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Early front-runner...
9/9/2010
When his former team comes to play his current employer on Saturday, Mike Kramer will not be on the sidelines. He won't be making a concerted effort to shake the hands of his former coaches and players.
The history certainly isn't ancient. And all things considered, he doesn't want to be a distraction.
But at least one Montana State Bobcat will be asking how to get to the coach's box at Washington State's Martin Stadium, which is where Kramer will perch.
After all the former MSU head coach did for Kane Ioane, it's no surprise.
"Coach Krames basically got me my start here at MSU both as a player and as a coach," the Bobcats' current linebackers coach said. "I'm forever indebted to him and I will definitely make sure that I go up and shake his hand and tell him how good it is to see him this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing that big grin."
And that big grin is back.
"It's fun to walk up and down the hallway in a college athletic department," said Kramer, currently a football operations assistant at Washington State and speaking publicly about his 3-year hiatus from football for the first time.
Kramer settled with MSU for $240,000 this August, ending a drawn-out lawsuit he filed after he was fired in 2007. He said he wanted his day in court. It turns out he wanted to stroll down those hallways a little bit more.
"There is a vibrant energy that you don't find in any other walk of life," Kramer said. "Young guys between the ages of 18 and 22 have a fearlessness about them that almost defies description."
It all goes tumbling down
Equally as defying was Kramer's behavior in the moments following his firing three years ago, which came days after Rick Gatewood became the sixth individual association with MSU's football team to be placed under arrest.
Ioane will never forget where he was when he felt a chink in the seemingly indestructible armor that is Kramer's positivity. He was on the seventh hole at Cottonwood Golf Course when he got the call.
"Listening to the hurt in his voice as he told me he'd been fired, it was one of the most difficult phone calls I've ever received," Ioane said.
The timing of the words didn't help, either.
"We had just gotten done with spring ball and spring recruiting and we were very excited about everything we had going on coming off a playoff year," Ioane said. "It felt like everything was going to go tumbling down."
Ioane walked dazed off the hole and toward his car, thinking about the past seven years. All that was left was a barbeque.
It was a way to bring closure. It was a prequel to Kramer's absence from football which would span almost three years.
"We all sat back and breathed," Ioane said. "Coach Kramer told me I was going to be fine and that this was part of the profession - you have to know that at any given moment you can be fired. It taught me a lot about this job."
And soon after the party was over, Kramer was whisked away to deal with another harsh reality of life. His mother was having issues with the family farm back in eastern Washington.
Kramer called it a "typical internal family drama." As if he needed more.
"My dad had passed away and we ran into a crisis with who owned our farm and who was running it," Kramer said. "In hindsight, it was fortunate that I was able to help with the situation."
Searching for something
Kramer talks about the autumn of 2007 leading into the fall of this year with the kind of candor of someone at peace with his lot in life, but hardly content with it.
He spent that first fall visiting different FBS and FCS colleges and universities across the country, trying to find out more about the intricacies of college athletic programs - something many felt he did not have a good handle on during his time at MSU.
When football season ended and 2008 began, Kramer went to work on "fulfilling a lifelong dream" - working with a custom harvesting outfit in the Midwest. Or, as he calls it, "being a farm boy."
"I enjoyed the heck out of that," he said. "I got to work with a lot of foreign nationals who help America bring in its harvest."
Then during the fall of 2008, Kramer went back to watching. He did it on the sidelines of Washington State under the blessing of head coach Paul Wulff, who had been given his first opportunity as a coach by Kramer back in 1993 at Eastern Washington University.
But at the time there was no position open other than voyeur. And Kramer got antsy once more. So in the spring of that year, he made a run at getting back into coaching.
He applied for jobs at every level of football except for NCAA Division III. And there is "no doubt" in Kramer's mind why each and every one of those potential employers turned his application away.
"I had several administrators and college presidents that told me because I was involved in a lawsuit with my former employer that I could not be considered any further for candidacy," Kramer said. "I was told flat out."
As Kramer decided what he would do with that news, he started one final project, which was helping get Kramer Diversified, a construction outfit, off the ground. The company is now run by his two brothers.
"We had dump trucks and backhoes and we dug and hauled," Kramer said. "We were involved in a lot of big, road-type construction projects."
In true Kramer fashion, he called it a "tremendous learning experience," Translation: It wasn't coaching college football.
Luckily, still living in Bozeman until his daughter Gretchen graduated in 2008, he had a bit of a release in Montana State.
"Montana State is my family," Kramer said. "I always knew how their football program was doing. Every week, every game, all the time. Every player, I knew how they were doing all the time."
Back to football
Taking the job as a football operations assistant at WSU was a step to get back in the game. And as excited as Kramer is, he knows he hasn't arrived yet.
After all, a former head coach who has led teams to four conference championships and seemed to be on the precipice of an FBS job offer might appear to be a bit overqualified for a position that has the word "minutia" in its primary description.
But right now charting offensive and defensive plays and doing whatever is required to support a coaching staff run by Wulff will have to do.
"It's the only college athletic department position that I have been hired for," Kramer said. "And believe me, I have applied for almost every single college coaching position I have come across in the last three years."
When asked if he had applied for the defensive line coaching position at the University of Montana that came open earlier this year and for the defensive aid position for former UM coach Bobby Hauck at UNLV, Kramer said, "Let's just say both were probably in that basket of stuff that I tried to do."
But Wulff was the only one that came through. And it stands to reason.
"I owe Mike Kramer a tremendous amount," Wulff said. "He gave me every opportunity to get into this business. He was out of work and he's a good football coach and a good person. I thought it was a good opportunity to get him involved so he can continue to work his way back up the ladder in the coaching ranks."
Kramer is appreciative of the offer, but hopes he won't be at his current position at Washington State long. He's set a goal of getting back on the field and coaching - "hopefully at a scholarship school," he says - by 2011.
And when he interviews for jobs now, he'll have a bit more ammunition than he has had the past three seasons.
"The one thing that I'm able to tell prospective colleges or universities is that what was said about me when I was fired was untrue," Kramer said. "And the people responsible paid me a quarter of a million dollars because they knew that they were wrong."
It's still a sensitive subject around MSU, but for a head coach that took an 0-11 team and made them conference champions and ended 16 years of losing to as bitter an adversary as can be found, Ioane feels credit has been given where credit was due.
"This program was in ashes when coach Kramer took over," Ioane said. "What he did here was nothing short of amazing. And in my opinion, he was finally paid the respect he deserved."
9/9/2010
When his former team comes to play his current employer on Saturday, Mike Kramer will not be on the sidelines. He won't be making a concerted effort to shake the hands of his former coaches and players.
The history certainly isn't ancient. And all things considered, he doesn't want to be a distraction.
But at least one Montana State Bobcat will be asking how to get to the coach's box at Washington State's Martin Stadium, which is where Kramer will perch.
After all the former MSU head coach did for Kane Ioane, it's no surprise.
"Coach Krames basically got me my start here at MSU both as a player and as a coach," the Bobcats' current linebackers coach said. "I'm forever indebted to him and I will definitely make sure that I go up and shake his hand and tell him how good it is to see him this weekend. I'm looking forward to seeing that big grin."
And that big grin is back.
"It's fun to walk up and down the hallway in a college athletic department," said Kramer, currently a football operations assistant at Washington State and speaking publicly about his 3-year hiatus from football for the first time.
Kramer settled with MSU for $240,000 this August, ending a drawn-out lawsuit he filed after he was fired in 2007. He said he wanted his day in court. It turns out he wanted to stroll down those hallways a little bit more.
"There is a vibrant energy that you don't find in any other walk of life," Kramer said. "Young guys between the ages of 18 and 22 have a fearlessness about them that almost defies description."
It all goes tumbling down
Equally as defying was Kramer's behavior in the moments following his firing three years ago, which came days after Rick Gatewood became the sixth individual association with MSU's football team to be placed under arrest.
Ioane will never forget where he was when he felt a chink in the seemingly indestructible armor that is Kramer's positivity. He was on the seventh hole at Cottonwood Golf Course when he got the call.
"Listening to the hurt in his voice as he told me he'd been fired, it was one of the most difficult phone calls I've ever received," Ioane said.
The timing of the words didn't help, either.
"We had just gotten done with spring ball and spring recruiting and we were very excited about everything we had going on coming off a playoff year," Ioane said. "It felt like everything was going to go tumbling down."
Ioane walked dazed off the hole and toward his car, thinking about the past seven years. All that was left was a barbeque.
It was a way to bring closure. It was a prequel to Kramer's absence from football which would span almost three years.
"We all sat back and breathed," Ioane said. "Coach Kramer told me I was going to be fine and that this was part of the profession - you have to know that at any given moment you can be fired. It taught me a lot about this job."
And soon after the party was over, Kramer was whisked away to deal with another harsh reality of life. His mother was having issues with the family farm back in eastern Washington.
Kramer called it a "typical internal family drama." As if he needed more.
"My dad had passed away and we ran into a crisis with who owned our farm and who was running it," Kramer said. "In hindsight, it was fortunate that I was able to help with the situation."
Searching for something
Kramer talks about the autumn of 2007 leading into the fall of this year with the kind of candor of someone at peace with his lot in life, but hardly content with it.
He spent that first fall visiting different FBS and FCS colleges and universities across the country, trying to find out more about the intricacies of college athletic programs - something many felt he did not have a good handle on during his time at MSU.
When football season ended and 2008 began, Kramer went to work on "fulfilling a lifelong dream" - working with a custom harvesting outfit in the Midwest. Or, as he calls it, "being a farm boy."
"I enjoyed the heck out of that," he said. "I got to work with a lot of foreign nationals who help America bring in its harvest."
Then during the fall of 2008, Kramer went back to watching. He did it on the sidelines of Washington State under the blessing of head coach Paul Wulff, who had been given his first opportunity as a coach by Kramer back in 1993 at Eastern Washington University.
But at the time there was no position open other than voyeur. And Kramer got antsy once more. So in the spring of that year, he made a run at getting back into coaching.
He applied for jobs at every level of football except for NCAA Division III. And there is "no doubt" in Kramer's mind why each and every one of those potential employers turned his application away.
"I had several administrators and college presidents that told me because I was involved in a lawsuit with my former employer that I could not be considered any further for candidacy," Kramer said. "I was told flat out."
As Kramer decided what he would do with that news, he started one final project, which was helping get Kramer Diversified, a construction outfit, off the ground. The company is now run by his two brothers.
"We had dump trucks and backhoes and we dug and hauled," Kramer said. "We were involved in a lot of big, road-type construction projects."
In true Kramer fashion, he called it a "tremendous learning experience," Translation: It wasn't coaching college football.
Luckily, still living in Bozeman until his daughter Gretchen graduated in 2008, he had a bit of a release in Montana State.
"Montana State is my family," Kramer said. "I always knew how their football program was doing. Every week, every game, all the time. Every player, I knew how they were doing all the time."
Back to football
Taking the job as a football operations assistant at WSU was a step to get back in the game. And as excited as Kramer is, he knows he hasn't arrived yet.
After all, a former head coach who has led teams to four conference championships and seemed to be on the precipice of an FBS job offer might appear to be a bit overqualified for a position that has the word "minutia" in its primary description.
But right now charting offensive and defensive plays and doing whatever is required to support a coaching staff run by Wulff will have to do.
"It's the only college athletic department position that I have been hired for," Kramer said. "And believe me, I have applied for almost every single college coaching position I have come across in the last three years."
When asked if he had applied for the defensive line coaching position at the University of Montana that came open earlier this year and for the defensive aid position for former UM coach Bobby Hauck at UNLV, Kramer said, "Let's just say both were probably in that basket of stuff that I tried to do."
But Wulff was the only one that came through. And it stands to reason.
"I owe Mike Kramer a tremendous amount," Wulff said. "He gave me every opportunity to get into this business. He was out of work and he's a good football coach and a good person. I thought it was a good opportunity to get him involved so he can continue to work his way back up the ladder in the coaching ranks."
Kramer is appreciative of the offer, but hopes he won't be at his current position at Washington State long. He's set a goal of getting back on the field and coaching - "hopefully at a scholarship school," he says - by 2011.
And when he interviews for jobs now, he'll have a bit more ammunition than he has had the past three seasons.
"The one thing that I'm able to tell prospective colleges or universities is that what was said about me when I was fired was untrue," Kramer said. "And the people responsible paid me a quarter of a million dollars because they knew that they were wrong."
It's still a sensitive subject around MSU, but for a head coach that took an 0-11 team and made them conference champions and ended 16 years of losing to as bitter an adversary as can be found, Ioane feels credit has been given where credit was due.
"This program was in ashes when coach Kramer took over," Ioane said. "What he did here was nothing short of amazing. And in my opinion, he was finally paid the respect he deserved."
