Is the Football program in crisis?

Hooty

There needs to be a discussion on the direction of the football program. I have been a supporter of Bohannon from the beginning, genuinely like the guy. However, it is a very bad look to have both coordinators leave after their first season.

The Pistol offense is out. What do we run? I have a sneaking suspicion Bohannon will just rehire Grant Chestnut and go back to a version of the Triple.

If this is the case, we are screwed for the foreseeable future. Recruiting is not getting any better. In fact, it’s arguably getting worse. 8-12 over the last two seasons is going in the wrong direction. It does not look good…

AlmightyOwl

Hooty if you feel this way now just wait until a year from now. I think next season will be a blood bath. We can’t compete at the next level with the team we have now. It’s just January so things could always get better but I’m not sure how much better..

HootyHooKSU

Hooty no way Bo goes back to the triple option. The last two recruiting classes are more centered around the new RPO we're running.

It absolutely sucks that are coaching staff is having this turnover. I don't think that's Bo's fault though. At the end of the day Troy and Vandy pay more for position coaches than KSU does for coordinators.

It's really tough to recruit at the FBS level right now when we don't have FBS facilities. If I were a betting man, I'd say we made the FBS move quicker than we wanted due to wanting to avoid the new fees that were implemented for teams wanting to move up.

It's going to be a rocky road for a couple seasons, but I'll remain positive. Last year we had a brand new offense, redshirt roulette, new strength coach and new coordinators. At least with the 2024 season, we'll only have new coordinators to deal with. As long as we see progress and improvement from last year, we should keep Bo. If not, that's a tough discussion KSU will have to have during the off-season.

jones682

HootyHooKSU Tory does not pay more for position coaches than KSU does for coordinators. Tory is a peer to KSU. Both are mid majors in mid major conferences. Tory's budget is not that much larger than KSU's. Leaving KSU for Troy is questionable. This leads me to believe that there is a bigger problem with our football program.

Hootyhoo

I don't think rehiring grant means going back to the flexbone. Bo said they were changing he offense before he left for navy.

I don't think we're in a crisis but we're absolutely going through growing pains. Short to medium term it could be ugly. We can't have a similar budget as everyone but have to catch up in facilities and offer competitive salaries.

I wasn't particularly impressed with klenakis last season, so I don't think losing him to vandy was such a bad thing. Hoping we poach someone from Kansas, liberty, or wherever willy fritz went to run the offense.

jones682

Hootyhoo We have an average CUSA budget. Our budget is higher than half of the teams in CUSA. Budget is not the issue in relation to teams in our conference.

Kmase14

I don't know how much you can really put on coach Bo. We continuously competed in the top 25 while in FCS when we had a budget and facilities that were great compared to our competition. Our facilities and budgets now are not up to par with much of FBS. I think the next couple years could be rough as we wait for the new Sports Performance Complex and stadium improvements/expansion.

Coach and the program will have to be creative to get our team competitive as we hopefully improve and build new facilities. I think a realistic goal over the next 3-4 years is reaching bowl eligibility. I'll take that with hopes of maybe finding a season of competing for the conference title if things go really well one year.

jones682

It is time to move on from coach Bo. He has hit his peak four years ago. There is alot of coach Bo fan boys in our fan base but they are not looking at this from a logical perspective. You have a TO coach trying to run an RPO offense. Also Bo's inability to recruit at this level is questionable. To be ranked 166 in recruiting and to be behind FCS teams like UNA, AP, etc is not good.

Kstater

These transition years suck. There’s a lot of movement and players and coaches shift around constantly because they want to compete now, not in 2-5 years. Some don’t have 2-5 years to get where they’re trying to go. So they look for opportunities elsewhere. Especially today compared to the past with portal, NIL, conf realignment…

You can’t fire a coach that committed to take you through the ring of fire to get you to the other side. You got to give them a chance to at least see the greener pasture of FBS.

jones682

t@"Kstater"#p4555 Are you new to college football because college coaches are fired no matter what. That is why they have buyouts in these contracts.

Kstater

Coaches are fired for all sorts of reasons. Sure. In this case, I’m not picking up a pitchfork because of the transition is tough for anyone to navigate.

HOOTSTATE

Less of a crisis and more of the athletic department seeming mostly OK with punting on the start of the FBS era. They will do their best to coast on fans just being happy to be here. If you're in the anti-Bo crowd, I get it, but there's no benefit to move on (or for any HC candidates to take this job) until the transition is complete.

That said, not sure how big of a loss Klenakis will be as OC. He hasn't been the go-to offensive mind on a staff in at least 20 years, and I don't think we were any closer to having a finished product at the end of the season. Good offensive line coach who probably found his proper level/role with this Vandy job. Who knows if Chestnut returning is a real possibility, but I wouldn't mind it if we are committed to developing an option offense that can function at the FBS level (basically just copy Liberty). If it works, you can pass the reins to Burks in a few years, and if it doesn't, we'll be searching for a whole new staff anyway.