I don't want to say there is only one profile of coach who wins here, because that is an oversimplification. There are multiple ways to skin a cat. For example, to me, Cliff Rovelto is a much different kind of person than Jack Hartman. For the purposes of this exercise, I'll limit discussion to men's football and men's basketball, because they are the revenue sports, and define "long-term" as 5+ seasons, which is actually a pretty short period in my mind, but we live in a short-term society nowadays. I'm also going to limit it to 1970 or later. "Success" will be defined as winning about 60% of your conference games or better.
On the football side, there is only one successful coach - Bill Snyder.
On the basketball side, you have Jack Hartman, Lon Kruger, and Frank Martin. Bruce Weber is not there yet because he has only won about 50% of his conference games, but he is moving in the right direction based on last year.
So what are the common characteristics of Bill Snyder, Jack Hartman, Lon Kruger and Frank Martin?
Just looking at it quick and dirty, I'd say they all had a value system or culture that they doggedly believe in which they can rely on when fortitude is required, and the ability to get kids to buy into such a system. I think all of them were very hard-working, lunch-pail kind of guys and their teams reflected that. I think they were all pretty strong in terms of fundamentals. With the exception of Frank, I think they were all considered above-average in terms of scheme, X's and O's, game planning/strategy. None of them built the program by landing numerous blue-chip recruits. Rather, they were gifted at finding those guys who were overlooked or incorrectly rated by the recruiting services, while sprinkling in occasional 4-stars or 3-stars who we're obviously absurdly underrated (i.e., Sproles). Successful coaches at KSU are developmental coaches who run developmental programs, meaning that they take kids with a lot of potential but who aren't there yet and develop them.
I think if we want the next coach to win, we're more likely to do that by finding guys who have the same kind of characteristics as the guys who have had sustained success at KSU in the past than we are by picking people who do not have those characteristics. But who knows, truly game-changing people often "break the mold".
On the football side, there is only one successful coach - Bill Snyder.
On the basketball side, you have Jack Hartman, Lon Kruger, and Frank Martin. Bruce Weber is not there yet because he has only won about 50% of his conference games, but he is moving in the right direction based on last year.
So what are the common characteristics of Bill Snyder, Jack Hartman, Lon Kruger and Frank Martin?
Just looking at it quick and dirty, I'd say they all had a value system or culture that they doggedly believe in which they can rely on when fortitude is required, and the ability to get kids to buy into such a system. I think all of them were very hard-working, lunch-pail kind of guys and their teams reflected that. I think they were all pretty strong in terms of fundamentals. With the exception of Frank, I think they were all considered above-average in terms of scheme, X's and O's, game planning/strategy. None of them built the program by landing numerous blue-chip recruits. Rather, they were gifted at finding those guys who were overlooked or incorrectly rated by the recruiting services, while sprinkling in occasional 4-stars or 3-stars who we're obviously absurdly underrated (i.e., Sproles). Successful coaches at KSU are developmental coaches who run developmental programs, meaning that they take kids with a lot of potential but who aren't there yet and develop them.
I think if we want the next coach to win, we're more likely to do that by finding guys who have the same kind of characteristics as the guys who have had sustained success at KSU in the past than we are by picking people who do not have those characteristics. But who knows, truly game-changing people often "break the mold".
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