by Dark Horse » Sat Oct 04, 2003 11:09 pm
Thanks, TC. I bet I'm among MANY PonyFans who needed that reminder. The model I look at is Iowa State. When they hired Dan McCarny several years ago, he talked about improving week to week, recruiting better, making better decisions - on the field and as coaches. Yet his team still stunk for four or five years. Then, lo and behold, the young talent grew up and matured together, and suddenly he had a group of seniors who had grown together and developed as a group -- and Iowa State flirted with top-10 rankings. Will we get that far? Who knows. But it's also Coach Bennett's second year as a head coach. I dare say there are a lot of successful coaches who didn't win in their first two years, either, and they took over teams with a lot more talent.
For the sake of argument, say the Ponies suddenly turn the corner and go .500 next year - is he suddenly brilliant? Of course not. Nor is he a failure now. That can't be judged until his first full class - the group that signed in February - reaches its senior year.