As a frequent viewer but infrequent poster, I'd thought I'd throw out this question: What does it take for the ISU Football nation to be completely happy in terms of a coach? We have seemingly beat the proverbial dead dog with a stick listing reasons why a large (or is it just vocal) contingent dislikes the current coaching situation so this is a question to those people:
What does it take to be happy? How many wins defines a winning program? How many do we want? Do we need winning trends, or go at it like the Florida Marlins and win huge one year or two and then crash the next five? When DMac is gone (whether this year, in five years or when he retires, it's going to happen) how long do we let a coach stick around before we decide that "he's not taking us to where we want to be." What allows a new coach to stick around: is it wins even if we graduate 0-5% of the student-athletes (a-la Cincinnati basketball with Bob Huggins) or is it a combination of both class in the classroom and on the field with great wins?
And then of course the other half of that question: what allows a coach to be canned?
A few years back during the Larry Legend Scandal, a prominent donor and booster to the program was quoted as saying that he isn't about supporting just one coach or just one administrator for ISU and that he's not going to pull his money just because a coach is canned or isn't fired: he's about supporting the the student-athletes and ISU.
While idealistic, it paints a very clear picture of what all of this mess can be: a sport, played by two teams, fighting to win. Sure money and superiority and TV contracts and everything else is intertwined with it, but we are here to support our boys, our team, through thick and thin. No matter who or what is coaching our beloved 'Clonies.
What does it take to be happy? How many wins defines a winning program? How many do we want? Do we need winning trends, or go at it like the Florida Marlins and win huge one year or two and then crash the next five? When DMac is gone (whether this year, in five years or when he retires, it's going to happen) how long do we let a coach stick around before we decide that "he's not taking us to where we want to be." What allows a new coach to stick around: is it wins even if we graduate 0-5% of the student-athletes (a-la Cincinnati basketball with Bob Huggins) or is it a combination of both class in the classroom and on the field with great wins?
And then of course the other half of that question: what allows a coach to be canned?
A few years back during the Larry Legend Scandal, a prominent donor and booster to the program was quoted as saying that he isn't about supporting just one coach or just one administrator for ISU and that he's not going to pull his money just because a coach is canned or isn't fired: he's about supporting the the student-athletes and ISU.
While idealistic, it paints a very clear picture of what all of this mess can be: a sport, played by two teams, fighting to win. Sure money and superiority and TV contracts and everything else is intertwined with it, but we are here to support our boys, our team, through thick and thin. No matter who or what is coaching our beloved 'Clonies.