I don't really see the point in criticizing this year's team/coaching considering how badly our roster is undermanned. I can certainly see criticizing coaching for burning redshirts and lack of playing time for Willis, but virtually everyone has settled into us not winning a game this year.
Now with that said, how did we get to this point? Gill went backwards from Mangino and Weis went backward from Gill to where each new coach we've hired has left things worse than they found it. Thankfully, I don't think we can go any lower. I will give Zenger credit for pulling the trigger and firing these guys.
Overall, I really don't have any confidence Zenger knows what he's doing with football. When we hired Zenger, I really thought he was going to do more with less and help build a football culture at KU. He'd been other places where they built football and I thought he would humbly make the changes we need to where we could consistently be proud of our football program.
I really think Zenger's failures have stemmed from being a weak leader, not building a football culture, and lack of a comprehensive plan. I think Zenger has given his coaches free reign on where they want to go with the program; he's been way too hands off. With Beaty, I think that's a little different because I can see a better working relationship there. With Weis, there was none and that explains why you would hire someone that didn't know KU, KU's recruiting territory (remember the year he almost didn't sign a TX kid?), and had a reputation of being very difficult to work with.
I really think we have to question whether we have the right leader of the athletic department going forward? Perhaps Zenger has learned from his mistakes and will do a good job from here onward. I'm encouraged that it sounds like the stadium renovations will be impressive and not just slapping lipstick on a pig. But personally I want someone that knows what they want to do with scheduling, tailgating atmosphere, in-game experience, student engagement, the stadium, team composition, etc. I think at KU it's easy to sit back and passively let the Hill and boosters dictate things because you'll get to keep your job longer, but I was really hoping for a strong leader that was going to build this program. When the football program has largely been mismanaged for 50+ years, it's hard to have confidence in those involved. Once Mangino got things up and going, never in my worst nightmares did I ever think we would fall back to this football ineptitude in my lifetime. Frankly, I'm still in shock we can be in this bad of shape.
Now with that said, how did we get to this point? Gill went backwards from Mangino and Weis went backward from Gill to where each new coach we've hired has left things worse than they found it. Thankfully, I don't think we can go any lower. I will give Zenger credit for pulling the trigger and firing these guys.
Overall, I really don't have any confidence Zenger knows what he's doing with football. When we hired Zenger, I really thought he was going to do more with less and help build a football culture at KU. He'd been other places where they built football and I thought he would humbly make the changes we need to where we could consistently be proud of our football program.
I really think Zenger's failures have stemmed from being a weak leader, not building a football culture, and lack of a comprehensive plan. I think Zenger has given his coaches free reign on where they want to go with the program; he's been way too hands off. With Beaty, I think that's a little different because I can see a better working relationship there. With Weis, there was none and that explains why you would hire someone that didn't know KU, KU's recruiting territory (remember the year he almost didn't sign a TX kid?), and had a reputation of being very difficult to work with.
I really think we have to question whether we have the right leader of the athletic department going forward? Perhaps Zenger has learned from his mistakes and will do a good job from here onward. I'm encouraged that it sounds like the stadium renovations will be impressive and not just slapping lipstick on a pig. But personally I want someone that knows what they want to do with scheduling, tailgating atmosphere, in-game experience, student engagement, the stadium, team composition, etc. I think at KU it's easy to sit back and passively let the Hill and boosters dictate things because you'll get to keep your job longer, but I was really hoping for a strong leader that was going to build this program. When the football program has largely been mismanaged for 50+ years, it's hard to have confidence in those involved. Once Mangino got things up and going, never in my worst nightmares did I ever think we would fall back to this football ineptitude in my lifetime. Frankly, I'm still in shock we can be in this bad of shape.
