I believe that if I was an Oklahoma State fan, I personally would support retaining Travis Ford as head coach for another year.
I certainly haven't studied his situation as up close as I have Bruce Weber's, but it seems to me that Oklahoma State is in roughly the same position as Kansas State. Even though more of our fans have continued to show up for games, we both have fan bases who are fed up with losing the last year (or two in our case) and both administrations are being pressured to fire their coaches (OSU more than Currie). However, I believe that both programs are in a position to turn a corner next year.
Both began to make some progress this year and then fell off a cliff when their PG was injured. I am not certain that KU wouldn't have met the same fate in Manhattan that they met in Stillwater if K-State's PG had been healthy as Juwan Evans was when KU visited OSU. OSU has some young talent to build around:
PG Juwan Evans (FR), Tyree Griffin (SO)
SG Tavarius Shine (SO), Jeffrey Carroll (SO), plus 3 star kid to go along with Phil Forte coming back
SG/SF Leyton Hammonds (JR) obviously a sr. next year as is Phil Forte, plus 4 star guard in Lindy Waters 6'4"
PF 3 star kid coming in, not much coming back
C Mitchell Solomon (SO) plus a 6'10" 4 star kid from Florida
It seems to me that the two teams which may make the biggest jump in 2016-17 in the league will be Kansas State and Oklahoma State, the two teams whose coaches were under the most fire this season.
I expect that KU should be favored to win the league again along with W. Virginia contending. But for spot #3, I think the mostly likely candidates may be OSU and K-State, with perhaps Texas depending on who is back, In reality, probably everyone except TCU is in contention for 3rd place because, while other teams will have many new faces next year, our faces will be a year older but still unproven.
Because of this, in my opinion, this is a unique opportunity for Bruce Weber to show that he can coach with the top coaches in the league. I've heard on this board many times that we will have no more talent on our roster than anyone else next year. I think that's true. But I don't think we'll have less talent than most teams either excluding KU. So, from my perspective, with a stable full of scholarship players next year who are as "experienced" (whatever that means) as any other program, the relative quality of the coaches will be revealed more than ever. If Bruce Weber is not one of the top 4 (worst case 5) coaches in this league and shows this by finishing no worse than 4th place tie, he's not the right man. I'll be convinced at that stage, injuries or not. However, if we end up competing for the Big XII championship like we did in 2013, I'm going to feel like we are in good hands. Everything in between (competing and 4/5), then the jury may still be out for Weber for at least another year. If we finish below 5th, Weber needs to go. That's my perspective. Substitute Travis Ford's name for Weber, and I'd feel the same way.
I certainly haven't studied his situation as up close as I have Bruce Weber's, but it seems to me that Oklahoma State is in roughly the same position as Kansas State. Even though more of our fans have continued to show up for games, we both have fan bases who are fed up with losing the last year (or two in our case) and both administrations are being pressured to fire their coaches (OSU more than Currie). However, I believe that both programs are in a position to turn a corner next year.
Both began to make some progress this year and then fell off a cliff when their PG was injured. I am not certain that KU wouldn't have met the same fate in Manhattan that they met in Stillwater if K-State's PG had been healthy as Juwan Evans was when KU visited OSU. OSU has some young talent to build around:
PG Juwan Evans (FR), Tyree Griffin (SO)
SG Tavarius Shine (SO), Jeffrey Carroll (SO), plus 3 star kid to go along with Phil Forte coming back
SG/SF Leyton Hammonds (JR) obviously a sr. next year as is Phil Forte, plus 4 star guard in Lindy Waters 6'4"
PF 3 star kid coming in, not much coming back
C Mitchell Solomon (SO) plus a 6'10" 4 star kid from Florida
It seems to me that the two teams which may make the biggest jump in 2016-17 in the league will be Kansas State and Oklahoma State, the two teams whose coaches were under the most fire this season.
I expect that KU should be favored to win the league again along with W. Virginia contending. But for spot #3, I think the mostly likely candidates may be OSU and K-State, with perhaps Texas depending on who is back, In reality, probably everyone except TCU is in contention for 3rd place because, while other teams will have many new faces next year, our faces will be a year older but still unproven.
Because of this, in my opinion, this is a unique opportunity for Bruce Weber to show that he can coach with the top coaches in the league. I've heard on this board many times that we will have no more talent on our roster than anyone else next year. I think that's true. But I don't think we'll have less talent than most teams either excluding KU. So, from my perspective, with a stable full of scholarship players next year who are as "experienced" (whatever that means) as any other program, the relative quality of the coaches will be revealed more than ever. If Bruce Weber is not one of the top 4 (worst case 5) coaches in this league and shows this by finishing no worse than 4th place tie, he's not the right man. I'll be convinced at that stage, injuries or not. However, if we end up competing for the Big XII championship like we did in 2013, I'm going to feel like we are in good hands. Everything in between (competing and 4/5), then the jury may still be out for Weber for at least another year. If we finish below 5th, Weber needs to go. That's my perspective. Substitute Travis Ford's name for Weber, and I'd feel the same way.
