Huse

[CARDIAC_CATS]

The Cats just need to RELAX, Play hard and buckle down these next two games (get that 4th seed - edit (Or higher)) and let the chips fall where they fall. It seems our teams plays better with backs to the wall mentality and these next two weeks they need to get their ATTACK mode back.

[rollo_tumasi]

Can't we still be three seed if we beat Sac St. at home & UM at Missoula?? Hope is not lost.

[TomCat88]

Can't we still be three seed if we beat Sac St. at home & UM at Missoula?? Hope is not lost.

A cup half full guy emerges!

Yes, win both and MSU is tied with UM, but gets No. 3 seed with 2-0 record vs. UM this season.

[John K]

Don't you think the Ash backers are mostly Kramer bashers and vice versa?

That is probably true to some degree, although maybe somewhat of an oversimplification. I just look at Ash as a guy who came in following the most successful five year period for the football program in the past 20 years, and so far has not been able to replicate that success. On the other hand, Huse came to a program that had been stumbling recently, after having enjoyed some very successful seasons during the mid to late 90's, and essentially done no better or no worse than Durham. Yet Ash is hailed almost universally as the greatest thing since sliced bread, while most MSU fans are calling for Huse's head.

I'm just wondering where you get your numbers. Is it the handful of posters here who agree with you or is it your small cirlce of friends in Great Falls. I talk Bobcat athletics daily with folks and for me to say that 'most MSU fans' are calling for Huse's head would not be any where close to the truth. Just curious.................

You're right....I obviously overstated things a bit when I send "most MSU fans are calling for Huse's head". Although, I wasn't basing that statement on my "small cirlcle of friends in Great Falls" as you say, but rather on the comments that were posted in BN after the EWU loss. I didn't really see any posts in defense of Huse for quite awhile....it was pretty much unanimous against him, at least until after we beat PSU on Saturday. And for the record, I never advocated that Huse be fired (or Ash either, for that matter). I just thought that GIW made a good point when he observed that Ash has almost universal support among Cat fans, while Huse was being crucified in here after the EWU loss, even though their results thus far are not that dissimilar.

[John K]

Most coaches realize they have 3-4 years to show improvement or to 'do something.' I recall Kramer and Ash saying basically the same thing and we've all heard coaches being interviewed and studio experts say this. I'm sure that Huse and Ash are fully aware that they need to produce (W/L and classroom; not 'or', but 'and') in order to stay on the job. Not enough people are going to like the coach after 3-4 years of nothing for an administrator to keep them. This isn't to say fans shouldn't engage in their back-n-forth banter, because its their prerogative and the coaches/admin expect it to a point where they say if the fans didn't complain it'd mean they don't care, which is the worst thing that can happen.

The two biggest strikes against Ash are that he hasn't gotten MSU in the playoffs in three years and that he has just one win against the top three teams in the league. If you take that at face value, then it's not good because MSU should be in the playoffs every three years and with 2010 having two more at-large spots it really puts the pressure on. If you consider that he joined the team in May his first year and has been not just injury-riddled, but injury-plagued his next two years, then you would have to return a grade of Incomplete at this point. Yes, injuries are part of the game. So much so that if you have too many they will cause you to start losing.

The two biggest strikes against Huse are that he hasn't finished above .500 in league play and that his teams have gone 1-4, 0-4, and 0-4 to finish league play the past three seasons. He has, however, followed that up with a good run in the tournament last season and now has himself in position to finish above .500 for the first time, which would be at least a three-game swing from last year. A loss to Sac State this week would be brutal, so it's not a done deal yet, but two wins and third place would be hard to criticize.

Thanks Tom. That was a very succint and accurate summary of the situation. Very well stated....as always!!

[SonomaCat]

I believe Ash has gotten a huge pass, as compared to Huse. In three years he has not even once had as good a season as the year before he took over,

If your only measure is wins and losses, this is true. There are a few more, incredibly huge, factors in play that probably need to be considered.

Equitable or not, fair or foul, that is essentially what it comes down to for major college head coaches. By all accounts, Earle Solomonson was one of the nicest people you would ever meet, and ran a squeeky clean program, but do any Bobcat fans want him back as our football coach?

If we set aside Earle and just talk about the comparison you made between Ash and Kramer, you have to admit that there are other huge factors in play other than wins and losses for which fans can be appreciative of Ash's performance to date. When a program is handicapped by NCAA scholarship penalties when a guy takes the job, you have to factor that in.

[jagur1]

I believe Ash has gotten a huge pass, as compared to Huse. In three years he has not even once had as good a season as the year before he took over,

If your only measure is wins and losses, this is true. There are a few more, incredibly huge, factors in play that probably need to be considered.

Equitable or not, fair or foul, that is essentially what it comes down to for major college head coaches. By all accounts, Earle Solomonson was one of the nicest people you would ever meet, and ran a squeeky clean program, but do any Bobcat fans want him back as our football coach?

If we set aside Earle and just talk about the comparison you made between Ash and Kramer, you have to admit that there are other huge factors in play other than wins and losses for which fans can be appreciative of Ash's performance to date. When a program is handicapped by NCAA scholarship penalties when a guy takes the job, you have to factor that in.

factor in the fact that Ash got a playoff team from the year before. Kramer got a team that had falled off a cliff. Tortillas anyone. IMO Ash has been living off of Kramers players and this year is the year.

[grizgirl]

Kramer brought in a great class before he left. Ogden, Smith, Bignell, Terrian, Burbank, Craney, Robison any red-shirt junior or true senior on your team currently. I think Ash's last two classes are great, too, and that you are just as talented now. 12 of your starters, excluding any that may be coming in this year, are Ash guys from his first two years. You should be thankful that you've had two excellent recruiters back-to-back.

[John K]

I believe Ash has gotten a huge pass, as compared to Huse. In three years he has not even once had as good a season as the year before he took over,

If your only measure is wins and losses, this is true. There are a few more, incredibly huge, factors in play that probably need to be considered.

Equitable or not, fair or foul, that is essentially what it comes down to for major college head coaches. By all accounts, Earle Solomonson was one of the nicest people you would ever meet, and ran a squeeky clean program, but do any Bobcat fans want him back as our football coach?

If we set aside Earle and just talk about the comparison you made between Ash and Kramer, you have to admit that there are other huge factors in play other than wins and losses for which fans can be appreciative of Ash's performance to date. When a program is handicapped by NCAA scholarship penalties when a guy takes the job, you have to factor that in.

I could be wrong about this, but my personal opinion is that losing just a handful of scholarships (less than 10% of the total allowed) had virtually no impact on our performance the past three seasons, although certainly there could have been some long-term impact, if we had continued to lose scholarships into the future.

[SonomaCat]

I'm not even sure how to respond to that ... so losing six players worth of depth on an FCS team isn't a bad thing that will harm the overall performance of that team? This is a game changer!

Of course, that wasn't really the point I was making (although you expanded the point nicely by reminding us that the academic problems almost certainly did directly lead to a lesser performance on the field). More importantly, though, was the fact that Ash has had to focus on not only the on-the-field aspects, but also had to dig us out of a very deep academic hole, which certainly required sacrifices of scarce resources. The fact that he was able to get the Cats back into academic compliance within a few years while building a nice pipeline of talent (no longer relying to such a degree on transfers, but building for the future with high schoolers), is a large part of why the fans are excited about seeing what he can do. Did he come in and win tons of games right away? No. Has he shown great progress in improving our academic results and building a program with talent that most fans think will pay big dividends down the road? Yes.

That's why I think most people are positive about Ash.

[GOKATS]

I could be wrong about this, but my personal opinion is that losing just a handful of scholarships (less than 10% of the total allowed) had virtually no impact on our performance the past three seasons, although certainly there could have been some long-term impact, if we had continued to lose scholarships into the future.

I'll go out on a limb here and say you're wrong, and I suspect that any FCS HC in the nation would say you're wrong also. We'll never know what 5 or 6 additional players each year would've been brought into the program adding to the talent pool, depth chart, etc.

BTW, how did this thread go from Coach Huse to Coach Ash?

[SACCAT]

I could be wrong about this, but my personal opinion is that losing just a handful of scholarships (less than 10% of the total allowed) had virtually no impact on our performance the past three seasons, although certainly there could have been some long-term impact, if we had continued to lose scholarships into the future.

I'll go out on a limb here and say you're wrong, and I suspect that any FCS HC in the nation would say you're wrong also. We'll never know what 5 or 6 additional players each year would've been brought into the program adding to the talent pool, depth chart, etc.

BTW, how did this thread go from Coach Huse to Coach Ash?

Coach Huse needs to get this football team on the right track. I am tired of losing at our home rodeos. And Huse never seems produce past the regional when we all now our runners are better than that.

Who are we talking about again?

[whitetrashgriz]

I could be wrong about this, but my personal opinion is that losing just a handful of scholarships (less than 10% of the total allowed) had virtually no impact on our performance the past three seasons, although certainly there could have been some long-term impact, if we had continued to lose scholarships into the future.

I'll go out on a limb here and say you're wrong, and I suspect that any FCS HC in the nation would say you're wrong also. We'll never know what 5 or 6 additional players each year would've been brought into the program adding to the talent pool, depth chart, etc.

BTW, how did this thread go from Coach Huse to Coach Ash?

Coach Huse needs to get this football team on the right track. I am tired of losing at our home rodeos. And Huse never seems produce past the regional when we all now our runners are better than that.

Who are we talking about again?

people need to understand that D1 basketball is far more difficult in the state of montana than 1AA football in the state of montana. comparing huse to ash in any sense is pointless. both jobs are difficult. but getting enough talent on the football field here is way easier than getting enough talent on the basketball court.

[Old Skool Cat]

All I know is that if we lose to Sac. State this Thursday at home with a guaranteed #4 seed and hosting a home tourney game at stake, I am gonna have a hard time continuing to support Coach Huse.

[John K]

I think we can all agree upon one thing....that this thread has veered way off the tracks. GIW (not me) brought Coach Ash into this, by saying that he thought MSU fans in general were far more suppportive of Coach Ash, than they were of Coach Huse, even though they have produced fairly comparable results thus far, and I think that is a valid point. I didn't intend for this to become yet another Kramer versus Ash debate, and I'm sorry if I contributed to that. It does illustrate the point that several people made, about how much more passionate Bobcat fans are about football versus basketball.

[TomCat88]

Yes, losing six players isn't good even it's just for one or two years. Which leads to the next question: How bad is it? Good luck measuring that. On one hand MSU could’ve missed out on the next Jerry Rice, while on the other the six lost scholarships aren’t gone forever in that they were used in addition to the existing scholarships once they were given back.

It’s also difficult to say just how much of a role Ash has in digging MSU out of the academic hole (or how much of a role Kramer had in digging MSU into one). Ash does play a role in this, but others are participating in MSU’s academic and cultural(?) support. Prior to Ash, and just before Kramer’s departure/dismissal, MSU received some sort of mentoring/evaluation from SEC officials based on how MSU was supporting athletes academically and helping them adjust to a new (relative to the US) culture (not the word I'm looking for). Since then things have improved. There’s no telling if things might not have improved if Kramer, or anyone else, was the head coach of the football team. But it’s definitely worth recognizing Ash as a key player, because if things hadn’t improved or if they slip, he will be the one that, fair or not, many will find fault with.

I think it’s important to note that moving from the city to Montana (or vice versa) is a shock for many, probably most, people. It is probably especially trying for 18-19 year olds. I know from talking to Helena Brewer players that Helena, for them, was very difficult in many ways and they just spent a summer here. I think that having staff with tried and true plans for addressing this goes a long way in helping MSU retain players and avert plummeting APR scores.

I may as well add that I think a lot of both Kramer and Ash. Both are very accommodating, respectful, and considerate. Coach Ash usually calls me right back whenever I call him, which has been a lot less now that the APR seems to be getting under control, but when he doesn’t he always apologizes (despite my telling him that’s not necessary) vigorously. He even goes so far as to interrupt questions at press conferences to allow less assertive members to get a question in. I’ve never seen any coach do that. He’s a really good guy and someone I'm sure no parent has to think twice about sending their son off to play ball for.

[BLGCAT]

I will be the first to admit that after watching the cats collapse during the second half of the season AGAIN I was very displeased and frustrated with the team, putting much of the blame on Huse. It is easy to put the blame on a coach when your team looses, but one thing that I have always seen with a team that plays for Huse, especially this years Cats is that whether they win or loose you can almost guarantee they will out hustle and play with more heart than the opposing team. That is something that we as Cat fans should be pleased to see, a coach that is so well respected by his players that even on a loosing night you will still see Huse's players diving on the floor for loose rebounds and taking charges. With that said what a way to end the season and to get a sweep of the Jizz, I could not be more pleased to watch 6,700 griz fans in silence when we showed complete control of the game from tip-off. Lets keep this intensity going into the playoffs, and I cant wait to see the crowd we put together for portlant state.

[bozbobcat]

I'm not sure how much of a collapse it really was this year...the Cats were 4-3 in February, which has to be their first winning February since 2002. They were 4-4 in January. It seemed like a collapse, but not as much as usual. I like the way things are headed in the program at this point.

[John K]

I'm not sure how much of a collapse it really was this year...the Cats were 4-3 in February, which has to be their first winning February since 2002. They were 4-4 in January. It seemed like a collapse, but not as much as usual. I like the way things are headed in the program at this point.

Well, after being 6-2 at the midpoint of the BSC schedule, they did go on to lose 4 out of 5, so it was sort of a "collapse in the making". Kudos to Huse, his staff, and the entire team for righting the ship though, and finishing with 3 straight wins, including that beautiful spanking of the Griz last night.

[BwanaCat]

I said it earlier on different thread but I'll say it again (abbreviated version). First, Huse has a three game winning streak against the griz. Second, Huse inherited a losing program with a bare cupboard whereas Tinkle took over a great program that had many good players in the pipeline. Tinkle sucks. Huse not so much.