Is it time for Prince to go?

gocatsksu — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 12:17:11 -0000

It's never good when fans don't support a coach or coaching staff of a team --- no matter what level of play.

Now there's a web site calling for a coaching change in Manhattan?

Yikes.

Little league, middle school, high school, college, NFL, NBA, MLB --- parents and fans can be brutal if they're not satisfied with what's going on when it comes to the coaching staff of their team.

Usually, it's just shouting and hollering from the stands --- and contrary to the belief of the guy hollering as loud as he can --- coaches (and officials) can't hear you.

But when it moves to the Internet, including blogs and chat rooms, that's when it gets serious.

When it moves to special web sites being created calling for your replacement, then it's critical.

That's the situation at K-State. Football coach Ron Prince is in his third season in Manhattan. His record stands at 16 wins and 16 losses. That means he wins 50% of the time. His Wildcat football team is off to a 4-3 start this year, which isn't bad...but is it good enough?

Most K-State fans (myself included) have supported Prince in his first head coaching job. After all, you need to give a new coach time to get his system implemented and get his own recruits on the field. Prince took over in the shadow of Bill Snyder --- the man who brought K-State football out of the dark days and into the national spotlight during his career. No matter who his replacement was, that person would struggle to create his own identity, style and swagger on the K-State sideline.

With that said, you can't just come in and think mediocrity is good enough. And in my opinion, mediocrity is where the K-State football program is headed. Sure, the so-called signature wins against Texas the past two years are nice...but the Wildcats can't seem to win back to back conference game and the defense is giving up 500 yards a game and missed tackles and fumbles are becoming a weekly issue.

Then there's giving up before halftime. Against Texas Tech, the Wildcats trailed 38 to 14 and had the ball with about a 1:30 to go in the first half. Instead of trying to throw the ball and score to take some of the momentum away from the Red Raiders, Prince and his coaching staff decided to kneel the ball and go to the locker room. That decision was greeted by loud booing from the K-State fans (many who did not return for the second half).

The same decision was made this past Saturday against Colorado. The Cats trailed 14-6 with about a minute to go and once again, the decision to run the ball and then kneel it was made. That game was on TV and I turned it off in disgust.

So, here's my question: Is that K-State football? Is that what we need in Manhattan? What happened to bold and daring? Ron Prince used those terms during his first year at K-State to describe his coaching style. Since then, we've not seen much boldness...and very little daring action.

I'm not an alarmist. As I said before, you must give a new coach time to get his system implemented. However, are we really headed in the right direction in Manhattan? I've heard from several big money donors who say they won't send any more of their money until a change is made. Season ticket holders are threatening to cancel their tickets. Yikes.

Oh yeah, remember what I said earlier about specific web sites calling for a change in Manhattan? Check out www.hiregarypatterson.com --- a site created by K-State fan Chris Harris.

Yikes.

K-State ripped by Louisville. Yikes.

gocatsksu — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:24:12 -0000

Yikes.

My one word reaction after watching K-State get hammered by Louisville Wednesday night. The Cardinals racked up nearly 600 yards of total offense against the Wildcats' defense. 600 yards. Yikes.

Louisville freshman Victor Anderson ran for 176 yards and scored three times. On two of his scoring runs the Wildcats missed a total of five tackles. Yikes.

Louisville's Hunter Cantwell threw for 274 yards and two touchdowns against K-State's defense that was supposed to be improved compared to the past two years. Oh, I almost forgot to mention Cantwell's two touchdown passes. Yikes.

The Wildcats -- who once had a feared running game --- mustered only 41 yards of rushing on 12 carries. Yikes.

There was one bright spot for the Cats: The play of quarterback Josh Freeman. Freeman completed 22 of 42 for 313 yards. Freeman did have two interceptions but even Superman makes mistakes under pressure.

OK. I know it's just one game, but the Wildcats were brutally exposed in Louisville and the Cardinals showed the that the Wildcats have plenty to work on if they plan to win more than five games this season.

Tackling, fumbles, defensive pressure on the quarterback...and then there's the running game. I supposed it's not time to panic but it might be close. There's only so much Freeman can do and it showed last night. Several times Freeman tried to thread the needle with passes he probably should not have thrown. That, of course, led to his first two interceptions of the year. No one else seemed to be ready to step up and make the big play.

Deon Murphy tried to pump life back into the team with his 86 yard punt return in the third quarter that gave the Cats a quick score, but Louisville answered a few plays later. Later in the third, Murphy was apparently looking to the end zone again and muffed the punt catch and had to scramble to fall on the ball before it became Louisville property.

Bottom line, it's early. Maybe too early to tell just how good these Wildcats are. The potential is there to be very good. Eight or nine...maybe even ten wins. However, if the team that played last night plays the rest of the season, we might only see one or two more wins the rest of the season.

Those K-State fans (yes, me included) who were talking about KU's offensive running game problems and pointing fingers need to realize there are more fingers pointing back at us. Apparently we didn't realize the walls around the Vanier Football Complex in Manhattan were made of glass . What's the old saying....those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones?

Yikes.

SB Nation User Blog: gocatsksu

Is it time for Prince to go?

K-State ripped by Louisville. Yikes.