Pollard backs Rhoads

[CyDude16]

Boy, some ISU fans can spin anything. If it wasn't so sad, it would be comical.

just like some can spin in such a negative way. If it wasn't so sad, it'd be comical.

 

[CyDude16]

You could say the same thing about last year.

Watching the establishment here defend Rhoads is like a time machine back to the McDermott era.

Eh, I wouldnt go that far.

 

[Wesley]

Is being within two possessions in only half our games "competitive"? I guess I don't know. Would you consider the KU teams of the past 5 years or so competitive? That's about where they have been as far as number of wins+close losses.

I thought it might be interesting, so I did a quick look back at Rhoads 6 years to see how many close games we won each year and how often we lost big. The last column in the chart is the record in "close" games (games decided by 14 or less).

	W(>14)	W(≤14)	L(≤14)	L(>14)
2009	3	4	3	3		(4-3)
2010	2	3	3	4		(3-3)
2011	1	5	2	5		(5-2)
2012	3	3	4	3		(3-4)
2013	2	1	5	4		(1-5)
2014	0	2	4	5		(2-4)

Rhoads first three years we won more of the close ones than we lost. We were 12-8 in games decided by 14 or less. Since 2012 we are 6-13. 2011 could easily have been an awful year but we got a few breaks to go our way. Last year could have been a lot better but we couldn't win close games.

But this year things went totally off the rails.

Looks like we need a big turnaround to get to .500

 

[Al_4_State]

Eh, I wouldnt go that far.

When McDermott was in failure mode, there was definitely a company line response around here from mods and such. That being said, to do what CF tries to do, you'd better stay in at least the decent graces of the AD, so they kind of have to.

I'm mostly saying we're at the point with this staff that we were under McDermott. Going nowhere, and stuck with them.

 

[Wesley]

just like some can spin in such a negative way. If it wasn't so sad, it'd be comical.

All that matters is the wins and losses. Our best game turns out to be the KSU game due to the quality of the opponent.

 

[Wesley]

When McDermott was in failure mode, there was definitely a company line response around here from mods and such. That being said, to do what CF tries to do, you'd better stay in at least the decent graces of the AD, so they kind of have to.

I'm mostly saying we're at the point with this staff that we were under McDermott. Going nowhere, and stuck with them.

I would settle for .500 McD ball for the fball team. He did win a conference game every year. We are finding it hard to even compete in the B12.

 

[Mumbai1986]

Well, next fall I will have a lot of free Saturday afternoons.

This will be a train wreck.

 

[CyDude16]

All that matters is the wins and losses. Our best game turns out to be the KSU game due to the quality of the opponent.

The **** are you talking about?

I would settle for .500 McD ball for the fball team. He did win a conference game every year. We are finding it hard to even compete in the B12.

just stop.

 

[jbhtexas]

This conversation was about the merits of giving an extension. When he got the extension he wasn't .392, he was right around .500 which was a huge improvement from where the program was prior to Rhoads arriving at ISU. Unless you are suggesting that Jamie knew what the future held, he had to act on the information he had when he gave the extension.

As far as your last statement, why would anyone ever get a raise with that reasoning? Simply giving someone more money really does not correlate to better performance. Better pay in this case - or a longer contract - is to keep a coach around who was having better success with the program than the program was having under the previous regime. Keeping that coach woefully underpaid in the conference is not the way to keep that coach around. Rhoads went from woefully underpaid to simply underpaid.

People also get raises when they perform above expectations, or for simple cost of living increases. I'm sure ADJP didn't know what the future held. I'm sure he also knew that things can change drastically and quickly in college FB, which is why a ten year HC contract is odd. I don't recall there being many other Power 5 colleges FB coaches (or corporate executives in the business world for that matter) who have received a contract of ten years length in the last 5 years.

I understand that Rhoads was given a contract extension to stay at ISU. And I don't object to that. My opinion is that it was overzealous for actual performance and past history of the coach.

As long as you are going to second guess that extension, feel free to link your posts where you were trashing the raise at the time. It was almost universally hailed as the right move at the time. I'm curious to see your posts saying it was the wrong move at the time. Otherwise it smacks of hindsight being 20/20.

Doing a quick search, I don't find any post condemning it, or supporting it. There's nothing really I can do to change your perception of my opinion on the extension, so it is what it is.

 

[CyDude16]

When McDermott was in failure mode, there was definitely a company line response around here from mods and such. That being said, to do what CF tries to do, you'd better stay in at least the decent graces of the AD, so they kind of have to.

I'm mostly saying we're at the point with this staff that we were under McDermott. Going nowhere, and stuck with them.

I get what you're saying, but I don't think the number of keep Rhoads is near what gmac supporters were at the time, and most are frustrated and understand theres one more year regardless of what anyone wants.

 

[gwoodclone]

Didn't 3 games come down to the last possession? K-State, Texas, and Tech?

This season feels to many like it was "totally off the rails," but there is some evidence to the contrary. I'm not saying that we were great, but we were really competitive in at least 3 of our losses.

And to be competitive with Tech and WV at the end of the season with all of our injuries is actually rather remarkable. I don't call that "totally off the rails."

We have games that come down to the end every year. We always will. The problem this season, and the reason I said we went off the rails, is that games that used to be 14+ point wins (FCS team, MAC team, Kansas) slipped to being close wins or even blowout losses. And, unless something bizarre happens Saturday, this team will have more big losses than any of Rhoads previous teams. It will be more than either of Chizik's teams. In fact, it's the worst since the year we fired Mac.

 

[CoKane]

Well, I'm certainly excited for another poor season next year.

 

[twojman]

I think you're right, and that's the point I've tried to make. Rhoads could go 0-12 and we could not score a single point and Pollard wouldn't fire him with a $5,000,000 check from a donor in his hand to do it.

He will continue to be an ISU employee not because we can't financially afford to stop him from being an ISU employee, but because his boss absolutely will not fire him.

Do you know something we don't or is this based on the same irrational love ADJP had for McDermott when everyone in the world knew it was a failure?

 

[cycloneworld]

Rhoads' winning % in his 6 years at ISU is 0.392. What does the Big 12 market value dictate should be paid to a coach with that kind of record in his sixth year? There aren't any other currently active Big 12 coaches doing that badly for comparison. Next worst is Kingsbury, who is 0.480 after two years, Strong is 0.500 in his first year, so it's tough to judge from them due to the short tenure. KU apparently decided they were paying to much for the performance they were getting and canned Weis. Gundy, Stoops, Holgersen, Briles, Snyder and Patterson are all above (well above in some cases) 0.500 at their current schools, which could be one reason why they are paid more money.

Would Rhoads do better if ISU paid him more? If not, what's the point of raising his pay to not be the lowest in the Big 12?

Of course its easy if we all look at the contract extension retroactively. But let's look at it at the time...Rhoads was making a million per year (very bottom of the league by a lot). He had immediately cleaned up Chizik's mess and taken us to bowl games. He took over for a coach with a .208 win percentage and increased it to .500 with no rebuilding effort that typically comes with a coaching change. He won road games and games against ranked team...something Iowa State hasn't seen in many decades.

And Pollard gave him a long contract extension that still puts him at the bottom of the league in compensation and with tolerable buyout (look to the east for an awful contract). Given the circumstances, it was a great contract for Iowa State. No one expected regression in years 5 and 6.

 

[wonkadog]

I wont get into family piece. Each person has their reasons for being part of this fanbase or not.

Its saddens me because two or three years ago I couldn't wait to write that check. I knew we weren't going to win a national title or even a big 12 title but there was hope that every game could be the OSU game or even the double overtime Iowa game. Every game we had a chance to get a big upset or win one no one thought we could.

My original post was directed at our buddy Stewo who indicated he/she was done being an ISU football fan because of this situation. If he/she is simply talking about donations that's a different thing but he/she indicated they were not even supporting the team at all any more. You don't have to donate thousands of dollars to support the team, you can still come to the games and scalp for cheap outside for a game or two.

 

[Tornado man]

I wonder if West Virginia thought that too. They were 4-8 last year which included wins over William & Mary and Georgia State. They had a lot of big losses too along with a couple other close wins. They turned things around nicely this year.

Whoa - WV made defensive coaching changes after last year, and also had several studs returning.
For example, is CPR bringing in someone the stature of Tom Bradley to coach d-line? If so, I'm pumped!

 

[cycloneworld]

Whoa - WV made defensive coaching changes after last year, and also had several studs returning.
For example, is CPR bringing in someone the stature of Tom Bradley to coach d-line? If so, I'm pumped!

And I'm guessing we will make defensive coaching changes as well. And how many "studs" can there be on a 4-8 team that beat 2 FBS teams?