My Thoughts

[gobears]

Here are all my thoughts on the current situation. They will be published in book form later

As much as I may have to cry my self to sleep every Saturday, I think Downing should be given more time. It takes more than 1.2 seasons to build a program. Last season is a wash; one coach in a million could have had a great season last year. Bill Snyder who at K-State took the worst team in college football and turned in into a respected powerhouse, had a 1 win season his first year.

This year Downing has had one bad game. Hawaii doesn’t count, and was anyone really expecting anything different?! (I wrote this awhile ago, and didn’t get around to posting it.)

The CSC game was a total disaster. I will be the first to say it; I think it signals deep problems in the program. However, I could be wrong. There is a whole season ahead of us and until it is over it is premature to make any judgments.

If the worst case scenario happens and we don’t win a game all season then I will understand the calls for Downing's head. What will be the decision maker for me is looking at this team’s performance at the beginning and end of the season. If they do not improve at all, I think it will be time for a change.

Hinrichs is a different story. I liked him at first, he ramped up publicity for the athletic department and game attendance went up during the first football and b-ball seasons under his tenure. He also got the facility and funding referendums passed. Those accomplishments were marred however by some serious public relations blunders. Dissolving the Blue and Gold club and the mess that surrounded the firing of coaches were the main ones. (I should make a note here: I did not disagree that the coaches that Jay fired needed to go. I had a problem with the manner in which the dismissals took place.)

The public staffing changes that took place during Jay's first year were only one half of the story. The athletic administration experienced a blood letting as well. Some of these firings made me raise my eyebrows a bit but when Jay explained it to the Trib by saying something like 'We had some people on board who did not share my vision for the future of Northern Colorado athletics...', I took him at his word. When you take over any organization, you have to get the right people in place.

The problem is that what should have be an initial house cleaning had turned into an unending treadmill of staffing changes. Now many of the people who Jay originally hired are leaving. Because of this perpetual turnover, the department is constantly short staffed. A glance at the athletic staff directory this summer showed that some entire departments were listed as 'TBA'. Now the department has ceased advertising how short staffed they are and only lists filled positions on the staff directory.

There are any number of reasons why this may be happening, but I think it is a crisis of leadership. Jay is just not a good manager, and he is a nightmare to work for. How do I know you ask? I have a close personal friend who worked in the department under both Fallis and Hinrichs (She was not fired, she just moved on to other things). I'm sure there are those who like Jay, but the personal experience of a friend and the constant staff turnover suggest a real problem to me.

The athletic department in addition to putting a lousy product on the field has done everything in its power to alienate fans. Just ask some long time fans that have effectively been told to piss off by the department for trying to put a good face on the program.

Every decision the department makes is bad for fans and supporters:
• Dissolving the Blue and Gold Club (which I will consider still dissolved until the department takes the 10 min to update the website and the fundraising brochure from 2005!)
• Firing coaches in a manner that pisses off longtime supporters.
• Charging for parking at games (put a winning product on the field before you start upping prices, currently they should pay us go to games)
• The black hole for information the department has become. (Zero mention of Nottingham East, no photos of renovations, and NO MEDIA GUIDE THREE GAMES INTO THE SEASON!)
• Treating fans like an annoyance. (Stadium no re-entry policy, Ignored my emails about changing the link for the site, and then took the link down, and failure to return calls with questions about tailgating.)

Bottom line, the department is in disarray, and it is getting worse by the day.
I would do cartwheels if Jay was canned tomorrow, I don’t care if the B-Ball team goes to the final four Hienrichs needs to go!

 

[Phineas J. Whoopee]

Actually my opinion followed a similar arc. I was a Hinrichs supported up until recently. For example I thought that some of the coaches that got let go should have, others not so much. The last year or so I've had my doubts but since last spring to now I've lost faith. The issues with the lack of press releases is a perfect example of ineffectual leadership. So the SID leaves does that mean an unpaid intern has to do everything? If I'm the AD and there is no SID, guess what, I roll up my sleeves and do it MY DAMN SELF. That's being accountable and running a department, not just letting nothing happen and the entire communication process die on the vine.

I agree in theory at Downing hasn't had enough time for a fair decision to be made, however decisions in life are never really fair. What I see is a program that is spiraling downward, circling the drain... we obviously lack talent but why don't we play hard, why so many penalties? That in my opinion is on coaching and that is something a good coach can turn around right away, to be 1.2 years down the road and we've become worse in those regards is a huge red flag and what's put me on the side that Downing isn't the man for the job. No reason to fire him now, do it at the end of the season and take out the AD at the same time.

Then, go out and find a guy with some charisma, someone that will talk to the press and not give no comment responses to simple questions about future schedules, someone that will step up and do something when the staff is shorthanded... Jay, get off your ass and type up a press release yourself!

 

[Ursa Major]

We are all in agreement it seems. As I have stated, Downing should stay for now, but if he doesn't figure out some way to motivate these players, then he deserves to be fired. Right now he should be trying to motivate these guys for the sake of keeping his job. If he can't even do that...he has no cojones.
Does anyone even wonder why Marty English pulled his name from the running? I'll spell it, H-I-N-R-I-C-H-S. We passed on Alford, Earnest Collins, and let Marty English slip away, all so Jay could stroke his ego and claim that he "lured" a coach away from Nebraska. I remember reading blogs on our previous site and people were ecstatic that we got Downing but it was stated back then that Callahan was going to let Downing go. I remember reading," He left a $124,000 a year job to come here for $90,000...he must really see something in our program!" Yeah...what he saw was that $90,000 a year was more money than $0 a year after being let go by Nebraska.
Now, you guys might think that I am dogging Downing, I'm not. He should have the opportunity to see out his contract ( Something that wasn't afforded the last Coach with a winning record). I say give him time to figure out what he needs to win. If Jay lets him go...that just speaks of Jay's inability to hire good coaches.
Remember, Jay's job at KU was the Facilities A.D. and Fundraising Guru, if he was doing such a great job, they would have tried harder to keep him. Somebody upstairs screwed up when they brought him in. Hiring him, based on his previous experience, is like voting for a Presidential candidate because he was the head of his High School student council. One just has a lot more responsibility than the other.
Go Bears, I agree with several of your points. I took my nephew to a game and they would not let him sit in the student section with me, he wasn't a student. I needed to buy a ticket for him($13), and a ticket for me($13, I wasn't allowed in for free unless I sat in the student section). Then I had to sit in a crappy section, while there was no one in the middle seats.
They charge for parking because the University charges them for the use of the parking lot. ( I don't get it) They also charge the Athletic Department rent on Nottingham Field ( I don't get that either) According to my mathematics (stay with me...I'm not a math major) we, the students already paid for the construction of the field with student fees. That's like charging someone to build my house, and then charging them again whenever they come over for a party. If Jay had any Yarbles, he'd contact District 6, and see what it would cost to use their field on Saturday afternoons.
As far as information being updated, the story I have heard is that Jay is such a micro-manager that he has final say on everything that leave's the department, which creates a backlog. Personally, I think that the guy is so bad at his own job, that the last thing he needs to do is try and do everyone elses!

 

[bearsradio]

I'm only posting one note in regards to this, and not to be argumentative, but GoBears, there IS a football media guide. It's just not available for download on the site, for reasons I don't know.

 

[BEAR 2003]

I just dont think that at this point we should be so far behind the curve. UNC is a great school (partying and academics). I think there should be a more competitive product on the field. The last two years with the exception of less than a handfull of games we dont even compete. Bearsradio tell me how many games since Downing has been head coach was the game over at half time............... and thats my point. Downing cant get these guys "UP" to play the greatest game in the world in one of the best FCS conferences in the nation. You were at all the games in 2006 just like I was and the 2007 half time scores(so far) are just like the ones in 2006, BLOW OUTS!!!!! Any suggestions???

 

[Beardown]

What bothers me a lot is that we can't recruit a great QB and haven't since Cutlip came here. I think coach Grable is a fine coach but he's the recruiting coordinator and he hasn't found a special QB yet. I mean I want a star QB. We've had some very average QB's in the past and maybe Orms will become that but it bothers me every team in the Big Sky has a very good QB but we don't. Remember that kid from Ft. Lewis that was so good? We were going to offer him but Dalton passed on him. He could have been a stud for us.

Your offense is only as good as your qb. Our offense has struggled because Floopy George and Domi'Pick aren't that good.

 

[bearsradio]

Bear2003, I'm not responding to your question for diplomatic reasons, other than to say I've seen a plenty of games in my career be over at halftime, not just UNC games.

Beardown, the QB from Ft. Lewis was Matt Guiterrez. Matt spent most of the year as the starter for the Ice, but had his flaws, too. Different coaching in college and a different style may have worked and may not have...That's why recruiting is a crapshoot.

Heck, USD's Johnson wound up there because he was a scrawny guy, and no one wanted to take the chance on him. Crapshoot.

 

[Ursa Major]

CSU got Van Pelt because no one wanted to even look at him as a QB. As far as Grable, you can't fault him. Remember, the recruiting coordinator doesn't decide who to go after. He is what his title infers...coordinator, just as you can't claim that all of Nebraska's success was due to Downing. If that was the case, Callahan never would have let him go.

 

[gobears]

I'm only posting one note in regards to this, and not to be argumentative, but GoBears, there IS a football media guide. It's just not available for download on the site, for reasons I don't know.

I didnt know that, because as you state, it is not aviable on the website. However it is good that they have one, it at least makes the program not look like amature hour to the media.

But as you point out why not make it aviable to fans? They always have before, heck you could even buy one if you wanted to.

 

[Beardown]

Actually my opinion followed a similar arc. I was a Hinrichs supported up until recently. For example I thought that some of the coaches that got let go should have, others not so much. The last year or so I've had my doubts but since last spring to now I've lost faith. The issues with the lack of press releases is a perfect example of ineffectual leadership. So the SID leaves does that mean an unpaid intern has to do everything? If I'm the AD and there is no SID, guess what, I roll up my sleeves and do it MY DAMN SELF. That's being accountable and running a department, not just letting nothing happen and the entire communication process die on the vine.

I agree in theory at Downing hasn't had enough time for a fair decision to be made, however decisions in life are never really fair. What I see is a program that is spiraling downward, circling the drain... we obviously lack talent but why don't we play hard, why so many penalties? That in my opinion is on coaching and that is something a good coach can turn around right away, to be 1.2 years down the road and we've become worse in those regards is a huge red flag and what's put me on the side that Downing isn't the man for the job. No reason to fire him now, do it at the end of the season and take out the AD at the same time.

Then, go out and find a guy with some charisma, someone that will talk to the press and not give no comment responses to simple questions about future schedules, someone that will step up and do something when the staff is shorthanded... Jay, get off your ass and type up a press release yourself!

Not to nit pick but Downings teams have in general been one of the less penalizing teams around. We lead the conference in that department last season. I don't know what's going on the past couple games but it's unusual for this team. Turnovers on the other hand is a different story.

 

[Ursa Major]

I'm sorry BearDown ,but ???? Are you trying to equate fewer penalties with success? I'm hoping that I just misunderstood you, or you were joking. ( Please tell me that you are joking.)

 

[Beardown]

I'm sorry BearDown ,but ???? Are you trying to equate fewer penalties with success? I'm hoping that I just misunderstood you, or you were joking. ( Please tell me that you are joking.)

no I'm just saying we usually don't committe a lot of penalties, that's all.

 

[Ursa Major]

My bad. I reread your post and I think I misunderstood it. Sorry.

 

[jars]

Don't miss the forest for the trees guys. There is a huge leadership problem here, what and who are you going to hire if coach goes now?

Look up the ladder for those who must take responsibility for the current plight. 'Nuff said.