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

(12-22-2021 11:36 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  You guys are absurd. Criticizing Lewis for has record when 28% of those games came in the 2-10 first season where no coach would realistically have done better. Then two other seasons started with a guaranteed 3 losses. And criticizing his beard as a sign of bad leadership? Get real. The program is light-years ahead of where it was when he took over. In 3 and 1/3 seasons he's won 7 games in a season twice.. We won 7+ games twice in the 41 years before that. Sure looks to me that in addition to the growing beards and having different uniforms it is about winning.

Thank you for this post. The previous comments were bordering on the nuts level. We just need to work on the defense and we will see that happen.

I, for one, am not criticizing Lewis. I'm sorry if my comments may have read that way. Three consecutive seasons without a losing record is something that hasn't been done in 47 years! Heck, even two consecutive non-losing seasons hadn't been done! In fact, even in his first season, a losing one, I predicted that he'd win a MAC title before the men's basketball team won their next one. That still could happen. My only point, in reference to someone else's comment is that his record would be grounds for firing at some places, e.g. Ohio State, some SEC schools, etc., but Kent State is NOT such a place, with their histories and resources. That's comparing apples and oranges.

(12-22-2021 11:36 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  You guys are absurd. Criticizing Lewis for has record when 28% of those games came in the 2-10 first season where no coach would realistically have done better. Then two other seasons started with a guaranteed 3 losses. And criticizing his beard as a sign of bad leadership? Get real. The program is light-years ahead of where it was when he took over. In 3 and 1/3 seasons he's won 7 games in a season twice.. We won 7+ games twice in the 41 years before that. Sure looks to me that in addition to the growing beards and having different uniforms it is about winning.

Arguably one of the worst D1 football programs the last
40-50 yrs. Check the records. Consecutive winless seasons. Long losing streaks. Lewis has returned us to some respectability and in my book that’s successful.

He knew when he took the job the obstacles.
1/ annual monster non-conference schedules
2/ low budget for promotion and increasing attendance.
3/ decrepit stadium ( worst in MAC easily)
4/ Ohio HS coaches with a negative bias towards Kent State
5/ mixed signals on commitment to football from an administration
trying to turn Kent State into an academic Ivy League
6/ $$$$ low budget for coaches salaries and recruitment.

In my book he has been successful, no question.

Do I like everything , No . Has our offensive style made our defense
Wilt at the end of halves. YES.

At the end of the day. Kent Football now respected and MAC competitive.
We will never be more. Most of the reasons have nothing to do with Coach Lewis. Job…. well done !! Glad he’s our coach.

(12-23-2021 07:49 AM)Older and Older Wrote:  Arguably one of the worst D1 football programs the last
40-50 yrs. Check the records. Consecutive winless seasons. Long losing streaks. Lewis has returned us to some respectability and in my book that’s successful.

He knew when he took the job the obstacles.
1/ annual monster non-conference schedules
2/ low budget for promotion and increasing attendance.
3/ decrepit stadium ( worst in MAC easily)
4/ Ohio HS coaches with a negative bias towards Kent State
5/ mixed signals on commitment to football from an administration
trying to turn Kent State into an academic Ivy League
6/ $$$$ low budget for coaches salaries and recruitment.

In my book he has been successful, no question.

Do I like everything , No . Has our offensive style made our defense
Wilt at the end of halves. YES.

At the end of the day. Kent Football now respected and MAC competitive.
We will never be more. Most of the reasons have nothing to do with Coach Lewis. Job…. well done !! Glad he’s our coach.

(12-22-2021 11:36 PM)anti-zip Wrote:  You guys are absurd. Criticizing Lewis for has record when 28% of those games came in the 2-10 first season where no coach would realistically have done better. Then two other seasons started with a guaranteed 3 losses. And criticizing his beard as a sign of bad leadership? Get real. The program is light-years ahead of where it was when he took over. In 3 and 1/3 seasons he's won 7 games in a season twice.. We won 7+ games twice in the 41 years before that. Sure looks to me that in addition to the growing beards and having different uniforms it is about winning.

+1 3 winning seasons in a row, when was the last time that happened, Oh I know the answer 1972-74. The man has done a fantastic job in his 4 years here and only better things to come. To all you haters, would you rather be 2-10, 4-8? Then you would have something to ***** about. Go back to the park bench and complain about the weather.
SMH

(12-23-2021 07:49 AM)Older and Older Wrote:  Arguably one of the worst D1 football programs the last
40-50 yrs. Check the records. Consecutive winless seasons. Long losing streaks. Lewis has returned us to some respectability and in my book that’s successful.

He knew when he took the job the obstacles.
1/ annual monster non-conference schedules
2/ low budget for promotion and increasing attendance.
3/ decrepit stadium ( worst in MAC easily)
4/ Ohio HS coaches with a negative bias towards Kent State
5/ mixed signals on commitment to football from an administration
trying to turn Kent State into an academic Ivy League
6/ $$$$ low budget for coaches salaries and recruitment.

In my book he has been successful, no question.

Do I like everything , No . Has our offensive style made our defense
Wilt at the end of halves. YES.

At the end of the day. Kent Football now respected and MAC competitive.
We will never be more. Most of the reasons have nothing to do with Coach Lewis. Job…. well done !! Glad he’s our coach.

Amen! Super comment!

(12-23-2021 07:49 AM)Older and Older Wrote:  Arguably one of the worst D1 football programs the last
40-50 yrs. Check the records. Consecutive winless seasons. Long losing streaks. Lewis has returned us to some respectability and in my book that’s successful.

He knew when he took the job the obstacles.
1/ annual monster non-conference schedules
2/ low budget for promotion and increasing attendance.
3/ decrepit stadium ( worst in MAC easily)
4/ Ohio HS coaches with a negative bias towards Kent State
5/ mixed signals on commitment to football from an administration
trying to turn Kent State into an academic Ivy League
6/ $$$$ low budget for coaches salaries and recruitment.

In my book he has been successful, no question.

Do I like everything , No . Has our offensive style made our defense
Wilt at the end of halves. YES.

At the end of the day. Kent Football now respected and MAC competitive.
We will never be more. Most of the reasons have nothing to do with Coach Lewis. Job…. well done !! Glad he’s our coach.

Agree with everything except the fact that our offensive style makes the defense wilt at the end of the half. The defense has been wilted from pre-game warmups.

That said, Lewis has some developmental opportunities. No different than Bill Belichick or Nick Saban. And I don't mean his beard. Finding the right guy to install a defensive system would be priority #1.

With Lewis, Senderoff and Starkey as the coaches of the three most visible sports, we could do a Hell of a lot worse, and too often have in my 60 years.

(12-23-2021 09:49 AM)dannyb73 Wrote:  

(12-23-2021 07:49 AM)Older and Older Wrote:  Arguably one of the worst D1 football programs the last
40-50 yrs. Check the records. Consecutive winless seasons. Long losing streaks. Lewis has returned us to some respectability and in my book that’s successful.

He knew when he took the job the obstacles.
1/ annual monster non-conference schedules
2/ low budget for promotion and increasing attendance.
3/ decrepit stadium ( worst in MAC easily)
4/ Ohio HS coaches with a negative bias towards Kent State
5/ mixed signals on commitment to football from an administration
trying to turn Kent State into an academic Ivy League
6/ $$$$ low budget for coaches salaries and recruitment.

In my book he has been successful, no question.

Do I like everything , No . Has our offensive style made our defense
Wilt at the end of halves. YES.

At the end of the day. Kent Football now respected and MAC competitive.
We will never be more. Most of the reasons have nothing to do with Coach Lewis. Job…. well done !! Glad he’s our coach.

Agree with everything except the fact that our offensive style makes the defense wilt at the end of the half. The defense has been wilted from pre-game warmups.

That said, Lewis has some developmental opportunities. No different than Bill Belichick or Nick Saban. And I don't mean his beard. Finding the right guy to install a defensive system would be priority #1.

I would argue our inability to kick a touchback hurt the defense more than the offenses speed. Felt like every time we scored the opponent started with the ball at the 40 this year. Need to fix the kicking game next year.

I think the speed of the offensive just made the team less enjoyable to watch but ultimately didn't make much of a difference for the defense. The majority of each game we're watching a bad unit. So while we're being competitive, it feels like 60% of the game we're watching our team play bad. Which obviously negatively effects our overall feeling as fans.

Good point, ant-zip, only the offense was a joy to watch. I'm sure that the majority of the game the offense was not on the field, so a majority of the game, even in exciting wins, was often painful to watch. It's not unusual for any winning team to be somewhat better either on offense or defense, but it's rare to see a gap as great as Kent State's was. Still, in MAC games, the offense prevailed in 2/3 of the games, which isn't a bad net result. And, pretty darned good by Kent State historical standards, I might add.

I did some research and found out that coaches with beards have a worse record than coaches without. Abe Lincoln being the only one to go against the trend.

(12-23-2021 04:25 PM)burden Wrote:  I did some research and found out that coaches with beards have a worse record than coaches without. Abe Lincoln being the only one to go against the trend.

Agree. Nick Saban is clean-shaven, and so is Bill Belichick (sort of. He always looks like he could use a shave.)

Miami is about to get the MAC's first bowl win this year.

Let's not forget that he is 3-1 against the kangaroos. With the one loss coming in ot on a 2 pt conversion try in his first season.

Thank you Miami for getting the MAC on the board. Sure would be nice to have the MAC appear competent.

(12-23-2021 05:40 PM)Muskrat Wrote:  

(12-23-2021 04:25 PM)burden Wrote:  I did some research and found out that coaches with beards have a worse record than coaches without. Abe Lincoln being the only one to go against the trend.

Agree. Nick Saban is clean-shaven, and so is Bill Belichick (sort of. He always looks like he could use a shave.)

I want a full breakdown of coaches records with no beards, beards less than two inches and beards more than 2 inch beards, mustache only and a mullet

(12-24-2021 01:07 AM)thanksjim Wrote:  

(12-23-2021 05:40 PM)Muskrat Wrote:  

(12-23-2021 04:25 PM)burden Wrote:  I did some research and found out that coaches with beards have a worse record than coaches without. Abe Lincoln being the only one to go against the trend.

Agree. Nick Saban is clean-shaven, and so is Bill Belichick (sort of. He always looks like he could use a shave.)

I want a full breakdown of coaches records with no beards, beards less than two inches and beards more than 2 inch beards, mustache only and a mullet

Yes, and those with a Mohawk, too.

(12-23-2021 11:02 AM)Muskrat Wrote:  With Lewis, Senderoff and Starkey as the coaches of the three most visible sports, we could do a Hell of a lot worse, and too often have in my 60 years.

Agree 110%. Quality Individuals who care .. and can coach.
You never hear any of them making excuses or publicly complaining

At the end of the day winning is paramount but graduations mean a better
life for student athletes and that’s the the big pay off.
I like what I’m seeing.

(12-24-2021 07:49 AM)Muskrat Wrote:  

(12-24-2021 01:07 AM)thanksjim Wrote:  

(12-23-2021 05:40 PM)Muskrat Wrote:  

(12-23-2021 04:25 PM)burden Wrote:  I did some research and found out that coaches with beards have a worse record than coaches without. Abe Lincoln being the only one to go against the trend.

Agree. Nick Saban is clean-shaven, and so is Bill Belichick (sort of. He always looks like he could use a shave.)

I want a full breakdown of coaches records with no beards, beards less than two inches and beards more than 2 inch beards, mustache only and a mullet

Yes, and those with a Mohawk, too.

At Kent coaches with a "half Santa" have accounted for 40% of our bowl appearances and 100% of our bowl wins.

(12-24-2021 09:06 AM)anti-zip Wrote:  

(12-24-2021 07:49 AM)Muskrat Wrote:  

(12-24-2021 01:07 AM)thanksjim Wrote:  

(12-23-2021 05:40 PM)Muskrat Wrote:  

(12-23-2021 04:25 PM)burden Wrote:  I did some research and found out that coaches with beards have a worse record than coaches without. Abe Lincoln being the only one to go against the trend.

Agree. Nick Saban is clean-shaven, and so is Bill Belichick (sort of. He always looks like he could use a shave.)

I want a full breakdown of coaches records with no beards, beards less than two inches and beards more than 2 inch beards, mustache only and a mullet

Yes, and those with a Mohawk, too.

At Kent coaches with a "half Santa" have accounted for 40% of our bowl appearances and 100% of our bowl wins.

I'm sold. 2 inch beards or longer it is.