Since every thread is about why Bruce should be fired. I'll chime in on why I think he should get another year (yes - I saw the poll, I know 75% of you will disagree with me).
Year 1 of Bruce - Far exceeded expectations (yes - it was a roster put together by Martin as you guys like to point out every chance you get. Either way he won the big 12 which I think is awesome).
Year 2 of Bruce - Far exceeded expectations. This year we can start to see that Bruce can evaluate talent. He takes a very young team and makes them an 8 seed, losing to the eventual runner ups.
Year 3 of Bruce - Awful. Loses the team, losing record, I think we can all agree this was very far below expectations.
After year 3 - kicks people off, others transfer, loses all point guards on the roster. At this point we (K-State) can either let him rebuild or get a new coach and let them start from scratch. We decide to rebuild. This is where there is a disagreement among fans, in my opinion. I'm willing to let Bruce make this mistake once (or rather - I'm willing to place to blame on Foster for getting a big head and taking everyone down with him). Again, if this happens in the future then it is a pattern which I am not okay with.
Year 4 - Below expectations for what everyone wants from K-State each year. Above expectations for this team before the year. Before we lost Stokes, we were very much in the NCAA tournament discussion. Everyone knows that he was the floor leader of this team and we looked lost without him (before he was injured).
Argument - We should have a point guard in year 4 of a program.
Counter Argument - Stokes got injured. Nigel and Jevon left (goes back to the one big mistake).
Argument - Budke should never see playing time at this level.
Counter Argument - That was obviously never Bruce's plan. Lost Malek (goes back to the one big mistake). Lost Bolden (not Bruce's fault). Williams and Maurice can't play. So Budke is literally plan C or D for a BACKUP forward.
Argument - Bruce's teams are weak on the road.
Counter Argument - We took Baylor to 2 OT and Texas to the wire with far inferior talent. That's not showing weakness to me. We played great for 30 minutes in Lawrence, that's not weak to me. The problem is that we are just very inexperienced and just not as good as the top 25 teams in this conference. After that, yes we lost at OSU, but that's one bad game and without Stokes. Remember we beat Georgia this year on the road.
Long story short - I'm willing to say that Bruce is still learning and that it takes 2 years to rebuild a program from what we had last year. Now, if we don't finish top 4 in the big 12 next year and start having more success on the road, I'll be joining the 75% of you that think we should get rid of Bruce. However, I'm willing to see what we can do next year with a little more depth and experience.
Go Cats.
Year 1 of Bruce - Far exceeded expectations (yes - it was a roster put together by Martin as you guys like to point out every chance you get. Either way he won the big 12 which I think is awesome).
Year 2 of Bruce - Far exceeded expectations. This year we can start to see that Bruce can evaluate talent. He takes a very young team and makes them an 8 seed, losing to the eventual runner ups.
Year 3 of Bruce - Awful. Loses the team, losing record, I think we can all agree this was very far below expectations.
After year 3 - kicks people off, others transfer, loses all point guards on the roster. At this point we (K-State) can either let him rebuild or get a new coach and let them start from scratch. We decide to rebuild. This is where there is a disagreement among fans, in my opinion. I'm willing to let Bruce make this mistake once (or rather - I'm willing to place to blame on Foster for getting a big head and taking everyone down with him). Again, if this happens in the future then it is a pattern which I am not okay with.
Year 4 - Below expectations for what everyone wants from K-State each year. Above expectations for this team before the year. Before we lost Stokes, we were very much in the NCAA tournament discussion. Everyone knows that he was the floor leader of this team and we looked lost without him (before he was injured).
Argument - We should have a point guard in year 4 of a program.
Counter Argument - Stokes got injured. Nigel and Jevon left (goes back to the one big mistake).
Argument - Budke should never see playing time at this level.
Counter Argument - That was obviously never Bruce's plan. Lost Malek (goes back to the one big mistake). Lost Bolden (not Bruce's fault). Williams and Maurice can't play. So Budke is literally plan C or D for a BACKUP forward.
Argument - Bruce's teams are weak on the road.
Counter Argument - We took Baylor to 2 OT and Texas to the wire with far inferior talent. That's not showing weakness to me. We played great for 30 minutes in Lawrence, that's not weak to me. The problem is that we are just very inexperienced and just not as good as the top 25 teams in this conference. After that, yes we lost at OSU, but that's one bad game and without Stokes. Remember we beat Georgia this year on the road.
Long story short - I'm willing to say that Bruce is still learning and that it takes 2 years to rebuild a program from what we had last year. Now, if we don't finish top 4 in the big 12 next year and start having more success on the road, I'll be joining the 75% of you that think we should get rid of Bruce. However, I'm willing to see what we can do next year with a little more depth and experience.
Go Cats.
