1. The first thing we have to keep in mind is that the conference is a true round robin. This means you have to play every team at their place. Secondly, I believe our conference has been tougher top to bottom than it was during the Frank years. The coaches, from top to bottom, are better. There wasn't one easy gimme, this year, in conference. TCU beat KU, for instance, in the Big XII tournament. One can disagree with me and that's fine. Everyone has to admit, however, that the conference dynamic is much different than when Frank was coaching here. Therefore, Weber should not be hated for conference records, IMHO, especially when one considers that the Foster fiasco led to Weber completely having to rebuild.
2. The Weber conundrum, IMHO, arises from one thing. He followed a popular coach who left before there were down years. Let's call it the Frank factor. Let's make no mistake about this. There would have been some down years even if Frank had stayed. Heck, there was a down year when Frank was here and had Pullen, Clemente, Sutton, Brown and others. Mellinger writes much of Weber's poor media image and that Weber tends to say things, which upset fans. There's probably some truth in this, but I believe the Frank factor is to blame for much of this phenomenon. After all, the only thing Weber can say that many fans will accept is: "I suck." With every loss, the only thing fans (the ones who dislike Weber) will accept is for Weber to take full blame. They didn't like Weber from the minute he was hired because of the Frank factor. I'll never forget some of them criticizing Weber for the first words he spoke when he stepped up to the mic after being hired: "Why K-State?" They said it was like him saying, "Why would a coach, as great as me, take this lowly K-State job?" I never saw it that way. I saw it as Weber's way of showing all the things, which made him excited about being in Manhattan. After the KU home loss this year, Weber said our guys kicked KU's butt on the play hard chart, but KU made more plays at the end. Media, and fans, crucified him for this, but Weber was absolutely right. Sitting court side, I had the exact same sentiment. I was thinking, throughout the whole game, how our guys wanted this so badly; how they were diving for balls and being more aggressive in many ways. I was sickened because some of our shots just wouldn't go down in crunch time and I wanted our guys effort to be rewarded. When I heard Weber speak these words on the post game radio show, I was glad he did so. He was supporting the hard effort of his players. That's not what the media, or Frank's fans, wanted to hear. The only thing they wanted to hear was that Weber was outcoached.
This is not to say Weber is a media savant. Frank is surely better in front of the mic than Coach Weber. This is simply to say that the Weber conundrum has more to do with the Frank factor than it does Weber.