The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

(12-22-2010 04:56 PM)burden Wrote:  

(12-22-2010 02:27 PM)AlphaFlash Wrote:  

(12-22-2010 10:48 AM)burden Wrote:  When it comes to KSU football I am a bigtime skeptic. When you honor a 6-6 team at the halftime of a basketball game you say it all. That's like the new generation that gives every kid an award. All I saw last night was a direct copy of what Tressell did in front of the OSU basketball crowd after he got hired. Not much imagination. I know we have a new AD (who I hope would never honor a 6-6 team) blah, blah, blah. I will wait and see.

I'm confused briden. I didn't think last night was anything about the season. Or did that happen in previous games?

Nothing happened last night. I was speaking about 3 or 4 years ago. I was just pointing it out as an example of where KSU football had sunk to. I hope everybody is right about this coach and the enthusiasm is warranted. I have seen a million new coachs create enthusiasm at Kent and many other places. But coaches are like first year recruits. The game is faster for a head coach then it is for an assistant coach and a few words at a basketball game and press conference don't convince me of anything. My comment about him copying Tressel was just an attempt to throw some cold water on the enthusiasm. Let's review again at the end of next September or so.

I can see your skeptisism, but I'm more excited about the winds of change here than any 1 coach. We have a coach that is sticking his neck way way out and an AD willing to chop his head off if he doesn't produce.

Blacks might be 80% of the players today but they weren't 20-30 years ago when most of the current coachs played. It takes a generation or two for the signs of racism to clear out.

You see the same thing in womens basketball. There aren't more womens coaches because of sex bias. There are more because you actually have a bunch of 40/50 year old women who played the game.

Things like these just don't change fast. It's an evolution not a revolution. Just the way us humans are.

I hope everybody is right about this coach and the enthusiasm is warranted. I have seen a million new coachs create enthusiasm at Kent and many other places. But coaches are like first year recruits. The game is faster for a head coach then it is for an assistant coach and a few words at a basketball game and press conference don't convince me of anything. My comment about him copying Tressel was just an attempt to throw some cold water on the enthusiasm. Let's review again at the end of next September or so.
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I can see your skeptisism, but I'm more excited about the winds of change here than any 1 coach. We have a coach that is sticking his neck way way out and an AD willing to chop his head off if he doesn't produce.
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Fair enough Alpha Flash. Believe me I hope your right. However when I analyze KSU football I have to see the glass half empty until proven I shouldn't.

Hazell is a great choice. Only time will tell, of course, as nobody can forecast the future. I will surprised if he doesn't do at least as well as Glen Mason did when he came from OSU.

As far as basketball coaches, Waters was a great choice at the time, and it did work out. The only bad choice in basketball in the last almost 30 years was David Grube in 1992, and that would have been pre-Kennedy. Grube was a bad choice in that it is never a good idea to promote an assistant from a program in decline, and Kent State had just experienced its first back-to-back losing seasons under Jim McDonald. McDonald, Waters, Heath, Christian and Ford all looked like good choices at the time, and all panned out, in my opinion. Both David Grube and Doug Martin seemed like risky choices at the time, and neither worked out, although Doug Martin actually did better than any coach not named Mason over the last 30+ years.

Burden makes a great point. I've been following sports since 1962, and have read a lot of sports history concerning times earlier than that. It is easy for someone much younger not to realize that college basketball and football being dominated by African-Americans is a relatively recent phenomenon. It's really only been the last 40 years that the increase began. Prior to that many major schools forbid African-Americans from playing (e.g. the SEC and the old SWC), and the others had unwritten quotas (e.g no more than four on the basketball roster). So, there is bound to be a lag time when it comes to the absolute number of coaches and AD's and the like. I'm sure in the future at least half of the coaches will be African-American.

Quote:I hope everybody is right about this coach and the enthusiasm is warranted. I have seen a million new coachs create enthusiasm at Kent and many other places.

I have been around for every coach hiring since before Don James. I, personally and for most of my contemporaries, have NOT been enthusiastic for any of the FB coaching hires. I would like to know of the million, or just five, that created the enthusiasm that you speak of. The closest to it that I recall, was when Leo Strang was hired to follow Trevor Rees. Leo was the legendary coach at Massillon and had won several high school national championships. He came to KSU with the endorsement of NE Ohio high school coaches and in his first year, he brought in 7 high school all Americans. At that time, there were freshman teams as freshmen could not play varsity. Freshmen had their own schedule and KSU freshmen defeated PIT 52 to 14. Those all American players were photoed on the cover of Parade Magazine. I was very excited for Leo. Outside of that, and being very excited for Don James, and moderately for Glen Mason, I have been against every hire since then. I am on record as being very excited NOW.

(12-23-2010 05:38 PM)GFlash68 Wrote:  

Quote:I hope everybody is right about this coach and the enthusiasm is warranted. I have seen a million new coachs create enthusiasm at Kent and many other places.

I have been around for every coach hiring since before Don James. I, personally and for most of my contemporaries, have NOT been enthusiastic for any of the FB coaching hires. I would like to know of the million, or just five, that created the enthusiasm that you speak of. The closest to it that I recall, was when Leo Strang was hired to follow Trevor Rees. Leo was the legendary coach at Massillon and had won several high school national championships. He came to KSU with the endorsement of NE Ohio high school coaches and in his first year, he brought in 7 high school all Americans. At that time, there were freshman teams as freshmen could not play varsity. Freshmen had their own schedule and KSU freshmen defeated PIT 52 to 14. Those all American players were photoed on the cover of Parade Magazine. I was very excited for Leo. Outside of that, and being very excited for Don James, and moderately for Glen Mason, I have been against every hire since then. I am on record as being very excited NOW.

As Tom Waits said, "You must be reading my mail."

This is the first hire in my memory that actually has me excited for KSU football. I'm a basketball guy, with a lot of passion for golf and baseball even beyond but including KSU's. I like football, but it's not my main interest at any level. I may actually become moderately obsessed with it next season!

I will still wait and see. The million was not in reference to Kent St. but to all the schools and pro teams. A new coach on a bad team always generates hope. Let's remember the great Glen Mason was 7-4 and 6-5 hardly a juggernaut. Our expectations are low. Let's be honest. Over the last 20 years Kent has turned around both basketball teams and baseball. Hopefully football is next but I will always be skeptical until it
happens.

Hey I just noticed I'm a first stringer now. I really need a life.

Burden, Mason didn't even do as well as you think. He was 5-6 and 7-4, then left for Kansas. Then they were 5-6 Crum's first year, and that was really disappointing. Although coaching only two years, he did have the only winning record since Fitzgerald left after the 1977 season.

GFlash, I remember Leo Strang from Massillon. He was considered a phenomenally innovative coach. Why didn't he do better than he did at Kent State? I always wondered.

I still think that he was a good coach. He was very unlucky in wins. In one season, he lost 5 games by a total of 13 points as I recall. If he would have won those games, I believe that he would have had a very long run.

It'll happen, yall. Remember, it took the Indians 30 years to produce a winner in 1995. That's a pro team.

Just a correction. My beloved Indians had 41 years between World Series appearances and went from 1959 until 1994 to even be in contention. Boy that was a long time. I went from a 4th grader to a 44 year old man between pennant races. Pathetic. Why did my grandfather settle in Cleveland of all places!! Oh yeah it was the beautiful weather.

http://www.philly.com/inquirer/breaking/...e_job.html

Looks like we will be tapping into the western penn/jersey talent pools

(12-23-2010 10:12 PM)burden Wrote:  Just a correction. My beloved Indians had 41 years between World Series appearances and went from 1959 until 1994 to even be in contention. Boy that was a long time. I went from a 4th grader to a 44 year old man between pennant races. Pathetic. Why did my grandfather settle in Cleveland of all places!! Oh yeah it was the beautiful weather.

Though it took unique circumstances for the the Tribe to become a championsip team in the 90's (rich new owner, new ballpark, 480 sell-outs, Brown's leaving town, stars aligning, etc.), that did restore my faith to believe that yes, anything is possible! I think it's finally KSU's time to shine in football. Things have and still are changing for the better at KSU. As Coach Hazell said at the basketball game, "You have waited long enough and you desreve a winner." You got that right brother!