The reality is that we are Iowa State, Minnesota, Indiana, Illinois, Texas Tech, Virginia, Kentucky, Missouri, you get the idea...and our HC hire will be on par with any of these other "mid-level" P5 schools.
This is accurate.
BUT, there have been elite jobs that reached out to Venables. Which means K-State could make that hire which would basically be an upper tier hire. ALSO, no one, absolutely not a single P5 job would consider Sean for their HC position. So that would be less than a lowest tier hire.
So if Sean is seriously a possibility, you can offer guys like Brent, or hell even Stoops since his kids will be here, maybe Leavitt, then lots of others. And if every single person you can name says no, let Sean have it. In no world, should Sean ever be offered the job before at least 8-10 others have said no.