BLUM: Steady Rhoads

[rebecacy]

No one can predict our FB future!!

 

[CYphyllis]

When you have to resort to that kind of venom, you don't have a leg to stand on in the actual debate. I've probably got 25 good years left. If ISU wins the Big 12 football championship between now and 2035, I will bee line it back here and admit I was wrong. See ya.

Such a pessimist you even lowball your life expectancy.

 

[weR138]

When you have to resort to that kind of venom, you don't have a leg to stand on in the actual debate. I've probably got 25 good years left. If ISU wins the Big 12 football championship between now and 2035, I will bee line it back here and admit I was wrong. See ya.

See ya? I thought you were already gone?

I'm still trying to find the debate actually. You're irritated by the rah rah essays and state that ISU has hit it's ceiling. I'm not trying to debate; just merely asking questions. You tell me that I don't know my history instead of giving a succinct answer as to why it is that ISU will not win an Orange Bowl or Big XII title.

As it turns out that is just your opinion and it doesn't mean ****.

 

[gwoodclone]

While winning a Big 12 title looks impossible with the way things are now, some of you guys forget that just a decade or so ago Texas and Oklahoma weren't what they are now. One rough coaching transition (see Michigan) and they aren't so scary anymore. A&M appears to be going nowhere under Sherman and has done nothing but underachieve for a decade now, Tech is down, KU has a huge hole to try to build themselves out of, and Snyder can't keep coaching forever. MIZ-ZOU and Okie State are good, yes, but they won't be like that forever. If we can get some consistency with our coaching staff, things aren't as hopeless as some people want to believe.

 

[RossHallHero]

You are no more correct about ISU's lack of a future than the cheerleaders are about a bright one.

He has history on his side.

I'm middle-aged and have never been able to fly by flapping my arms. I guess tomorrow is a new day.

 

[weR138]

He has history on his side.

I'm middle-aged and have never been able to fly by flapping my arms. I guess tomorrow is a new day.

So did the Redcoats.

 

[CYphyllis]

He has history on his side.

I'm middle-aged and have never been able to fly by flapping my arms. I guess tomorrow is a new day.

Makes a little more sense now, I've always heard bitterness comes with age.

 

[aeroclone]

I completely understand where you are coming from. I get Iowa State's short-comings financially, geographically, etc. Would a move to another conference change those factors? Perhaps. But for now it's irrelevant. Iowa State is in the Big 12 with some quality football programs.

I would love to win a conference championship and go to a BCS game just as much as anybody else. But, the Cyclones can't be expected to immediately get to that level next year. It's a slow process that takes steps. The first step is becoming a consistent program that finishes near the top half (3-6) of the standings each year. I believe this isn't an unreasonable goal as I explained in the column.

Once you reach that level, then you set your sights on loftier goals.

Is that overly optimistic? Maybe. Let's face it, historically speaking, Iowa State has
yet to reach that level. But why not aim for something?

If there's no goals out there to reach, why compete at all?

Totally agree that the next steps for us are to find a way into the top half of the standings. We need to be better than Baylor, KU, KSU, TT, and be mixing it up with OSU and Mizzou for positioning each year. I think we have the resources for that, and I think if we can find an identity for our program and avoid too much coaching turnover, we will get there. We aren't at such a huge disadvantage with these schools in regards to facilities, budget, quality of the college town, built in recruiting base, etc.

The question for me, however, is what next? It seems like the gap between the haves and the have nots in college football is getting bigger. I see UT, OU, and aTm pulling away from the pack, and not coming back towards it. I just don't think we will ever be able to make that final step to being a contender in this league year after year. Sure, maybe the stars could align and we could have a window open up, but I wouldn't expect it to be a regular thing.

If people are content with the idea of winning 8 or 9 games a year and going to a solid bowl and playing in one of the best leagues in the country, then there isn't any problem with that. I like the idea of the Big East where it seems much more reasonable to see us taking that final step to 10+ win seasons, conference titles, and BCS bids. I don't look at that conference and see schools like OU or UT that I just don't think we can overcome. And the fact that they would bring with them what could be the best bball conference in the country with plenty of national media exposure all winter long, well that is just icing on the cake.

 

[cyhiphopp]

Totally agree that the next steps for us are to find a way into the top half of the standings. We need to be better than Baylor, KU, KSU, TT, and be mixing it up with OSU and Mizzou for positioning each year. I think we have the resources for that, and I think if we can find an identity for our program and avoid too much coaching turnover, we will get there. We aren't at such a huge disadvantage with these schools in regards to facilities, budget, quality of the college town, built in recruiting base, etc.

The question for me, however, is what next? It seems like the gap between the haves and the have nots in college football is getting bigger. I see UT, OU, and aTm pulling away from the pack, and not coming back towards it. I just don't think we will ever be able to make that final step to being a contender in this league year after year. Sure, maybe the stars could align and we could have a window open up, but I wouldn't expect it to be a regular thing.

If people are content with the idea of winning 8 or 9 games a year and going to a solid bowl and playing in one of the best leagues in the country, then there isn't any problem with that. I like the idea of the Big East where it seems much more reasonable to see us taking that final step to 10+ win seasons, conference titles, and BCS bids. I don't look at that conference and see schools like OU or UT that I just don't think we can overcome. And the fact that they would bring with them what could be the best bball conference in the country with plenty of national media exposure all winter long, well that is just icing on the cake.

I think the best we can hope for at ISU is to have a team that consistently get 8-9 wins a year with a bad year being 6-6. Then we can ahve the occasional great year and challenge for the conference title. OU and UT are not invincible. If we are successfull at rebuilding this thing from the ground up, we can hopefully compete with them. ATM has a lot of backing, but they aren't tearing the conference up and right now they are no better than Oky State and Mizzou.

 

[CyBobby]

Great, great article! He is right. We have to beat TT and KU down right now. Then beat KSU and Baylor. The two losses against KSU have hurt. They were opportunities to keep KSU below us on the totem pole. the good news is Snyder can't coach until he is 120.

Your right on bro...old geezer snyder cant coach much longer and better news is that ... NOBODY ELSE WANTS TO BE STUCK IN MANHATTAN KANSAS!!!!


When snyder goes so does kstate football.