I think the coaching staff deserves plenty of criticism.
As I have said before....the fans have done their part. They have come through with virtually everything that was supposed to be needed in terms of facilities and support in order to make this a successful program. As has been mentioned in other threads today....the fan support is still there. How many 1-7 soon to be 1-8 teams have a virtual sell-out.....even if it was homecoming? The fans deserve better, and at the VERY LEAST, they deserve the right to voice their opinions in the form of criticism of this program and the coaching staff.
The problem is, CPR, by ISU standards had quite a bit of success in his first 4 years. Some bowl games, some big wins, and a great deal of enthusiasm put back into the program. There was a genuine feeling of momentum.
Now, almost suddenly, we have had reality forced upon us. This is not a good program right now, and that results in what we see on the field week after week. Forget the injuries. This team was not good in games 1 or 2 when they had no or few injuries. This is the 5th year of a program, and we have many on here that say ISU is just re-building. Re-building from what exactly? A 6-7 team last year? Another 3-6 record in conference? If that is what ISU is re-building from then the program is in serious trouble.
The other reality is that we have to question whether or not Rhoads first of all recognizes the problem with the offense, and secondly, does he know the correct steps to fix it? The other thing that becomes very clear is that the recruiting has not been all that good over the last few years. If it had been, the injuries would not have been as big of a problem this year, and we likely would not be talking about how young ISU is, or about re-building. The third reality is that ISU does not seem to develop personnel very well, particularly on the offense. Players like White and Johnson were pretty major contributors last year. Now, in their senior years......they aren't good enough? On this offense? White has not touched the ball in 2 weeks.
I think this is why people are rightfully criticizing so much. Fans have done their part over the last five years to build this program. What the hell have the coaches been doing? If fans were doing the same quality of work as the coaches, about 15.000 would have shown up today and most of the students would have found something better to do.
Simply put, ISU fans deserve much, much better than this crap. The very least that should be afforded them is to criticize as much as they want.