You know with all that head coaching experience Venebles has had, I just don't understand why Venebles wasn't chosen.
Okay, I'm not into the whole bashing Prince or whomever before they even get to coach and prove what they can do, but it doesn't seem like Venables lack of head coaching experience would have too much influence on him being chosen as our head coach. You know, because of the whole Ron Prince thing.
What I want to know is what kind of recruiting were people expecting? We're coming off of 4 and 5 win seasons, we don't have a storied football program, Manhattan isn't some glitzy place that's going to attract all kinds of recruits, and we got a first-time coach that has to build relationships with the areas we're going to be pulling most kids from. Were people expecting the best recruits out there to be banging down the door to come play at KSU?
I wasn't expecting that Coach Prince was going to be pulling in kids at 4 and 5 stars, I thought he was going to recruit kids that fit his system. Snyder never went after the kids with the most stars, he went after the kids that were going to work within his system and that included things such as coachability, background influences, values, work ethic, etc. Kids also have to want to come to KSU or be sold on it. It's up to the coaches to sell KSU, but the coaches must look at many things from these kids. KSU wasn't a program built from the top talent all over the country. You can win, if you can get the right kids in the system. Snyder never had stars to deal with until the last few years. Stars only became important when it became financially beneficial to Rivals and Scout to market them that way. They created bragging rights for fans to become interested in the recruiting process. I remember when Kevin Lockett came to Kansas State and was recruited by Oklahoma (a school going down hill) and he chose KSU. Yet, many, many many people in Oklahoma thought he made a mistake and not have a good career at all. Stories like West Virginia, Boise State, Utah and of course, KSU all demonstrate that the right kids in the system will help you reach the level of success more quickly than getting kids who don't fit, no matter their talent. When it comes down to it, if these kids come here, excel in the program, we will be successful.
