Fair warning, this is going to be somewhat of a long rambling post, but I will try to break it up into different sections for easier reading. I am sure it is going to draw a lot of heat because it is mostly my opinions, but I feel like some good discussion could come from it. So here we go!
First we will start the conversation by pulling from the other thread in which people are getting called idiots for thinking Snyder needs to retire. As I stated in that thread, nobody thinks that Snyder needs to retire. He is a hall of fame coach and has earned his place here at K-State to coach as long as he sees fit. In that thread, and others like it, many have attributed our problems this year to recruiting. Some people have the idea stuck in their head that it is tough to recruit to Manhattan because of regional issues or being a small town, etc. This notion is an idea stuck in the 1990s and needs to evolve. Manhattan is no longer that small town with mom and pop shops. They have direct flights from major airports and most of the same amenities of larger cities (shopping, restaurants, entertainment) all while maintaining that small town feeling.
My take on why recruiting is hard to Manhattan is because of the evolution of college football. K-State has a harder time recruiting talent to skill positions because of the type of offense we run. Baylor has made a name for itself being an offense putting up gaudy numbers, therefore it is much easier for them to recruit top flight talent at the WR, QB and RB positions. They have just as many recruiting disadvantages when it comes to regional problems listed above, yet that doesn't keep them from landing some incredible recruits. To couple off this idea, they also are playing for a players coach. We have already seen this evolution in basketball where top flight athletes want to play for coaches they can relate to. We are seeing a movement of teams deviating from the old power football, and I believe a lot of these teams did so in order to attract top flight athletes in order to compete with the Alabama and Texas of the world. Why would a top receiver recruit ever want to consider Kansas State based on our program and the offense we run? Why would a RB ever consider coming to play for Kansas State? A lot of members on this board feel our QB run game is our great equalizer, but I would argue that because of this offense we are struggling to recruit depth at other positions. Players don't want to come to K-State to be an extra blocker for our QB run game.
Some of these reasons are why we should not be afraid for the future of K-State after Snyder. The current state of the athletic department allows for us to pay top dollar for a coach. We don't need to find our next Snyder and who cares if our next coach views K-State as nothing more than another rung in his coaching ladder. There may be some growing pains, but I believe our next coach needs to come in and implement a system that is attractive to recruits right now. The only way to become competitive in recruiting is to remove the obvious disadvantages. We have already removed most of the regional disadvantages. I believe it is time to remove the internal disadvantages we place ourselves in as stated above. Snyder can do this by an overhaul of his coordinators bringing back in young recruiters who have ties to an attractive offensive system.
I feel like I had a lot more to say when I sat down to write this post, but I am starting to draw a blank. So with that I will leave it open for discussion and I am sure the conversation will flow into the other thoughts I was hoping to capture. Lets try to keep things civil and not call each other idiots like in the other thread.
First we will start the conversation by pulling from the other thread in which people are getting called idiots for thinking Snyder needs to retire. As I stated in that thread, nobody thinks that Snyder needs to retire. He is a hall of fame coach and has earned his place here at K-State to coach as long as he sees fit. In that thread, and others like it, many have attributed our problems this year to recruiting. Some people have the idea stuck in their head that it is tough to recruit to Manhattan because of regional issues or being a small town, etc. This notion is an idea stuck in the 1990s and needs to evolve. Manhattan is no longer that small town with mom and pop shops. They have direct flights from major airports and most of the same amenities of larger cities (shopping, restaurants, entertainment) all while maintaining that small town feeling.
My take on why recruiting is hard to Manhattan is because of the evolution of college football. K-State has a harder time recruiting talent to skill positions because of the type of offense we run. Baylor has made a name for itself being an offense putting up gaudy numbers, therefore it is much easier for them to recruit top flight talent at the WR, QB and RB positions. They have just as many recruiting disadvantages when it comes to regional problems listed above, yet that doesn't keep them from landing some incredible recruits. To couple off this idea, they also are playing for a players coach. We have already seen this evolution in basketball where top flight athletes want to play for coaches they can relate to. We are seeing a movement of teams deviating from the old power football, and I believe a lot of these teams did so in order to attract top flight athletes in order to compete with the Alabama and Texas of the world. Why would a top receiver recruit ever want to consider Kansas State based on our program and the offense we run? Why would a RB ever consider coming to play for Kansas State? A lot of members on this board feel our QB run game is our great equalizer, but I would argue that because of this offense we are struggling to recruit depth at other positions. Players don't want to come to K-State to be an extra blocker for our QB run game.
Some of these reasons are why we should not be afraid for the future of K-State after Snyder. The current state of the athletic department allows for us to pay top dollar for a coach. We don't need to find our next Snyder and who cares if our next coach views K-State as nothing more than another rung in his coaching ladder. There may be some growing pains, but I believe our next coach needs to come in and implement a system that is attractive to recruits right now. The only way to become competitive in recruiting is to remove the obvious disadvantages. We have already removed most of the regional disadvantages. I believe it is time to remove the internal disadvantages we place ourselves in as stated above. Snyder can do this by an overhaul of his coordinators bringing back in young recruiters who have ties to an attractive offensive system.
I feel like I had a lot more to say when I sat down to write this post, but I am starting to draw a blank. So with that I will leave it open for discussion and I am sure the conversation will flow into the other thoughts I was hoping to capture. Lets try to keep things civil and not call each other idiots like in the other thread.
