H
HGPuck
Guest
The question of whether or not to keep Coach Mac is not entirely about wins and losses; it comes down to dollars and cents. The problems are not at the top of the program, I agree that they are in the coaching staff, but it is the quality of the staff top to bottom that is the problem. I am not and will not get on the case of any coach individually. We have the second lowest football budget right ahead of Baylor. This means that our coaches get paid less than their counterparts at other Big 12 institutions. When we get good coaches they get hired away to the schools that are willing to pay them more and when it comes down to a choice in where prospective coaches should go for their career it makes it harder to lure them to Ames. In terms of facilities and what they can do, we are behind some schools like Texas but we are on par with K State and many other Big 12 teams. I still think we need to continue with improvements, but we have done a lot in the last ten years. Think back to what we had in the ‘90s.
The argument about money that I think is the most foolish is to pick out a few games and say if we had more money or better facilities would it have won said games. There is a big difference between short run and long run economics. Money does not change the result of a game; it changes the state of the program. Schools like Texas with seemingly all the money in the world still loose games they shouldn’t.
As far as Coach Mac individually, I think he has done a commendable job of making something out of nothing. He has done as much given the circumstances as what many very good coaches in the country could do and better than most others. It is true that he is not a great in game sideline coach. But there are many great coaches that are poor game day coaches, I have read that Vince Lombardi was just about worthless once the game started, and Mack Brown is far from a good game day coach. Does Coach Mac have flaws, of course he does, but he would not have been able to do what he has done if he is as worthless as I have been reading lately.
What we need is not a new head coach, but continued growth in energy and excitement for the program. So how do we get this energy and excitement? Well, to be honest at this point it probably does involve a new head coach. For people to get excited about Mac we would need to win 7 to 8 games next year and 8 or more the following year. Is that going to happen, most fans think not and that is the hard question that Jamie needs to make a decision on. If we bring in a new coach we will have some excitement around the program even if we only win 4 to 6 games next year. This is a critical time for Pollard, he was able to increase fan support this year and he needs to continue the growth in order to reach his goals. So Coach Mac will not be fired because of the coach he is, but rather about the excitement he can generate or lack there of. It all comes down to how many butts are in the seats and how many checks are in the Jacobson building.
The argument about money that I think is the most foolish is to pick out a few games and say if we had more money or better facilities would it have won said games. There is a big difference between short run and long run economics. Money does not change the result of a game; it changes the state of the program. Schools like Texas with seemingly all the money in the world still loose games they shouldn’t.
As far as Coach Mac individually, I think he has done a commendable job of making something out of nothing. He has done as much given the circumstances as what many very good coaches in the country could do and better than most others. It is true that he is not a great in game sideline coach. But there are many great coaches that are poor game day coaches, I have read that Vince Lombardi was just about worthless once the game started, and Mack Brown is far from a good game day coach. Does Coach Mac have flaws, of course he does, but he would not have been able to do what he has done if he is as worthless as I have been reading lately.
What we need is not a new head coach, but continued growth in energy and excitement for the program. So how do we get this energy and excitement? Well, to be honest at this point it probably does involve a new head coach. For people to get excited about Mac we would need to win 7 to 8 games next year and 8 or more the following year. Is that going to happen, most fans think not and that is the hard question that Jamie needs to make a decision on. If we bring in a new coach we will have some excitement around the program even if we only win 4 to 6 games next year. This is a critical time for Pollard, he was able to increase fan support this year and he needs to continue the growth in order to reach his goals. So Coach Mac will not be fired because of the coach he is, but rather about the excitement he can generate or lack there of. It all comes down to how many butts are in the seats and how many checks are in the Jacobson building.
