Bizarre, not quite as bizarre as Friday, but bizarre nonetheless.
The outcome at Faurot Field was expected. It wouldn’t be quite fair to say the Wildcats are simply playing out the rest of the season, but the situation is what it is. An obvious gag order has been placed on the team, as no one was willing to discuss in depth their feelings about Ron Prince’s firing.
Other than Prince, of course.
“There are a lot of young people on the team that were devastated by the news,” he said.
Don’t know about you, and I’m not trying to make light of the situation, but “devastated?” Really? Sounds a little extreme to me, a little dramatic, but I’m not around the team all of the time. And in a couple of weeks, that will be the case until spring camp.
Don’t bank on a bowl game. Doesn’t seem likely, and think how messy figuring out who coaches K-State in that scenario would be.
Let’s just put this behind us, shall we? Yeah, there’s this business about hiring a new coach, and really, I have no clue where things stand. It might be Gary Patterson, it might be Bill Snyder, it might be someone else. The only thing I know for certain is that we’re going to exercise extreme caution in this search after what we all saw transpire Friday.
For the record, I don’t think anyone received bad information, and I don’t think everybody is being completely forthcoming. Interpret that as you will.
Something else struck me since Wednesday, when Prince was relieved of his duties. On the national scene, with how K-State has handled this situation, Prince has emerged as a sympathetic figure – and he’s not about to do anything to mess up that perception. Someone – Al Groh? – will toss him a lifeline, probably sooner rather than later. But with that $1.35 million or so windfall, he can afford to be choosy.
With brings me to my last point – if K-State is already forking out that kind of coin to a coach who won’t even be here in 2009, why would the administration want to pony up another $2 million per season for someone who made it sound Friday like he didn’t want to be here? Could there be a cheaper alternative – and don’t get it twisted, money is ALWAYS an issue at K-State – perhaps a former coach for whom a competitive salary wouldn’t be such a concern?
Perhaps a former coach whose name graces the stadium the Wildcats play in? Just something to think about.
7 Comments
the only reason good for snyder coaching the team next year is to potentially save money while paying off the buyout. he’s not the answer for the future, so not worth going back to now. BAD idea.
i’m w/ you, don’t think there was any bad intention from powercat ill. but it was stupid to put out there at this point. it very well could work to keep Patterson from actually coming. heartl and lutz like to think a coach wouldn’t come because the school fired Prince prematurely, i say not the case. what would turn him off is putting him in a bad spot, which Tim Fitzgerald did w/ this report. He put Patterson in a position to answer questions to his team, and had he been given the opportunity to tell them first, it might have happend. still might, but this definitely hurts K-State’s effort to hire him. STUPID move!
This process has not been a smooth one. But I think KSU is still in a better position than almost any other school looking for a coach, with both Patterson and Snyder remaining strong possibilities. Can’t wait to see how it plays out.
all coaching firings don’t go smooth. weiser was pretty good w/them though.
Snyder back at the helm is good enough for me. I’m not that impressed with Patterson and I don’t like the comments he has made regarding KSU. If this little debacle has “hurt KSU’s chances” then maybe the writing is on the wall. There is a HUGE following who would LOVE to have Snyder back in the house he helped to build. Until the full story is revealed I think people should hold judgement on a certain GPC contributor. Thanks Jeff.
I think people should put 100% of the blame on that garbage human being Tim Fitzgerald. Really, the fiasco he caused was just the icing on the cake to the real crime he committed when he blacklisted me.
Prince might be getting sympathy from the national media, but it’s because they don’t know the depths to which he has driven this program; the alienation of former players, the clearing house internally of anyone remotely tied to Snyder, the rifts created with the Kansas high school coaches, etc., etc. Terry Pierce writes a good online blog and one can’t read it without thinking that the current coaching staff is not only poor, but incompetent. I’m all for getting someone from the K-State family. Patterson? Perhaps, but he’s not the only solution out there either.
Hey Cowbell, what does Patterson need to do to impress you? Jesus, he only took a program like TCU to the top 10-15, beat a solid OU team in Norman (only one of two losses under Stoops), and is the mostly highly regarded coach not in the BCS System.
He SHOULD be KSU’s guy, should have been when Princess got hired.