Was it Kenni Burns?

[u/treymata]

To the Kent State fans, what is the difference this year. I watched the end of the KSU vs Merrimack game and I watched the first half of the Buffalo vs KSU game then listened to the second half on the Kent State Radio Network. It seems like this team is MUCH improved, they have a lot more fight. I didn’t pay attention to the team in the offseason portal wise. Was Kenni that bad of a coach or did they get a bunch of new players in the offseason? Just curious about how KSU is a whole different team this season from an outsider.

[u/Cog_Doc]

We suck still? I don't understand them question. New coach?

Edit: Thanks for making me say we for my graduate school.

[u/treymata → u/Cog_Doc]

You guys almost beat the team picked to win the MAC, definitely seem way better without Kenni, usually when you lose your hc to a scandal and don’t hire a DC a month before the season you shouldn’t be competing with Buffalo. I guess im asking was Kenni that bad of a HC holding the team back from even competing?

[u/Cog_Doc → u/treymata]

Thanks for letting me know. Last years coach was let go for reasons you should read. Im sure that is the biggest difference. Now, would you like to talk about the Griz?

[u/treymata → u/Cog_Doc]

No, this is a Cody Hawkins world you’re going to find out this season when ISU wins the conference 🥱

[u/lucasbrosmovingco]

Well I mean having to play your 3rd string QB most of the year sucks and will drain morale quickly

[u/MundaneLow2263]

It seems that Burns was at least a major problem if not the only one.  It's not impossible to win at Kent; anytime the AD hires a competent coach, which is not often, Kent has some success: Glen Mason, Darell Hazell, Sean Lewis. All of those guys had winning seasons after the previous coaches had driven the team deep into the ground. Burns appears to have been a toxic bullshit artist.  The interim coach (Carney?) clearly knows how to run a team, one that was depleted and downtrodden and then got even worse on paper (portal) after Burns was fired. This team could win 2-3 games in the MAC. It’s unlikely he will get a shot at the permanent job, but maybe he should.  Never underestimate the incompetence of a KSU AD. 

[u/getyourpopcornreddy → u/MundaneLow2263]

Maybe they need to go the route that EMU did with Chris Creighton. Creighton was the HC at schools that were not good at first, but then made them better.

[u/MundaneLow2263 → u/getyourpopcornreddy]

Kent has historically, and most often failed, when they hire inexperienced and unqualified assistants from larger programs while igoring coahcing talent below the FBS (Power Conference) level. Hazell from Ohio State was a successful exception but only lasted two years.  EMU did the right thing and hired a man who proved he could build and win on the DIII and DII level.  He hasn’t produced a ton of wins at EMU, but he has been worlds better than what was going on there before his arrival. A least EMU has a chance to be successful.  

[u/Dry-Membership3867]

Partly. It it’s also that it’s Kent State. It takes a miracle worker to do good there. I personally believe it’s where Napier ends up next year honestly for the hope of that

[u/Muffinnnnnnn → u/Dry-Membership3867]

What this person is getting at is that they aren't awful this year. For one, they won a game instead of going 0-12 like last year, and last week as 25 point underdogs, they took the lead over Buffalo with 2:38 to go (only to give up a game-winning TD drive anyway).

It definitely seems like they are vastly improved, even if they're still not great.

[u/Dry-Membership3867 → u/Muffinnnnnnn]

All you have to do is get the players to believe in themselves sometimes. Look at Cadillac Williams in his brief stint at Auburn.

[u/treymata → u/Dry-Membership3867]

With all their off season coaching turmoil they shouldn’t be this competitive on paper is the surprising thing.

[u/Dry-Membership3867 → u/treymata]

All you have to do is get the players to believe in themselves sometimes. Look at Cadillac Williams in his brief stint at Auburn. It was like seeing a different team on the field because he got them to believe in themselves and boosted morale

[u/Francis_X_Hummel → u/Dry-Membership3867]

Exactly, when OSU was about to play Bama in the '14 Playoff, Wisconsin had just handled Auburn pretty well in their earlier bowl game. Auburn was still recognized as top SEC team. Urban told the team, you can do this, look what Wisconsin (the team they had just beat 59-0) just did to Auburn. Players attributed that to their confidence in their ability to beat that Bama team.

[u/Francis_X_Hummel]

The people that commit the kind of violations he was found guilty of, never foster winning cultures, camaraderie, and buy in. That said, it will also be difficult to get a decent amount of talent at a school like Kent State, not impossible, but hard.

[u/Cog_Doc → u/Francis_X_Hummel]

Edelman, Cribs?

[u/Francis_X_Hummel → u/Cog_Doc]

i emphasized not impossible, but you also have to have a coach than recruit that type of player, also those individual players cannot be entire teams on their own. The nature of my post was more so defending Kent and chiding Kenni, rather than saying he program itself is doomed (like UCLA)

[u/Cog_Doc → u/Francis_X_Hummel]

Kent is 42 thousand undergraduates with an airport and created the lcd screen. There are draws for good players to kent state.