Ron Prince saga at K-State

Is this for real? The ex-KSU AD promised a mediocre coach $3.2 million ... just on a whim? Not as part of the buyout, or anything? And he didn't tell the school about it, either? This is nuts.

I don't keep up much with the Big 12, so this wasn't on my radar. Didn't see a thread about it here yet, just got around to reading about it tonight on Joe Poz's blog.

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2009/05/28/prince-no-more-candy-4-u/

 

Buck,

It's becoming a firestorm within the program.

What you have now is realization from K-State fans -- who are, and I'm breaking out the broad brush here, really, really passionate and zealous about their program, the "swimming parents" of the Big XII -- that not only did they hire the wrong coach in Ron Prince but those donations they mailed in ($50/$100/$200) -- whatever they could afford -- may have gone to this secret agreement, payable in five or six years.

It's insane.

K-State football fans are probably the NASCAR fans of the Big XII. They share many of same demographics, right down to the 'Powercat logos' on their cars and trucks. Think the 'Chevy' or '48' license plates on the front of vehicles -- they are EVERYWHERE in parts of Kansas. They are extremely loyal, probably to the point of uber-fandom.

It's a difficult balance for Kansas State. In the 1990s, when the program made this unfathomable comeback under Bill Snyder, it was the JuCo players that often led the way. The trouble, now, is that K-State probably wants to try and win like all of the other "successful programs"...and, that is, with 4-year players. I covered some of the KSU teams of the peak of Snyder's run and let's just say that, no, you won't confuse them in the post-game pressers with the Duke teams with Grant Hill.

Here is the trouble...

What player with NFL talent wants to spend four years in Manhattan, KS, playing for a 70-year-old man who wants to control the type of butter they have on their rolls? I don't see this being a colossal failure but I see it as a Joe Gibbs-type return... with Joe Gibbs-type results. It won't be a three-year stretch of 3-9, 4-7, 2-10 because of the non-con schedule and the fact that Snyder will get Iowa State each year. However, I can't see this program beating any Big XII South team for years, including Baylor**. The conference is THAT competitive, year to year, in the South, and that kills the North.

Maybe Kansas State catches a wave where the Big XII North is "off". Nebraska and Colorado have been "off" the past five years and Missouri and Kansas won't be at their same level in 2009. Yet college football has been an arms race since Snyder last fielded a great team in 2003. Not sure if Kansas State has been able to keep up, not when you're sending a guy like Prince $3 million.

Winning the Big XII North is like winning the AL West 25 years ago, when 84 wins could do it. Most years, it's a matter of whether the North champ will keep it close. Nope, we'll never see the Big XII North champ beat the South champ 70-3. They could play that game in Ames or Lincoln, make the North team line up the usual 11, the South champ play "8-man" and the South champ could probably stay within two scores..

**Wait. Writer just realized that Mike Sherman remains employed at Texas A&M. Okay, Snyder will beat A&M every other year as long as Captain Uncharismatic is leading the Aggies.

 

All I gotta say is that Prince has done all ASU alumni proud with this deal. Plus, and there's a large section of alums who wanted him before he took the KSU job, he is now out there for when Moore steps down.

 

Looks like Ron Prince is the smartest man in the Big 12 after all.

The whole situation down there is almost enough to make me feel sympathy for Bill Snyder ... almost.

 

Given what you said about the current imbalance between the North and South divisions, any chance the league eliminates the division format and allows two teams from the same division to meet in its championship game?

 

You'll probably see an East-West split before that happens.

 

Biggest upset ever is that Bill Snyder once returned a phone message from me.

Seriously. It happened.

 

That must mean you are a truly important person.

 

So YOU were the one in charge of the margarine at the pregame meal.

 

Please explain this business with the butter.

 

http://vault.sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1014486/2/index.htm

Part of Snyder's level of control and cult of personality within K-State circles: From SI in 2000 on Bob Stoops, former KSU assistant under Snyder...

"Who says Snyder, who expects his assistants to put in the same hours he does, is a humorless workaholic? This is a man who consulted a hypnotist in an attempt to get by on fewer than four hours' sleep per night, a man who became upset when the Wildcats were served pats of butter before a game rather than the margarine he'd specified. Before the Wildcats shared a charter flight to Japan with Nebraska in 1992 for a conference championship game, Snyder figured out on which side of the plane the sun would rise and sought to seat his players on the opposite side. Snyder is very funny; he just isn't intentionally funny."

 

OK, he's nuts.
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