Good post. To dovetail about the brand coach v. brand school look at some of the bluest of blue bloods fighting that battle. Kentucky was running coaches out to get a brand coach to rehab their brand school, coach Cal obviously.
I wonder how much the enthusiasm has dropped for Frank not because of his fault but because he came in so high with the amazing recruiting class of MB and essentially BW. That first year and really second year was an incredibly tough act to follow.
I don't think enthusiasm has dropped for Frank at all. I think that's kind of a straw man. I think we're facing the high-class problem of trying to find support for two Top 25 programs. This is uncharted water for our university. Making this about Frank vs. Bill is trying to make a very simple to explain/understand problem more interesting.
The real question is, "Why do KSU fans seem to like football more than basketball?" I can assure you that the real answer to that question has nothing to do with Frank or Bill. We still would have the same issue if Gary Patterson was coaching KSU in the Cotton Bowl last Friday night, or if Bob Huggins were still coaching our basketball team.
This school, and it's most capable financial supporters, favor football because we won a crap ton for a decade and beat the snot out of KU more often than not. We're still looking to break the "glass ceiling" that will create a lot of basketball support, if you will.
This school is going to support football until basketball gives it a reason to favor it. That means a Final Four and sustained success.
Bo Ryan has won almost 300 games in Madison, he's gone to four Sweet 16's and one Elite 8., won three Big Ten regular season and two post season titles, and it's safe to say that if someone put a gun to Barry Alvarez's head tomorrow and told him he could only keep Bielema vs. Ryan, he'd pick Bielema every time.
Basketball rarely wins over football. That's just how it goes.
