Yeah... i might say 8 wins here = 10 wins there. I wouldnt say 6=10. Aside from the chizik debacle, we've actually gotten to a point since 2000 that going to a bowl is fairly common.
00-Bowl
01-Bowl
02-Bowl
03-No bowl
04-Bowl
05-Bowl
06-No bowl ('resigned')
Chizik Debacle
09- Bowl
10- No bowl
11- Bowl
12- Bowl
6-6 isnt that impressive even at ISU. Lets not forget we fired (or 'resigned') the last guy who only just made it to bowls consistently.
I love CPR, and i hope he can take things to the next level, but the fact is he hasn't proven yet that he can get over this 6-6 level. And locking ourselves into an even larger long term contract on that yet unproven quantity is very risky if he can't ultimately get over that hump.
I agree with you on most of this here, but you can't discount the fact that a lot of teams in the North dropped off from '00 - '06. So far, the big difference I see in CPR compared to Mac, is that CPR isn't losing games we should win. And he has us actually playing with the big boys in conference. Granted, we've still had a few slip ups the last couple of years, but if we can stay the course we are on, the days of getting beat by 50 should be out the door.
6-6 won't keep CPR his job for 15 years, there is no doubt about that. The fans always want more, but I think too many people have forgotten, with the recent rise in excitement over ISU football, how bad the last 25 years really have been for ISU. When I was in school, they didn't give pass outs for half time even. Why? because they just let anyone walk through the gates after half time. I think that's the only thing that kept the stands from being empty for most games when I was in school.
CPR has a much more daunting challenge, imo than any previous coach at ISU. He is going to be expected to bring 8, 9, maybe even 10 wins to ISU, in a time when the conference is at an all time tough level. 9 out of 10 teams bowl eligible, during a round robin schedule, is a very daunting task. I like what Rhoads has done at ISU, he's not only put a competetive team on the field, but he's also brought excitement to a team that hasn't seen anything like this in fan support ever. When I come back to games now, it's literally like I'm at a different school. Even in my wildest imaginations, I never thought I'd see the fan support he has managed to generate here. And for that, we have to find a way to pay the guy if that's what it takes. Right now, I would say Paul Rhoads is ISU.
