest position defensively next season IMO. Hopefully L. Knott can beef up a considerable amount w/o losing any speed. He is our best LB right now, but not much bigger than a safety unfortunately.

Overall I'll be optimistic. The offense should be improved and ready to roll in year 2 of Mangino. Returning most starters minus Farniok, Bibbs and Wimberly. Farniok will be missed the most out of that trio. Who replaces him is a question I don't have an answer to, hopefully Rhoads does. As good as Bibbs is/has been, I'm not convinced his departure is an extremely vital blow to the team. Others have mentioned that he isn't a great leader and maybe he did a lot of little things behind the scenes, but I never felt anything he did was game changing (aside from the diving catch to beat Iowa). Still hope he is able to make it into the NFL though, as it would be great for ISU. Playing here especially during the part of Rhoads tenure will probably really hurt his chances at being drafted high.