What was it with McCarney and kickers?

[ISUChippewa]

So, I just got done reading WRNL's Top 25 worst football losses (which I will link below), and 9 of them were caused either directly or indirectly by our kicking game failures. Of those 9 games, 7 of them were lost during Dan McCarney's tenure.

I've written on this board before about my beleif that if we had a better kicker during DMac's time, he could still be coaching here (wins against Missouri in '04 and Kansas in '05 to get us to the Big 12 Championship game). But, my question now is why didn't we have better kickers during his time here? Did he not place value on recruiting BCS-level kickers? Did he recruit BCS-level kickers who all turned out to be busts? What was the issue?

I follow ISU basketball a bit more closely than I do ISU football, probably because I grew up when ISU football was at its worst point. I don't want this question to turn into either a McCarney rip-fest or a passionate defense of him. His time is done here, but reading about and remembering all those agonizing losses and seeing how many of them resulted from a horrible kicking game really has me wondering what the deal was.

http://widerightnattylight.com/category/isu-football/

 

[VeloClone]

DMac was adverse to offering scholarships to kickers during most of his tenure. He thought the schollies were best used elsewhere.

 

[mizouse87]

I can say with almost certainty that McCarney never recruited a kicker for scholarship.

 

[sodakjoe]

So, I just got done reading WRNL's Top 25 worst football losses (which I will link below), and 9 of them were caused either directly or indirectly by our kicking game failures. Of those 9 games, 7 of them were lost during Dan McCarney's tenure.

I've written on this board before about my beleif that if we had a better kicker during DMac's time, he could still be coaching here (wins against Missouri in '04 and Kansas in '05 to get us to the Big 12 Championship game). But, my question now is why didn't we have better kickers during his time here? Did he not place value on recruiting BCS-level kickers? Did he recruit BCS-level kickers who all turned out to be busts? What was the issue?

I follow ISU basketball a bit more closely than I do ISU football, probably because I grew up when ISU football was at its worst point. I don't want this question to turn into either a McCarney rip-fest or a passionate defense of him. His time is done here, but reading about and remembering all those agonizing losses and seeing how many of them resulted from a horrible kicking game really has me wondering what the deal was.

ISU Football Wide Right & Natty Light

What a lot of people don't remember is that Culbertson SAVED our seasons from the other ATROCIOUS kickers we had at the beginning of '04. BC had an issue with the high pressure kicks, but he was remarkably consistent throughout the year. Without BC's kicking, there's a good chance that we don't make bowl games either of those years.

 

[isuno1fan]

One of McCarney's many mistakes that ultimately cost him his job.

 

[tejasclone]

Most of the games that were lost on missed FGs could have been avoided by a variety of other means. Usually, poor coaching decisions/play calling in the clutch set us up for failure.

 

[isuno1fan]

Most of the games that were lost on missed FGs could have been avoided by a variety of other means. Usually, poor coaching decisions/play calling in the clutch set us up for failure.

Very true

 

[isufbcurt]

DMac was adverse to offering scholarships to kickers during most of his tenure. He thought the schollies were best used elsewhere.

Absolutely false!!!!! My 5 years with the program we had scholarship kickers.

 

[thatguy]

i had a couple players tell me that Dan Mac would rather have a 4th string TE that will never play on scholly than a kicker. When asked why, they would just shrug their shoulders and say, "no idea"
You could tell they weren't real happy about it either.

 

[isufbcurt]

I can say with almost certainty that McCarney never recruited a kicker for scholarship.

Carl Gomez, Jamie Kohl, and Tony Yelk all were scholarship kickers

 

[thatguy]

Carl Gomez, Jamie Kohl, and Tony Yelk all were scholarship kickers

Those were earlier, it seemed in his later years he went away from this.

 

[CycoCyclone]

It was a Hayden Fry concept that is widely accepted (see the Fry disciples for more examples). Never give a kicker a scholarship the first year on campus.

 

[thatguy]

It was a Hayden Fry concept that is widely accepted (see the Fry disciples for more examples). Never give a kicker a scholarship the first year on campus.

i know this is true, but do i even want to imagine what would have happened if they would have offered Nate Kaeding or the kid that ended up at Miami (both out of Ankeny I believe)

 

[isufbcurt]

Those were earlier, it seemed in his later years he went away from this.

The second poster said that Mac did not have a scholarship kicker for most (that means over 50%) of his time at ISU. I am disputing that. Also, towards the end of his time at ISU he had a couple scholarship kickers that never panned out and were beat out by walk-ons.

 

[isufbcurt]

i know this is true, but do i even want to imagine what would have happened if they would have offered Nate Kaeding or the kid that ended up at Miami (both out of Ankeny I believe)

Sievers from Ankeny would have never chosen ISU over Miami, and no one in their right mind would either.

 

[CycloneNC2015]

Those were earlier, it seemed in his later years he went away from this.

If i recall Tony Yelk was there in his later years. BTW Tony Yelk didnt deserve to be on scholly, that guy was horrible. Just because you give a kicker a scholly doesnt mean he was deserving of one. Dmac should have invested a little more into the development of his kickers. The way they kicked I wonder if the kickers ever had any coaching?

 

[CyCloned]

Carl Gomez, Jamie Kohl, and Tony Yelk all were scholarship kickers

Gomez was a punter that was converted to a kicker, so I don't think that counts.

Scholarship or non-scholarship the ISU kicking game for the last 15 years has either been pretty good or pretty bad. It never seems to be just okay. I know that there have been several kickers on the team that looked promising when recruited and then never did a thing.

 

[VeloClone]

The second poster said that Mac did not have a scholarship kicker for most (that means over 50%) of his time at ISU. I am disputing that. Also, towards the end of his time at ISU he had a couple scholarship kickers that never panned out and were beat out by walk-ons.

No I didn't. I said he was adverse to offering scholarships to kickers. That is, he was tightfisted with the kicking scholarships. How many kickers received scholarships right out of high school? How many did he offer at one time?

I think you read way too much into my post. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear.

 

[CycoCyclone]

i know this is true, but do i even want to imagine what would have happened if they would have offered Nate Kaeding or the kid that ended up at Miami (both out of Ankeny I believe)

QFT

I've always wondered, "what if"

 

[ISUChippewa]

i had a couple players tell me that Dan Mac would rather have a 4th string TE that will never play on scholly than a kicker. When asked why, they would just shrug their shoulders and say, "no idea"
You could tell they weren't real happy about it either.

That's astonishing to me, it really is, and I would say that attitude is symptomatic of DMac's biggest problem as a coach; his stubbornness and failure to learn from his mistakes. After Shaggy botched what was basically a glorified PAT against Missouri he should have gone out and gotten a kicker ASAP.