I guess my point on this matter has always been that the same people on these forums who vilify Ferentz would have done the EXACT SAME THING to Hayden Fry himself at the time had the internet existed. Only they're too dumb to realize it, and now they revere Fry like the greatest thing in the world and don't even realize the irony.
I can already picture the HN forums back in the Hayden Fry days...
1984: "like OMG Fry shared a Big Ten title in 1981 but what has he even done lately? multiple 8-4 seasons? Psh...he clearly isn't the coach to take us to that next level. Time to thank him and move on"
1989: "Fry is washed up. Sure he got lucky and won 10 games back in '87 but clearly the program is now going in the wrong direction."
1992: "Why is Harold Fri still our coach?
1994: "LOL this team will NEVER be at Minnesota's level"
1999: "I heard the Shimonek family recently had a baby. I wonder if baby Nic can play QB for us in 18 years, I bet he'll be a star!!!!"
You get the point. Or you don't...and its sad
I loved Hayden, and I still do, but your point is well-taken. I can definitely imagine what posters would have been saying back in the day. To add to your examples:
'98: Hayden's last season. The torches and pitchforks would have been out in full force on message boards, after losing to ISU, then losing to Wisc and Minn by a combined score of 80-7.
'96: Losing to Tulsa. The internet would have exploded over that one. I can just hear it. "EMBARRASSING!" "What the f**k was that shit show!," etc.
'89: Getting blown out by Oregon and Minnesota by a combined score of 87-13
'88: Losing to Hawaii to open the season
Being not just beat, but dominated and embarrassed in both Rose Bowls.
Perhaps the trend that would have really irritated people would have been his struggles against Illinois. Some examples: '83, 33-0, '93, 49-3, '94 47-7, and '95 26-7. The combined score of just those games: 155-17. Let that number sink in. Illinois had some good teams back in the '90s but it's not like we're talking about Ohio State or Michigan here.
Again, I loved Hayden, but, if people are being completely honest with themselves, he would have been raked over the coals on these sites at about the same level as Kirk.