Let me preface this by saying that I am a die hard K-State fan and although I was not big on the Bruce Weber hire, I was willing to give him a shot and supported him up until this year. Here are my thoughts on Weber as a coach:
1) The biggest concern I have with Weber is his inability to connect and command respect from his players. This seems to more evident in the younger players although it does occur with some of the upperclassman as well. The fact that he had to create a "Play Hard Chart" to try and get his players to play hard is flat out embarrassing. Do you think Self, Huggins, or any other top tier coaches have that? Absolutely not! Their kids play hard because they respect their coach, which is something we lack. I don't know if it's one too many Winnie the Pooh references or what but there is definitely a disconnect between the coach and the players. Our team seems to always get lost after winter break and we never seem to fully recover.
2) History. This one is very simple. Weber has proven he can win with other coach's players, but when he starts having to build his own roster, that's when the wheels fall off. A lot of people blame this on poor recruiting, but I don't buy that. There is plenty of talent on this roster to win games. He definitely puts the effort into recruiting and I can respect that. I believe it was Fitz that brought this up, but perhaps he is recruiting too much instead of focusing on his current team as well.
Although I think we should have a pretty decent season next year, I believe we have a very limited ceiling with Bruce Weber as our coach for the reasons mentioned above which translates to being "Mediocre". As a K-State fan, you must decide, do you want to be mediocre? Or do you want to take a risk and try to reach excellence?
1) The biggest concern I have with Weber is his inability to connect and command respect from his players. This seems to more evident in the younger players although it does occur with some of the upperclassman as well. The fact that he had to create a "Play Hard Chart" to try and get his players to play hard is flat out embarrassing. Do you think Self, Huggins, or any other top tier coaches have that? Absolutely not! Their kids play hard because they respect their coach, which is something we lack. I don't know if it's one too many Winnie the Pooh references or what but there is definitely a disconnect between the coach and the players. Our team seems to always get lost after winter break and we never seem to fully recover.
2) History. This one is very simple. Weber has proven he can win with other coach's players, but when he starts having to build his own roster, that's when the wheels fall off. A lot of people blame this on poor recruiting, but I don't buy that. There is plenty of talent on this roster to win games. He definitely puts the effort into recruiting and I can respect that. I believe it was Fitz that brought this up, but perhaps he is recruiting too much instead of focusing on his current team as well.
Although I think we should have a pretty decent season next year, I believe we have a very limited ceiling with Bruce Weber as our coach for the reasons mentioned above which translates to being "Mediocre". As a K-State fan, you must decide, do you want to be mediocre? Or do you want to take a risk and try to reach excellence?
