I took a beating on this thread. Oh well. Good thing about being a poster rather than a paid beat reporter is I can change my mind multiple times a day.
I don't think too much of the negativity was directed at the players as much as it was towards the coaching staff. The offense is totally non-inoventive and boring to watch. To watch that style offense is difficult enough but to watch it in a losing cause is cruel and unusual punishment.
ive always tried to be supportive of the coaching staffs and the players and always expressed that on both forums. My golden rule is to exclude bad talk towards the players. Coaches are paid millions of dollars but because they are human they are entitled to make a mistake here and there. When bad trends start to develop then "Houston we have a problem."
I had seen enough of Steve Alford at the end of his fourth year along with a few other posters. How ever there were some who wanted to give him more time. Some of those jumped ship by the end of Steve's sixth season and even the most supportive fans had, had enough the year he was let go. We had gone from a coach, Mr. Davis, who would finish in the top five of the conference and get us into the tournament on a regular basis, to a coach who finished an average of seventh or eighth place in the conference and sitting on the couch watching the tournament rather than playing in it.
Among most die hard sports fans is an desire to be a champion or at least compete at that level. We knew Mr. Davis's teams would be competitive but not Big Ten championship competive and the decision was made to try to change that. It was an utter failure and made the next two coaching decisions look very bad. It also made Tom look a lot better than many gave him credit for.
So here we are now in a similar situation with KF with the exception in that Mr. Davis's teams never really tanked to the equivalent of a 6-6 season. Do we bite the bullet and buy KF out or continue to hope that we can work through this bad spell. We have seen once great programs struggle, Notre Dame, Nebraska, Alabama, USC, and now Michigan. All these great programs had down years and in some cases several years. Many coaches have come and gone over the years.
With Kirk we can expect anywhere from 6-6 seasons to 9-3 seasons. There are some who may question whether they 9-3 seasons are longer a viable reality. National championships simply are never going to happen under KF as will neither a 2-10 season. I guess it comes down to what satisfies you and the risk involved.
I was around during the pre-Hayden era and I can tell you it was no fun unless you liked to watch the halftime show. Having said that though I am one who believes you should always strive to be the best when it comes to sports, work, and family relationships. I believe in a risk reward philosophy when it comes to sports. Exotic plays, long passes, bring the most rewards but also the greatest risk.
Hayden brought the best of both worlds to our beloved Iowa Hawkeye program. Better than average skilled players who came together as a team and not just as Individual NFL draftees. I want that again in an Iowa uniform and am willing to go through a rebuilding process to get it. This doesn't mean a complete regimes change if KF will hire the right OC and give them total independence to call an open attack offensively, then I would be more patient. if Kirk is going to dig his heals in and refuse to make the changes needed then he needs to go on his way.
