An interesting juxtaposition Hoops vs. Pigskin

[Wildcat Jack]

As I was reading on Huggieville about how Huggins was blown away by Wefald it got me to thinking about the polar opposites in approach KSU took in these major position recruitments.

In Hoops we have a crappy program in the dumpster and the President of the university puts on the full court press to get a proven winner of a coach to guide this program.  We clearly had the attitude we needed to "sell" this university to the coach and to his recruits.  We clearly took the position we needed help.  We clearly had to demonstrate to this proven coach K-State could be the dream of all dream jobs for him.

In Pigskin we had a recently strong program that's had a few recent bumps, but showed promise.  KSU appeared to take the position this was a quality job and coaches would be clamoring to climb up on that foundation Bill built.  We appeared to take the position coaches would come calling and they needed to prove to us they were worthy to join us.  Additionally, we surely had enough "disciples" out there who'd want to come back to the 'ol Flint Hills for a little bit of that Manhattan Magic.  Because we take this position we get a guy who appears prepared when he gets his interview shot.  He clearly proves to the selection team he's ready.

Now I caveat this all with this is "appearance" to me from afar.  But, I'm left to wonder what we would've got if we took the same approach in the football coach recruitment that we took in the basketball coach recruitment?  After all, during the previous football coaching hire 18 years ago we had that same hunger and desire we had in this most recent basketball coaching hire.

[ksuno1stunner]

in basketball we got a guy that needed ksu

in football we got a guy that wanted ksu

it's showing :(

[michigancat]

E

As I was reading on Huggieville about how Huggins was blown away by Wefald it got me to thinking about the polar opposites in approach KSU took in these major position recruitments.

In Hoops we have a crappy program in the dumpster and the President of the university puts on the full court press to get a proven winner of a coach to guide this program.  We clearly had the attitude we needed to "sell" this university to the coach and to his recruits.  We clearly took the position we needed help.  We clearly had to demonstrate to this proven coach K-State could be the dream of all dream jobs for him.

In Pigskin we had a recently strong program that's had a few recent bumps, but showed promise.  KSU appeared to take the position this was a quality job and coaches would be clamoring to climb up on that foundation Bill built.  We appeared to take the position coaches would come calling and they needed to prove to us they were worthy to join us.  Additionally, we surely had enough "disciples" out there who'd want to come back to the 'ol Flint Hills for a little bit of that Manhattan Magic.  Because we take this position we get a guy who appears prepared when he gets his interview shot.  He clearly proves to the selection team he's ready.

Now I caveat this all with this is "appearance" to me from afar.  But, I'm left to wonder what we would've got if we took the same approach in the football coach recruitment that we took in the basketball coach recruitment?  After all, during the previous football coaching hire 18 years ago we had that same hunger and desire we had in this most recent basketball coaching hire.

Great post.  Those searches were polar opposites.

[pissclams]

But, I'm left to wonder what we would've got if we took the same approach in the football coach recruitment that we took in the basketball coach recruitment?  After all, during the previous football coaching hire 18 years ago we had that same hunger and desire we had in this most recent basketball coaching hire.

Your post reads as though you fell that the Huggins hire was the better of the two.  Only time will tell which of these two hires was better for the University 10 years from now.  Sure last Saturday we looked like crap... Prince has coached 1 game, 1, and with players meant for another coach's system.  While many of us pretend to know why Weiser hired Prince, and how he's going to perform as head coach, the bottom line is that no one can say which of the two hires, and therefore the two approaches to the hires, was better.  Besides, it's a helluva lot easier to hire someone to replace one of our legends (Wooly  ) then the other (Snyder  ), that needs to be factored into your equation too..

[Wildcat Jack]

Your post reads as though you fell that the Huggins hire was the better of the two. 

Yeah, I guess you could infer it that way.  I wasn't attempting to draw that conclusion.  I do agree that time will tell and the Prince hire could certainly turn out to be a great decision and the Huggins hire could turn into disaster.  It's definitely too early to tell.

I just find it interesting we took completely opposite approaches and because of that we ended up with completely opposite hires.  I do think we could've gotten a more proven commodity in football if we'd have taken a different approach....whether that would've been a better hire is a different conclusion.

[pissclams]

I agree, and I think that a lot of the proven commidity coaches weren't willing to do one of two things-
a) being the first to follow the legend that is Bill Snyder
b) come to Manhattan, KS

The Huggins hire was one of a kind, reality is that rarely is their a more perfect match between what a coach needs and what a school needs.  This was no stroke of genius on either Weiser or Huggins' part, more luck than anything.

[chum1]

I totally agree.  The Huggins hire was a thing of beauty.  It gives me the impression that we very badly wanted to become a great basketball program.  The Prince hire gives me the impression that we really just didn't give a crap.  I'm sure that the exact opposite is true, though, and that part of the reason for the particular hire was that too many people wanted to have a say precisely because they very badly wanted to keep a great football program intact.  Old man Snyder, for example, repeatedly insisted that the new coach understand the uniqueness of the situation in Manhattan, Kansas.  So now we have to throw him something like a Junction City bone even though that was clearly not what he was aiming at.  In the end, the result was a collective 'WTF?'

[michigancat]

Football wanted a coach that wants to stay in Manhattan forever and will never break our Kruger-crushed hearts.

Basketball wanted a winner.

[bigdeal]

Basketball was an excellent, proven coach...who has shown he can recruit and win.  In football, we didn't see that kind of coach out there that was willing to follow Snyder with the passion the job demands.  Weiser clearly values the ability to recruit and he felt that Prince has all the makings of a great recruiter and potential to be a great coach...with the hunger and passion to do so.  Prince has all the tools to be an excellent coach and recruiter (don't want to debate the difference because they are surely linked to a good degree).