As a long-suffering Kent State fan it pained me to see the events unfold that led to last night's embarrassing loss.
The new AD and his co-hort didn't make many friends in year one. I heard negative things from the football coaches, basketball coaches and even coaches from one of the women's teams.
But, my biggest issue was pretty much forcing the former head coach to resign. No, they didn't tell him to resign, but the writing was on the wall.
Instead of supporting the only coaching staff at Kent State in the last 30 years to make positive strides in all areas of the program, including becoming more competitive, outstanding recruiting, academics and character.
But, the new AD's, the football gurus they are, had a better plan.
Let's invest all that money they raised for the program into a new coaching staff, one that has proven nothing at Kent State.
Oh, everyone said be positive. Hazell knows what he's doing.
I don't doubt that Hazell is a good coach. He's also a stand up guy.
But this is Kent State. Many good coaches and good guys have failed to even make a positive stride in the program.
It's not Hazell's fault.
It starts at the top.
I took great pride in seeing Doug Martin's offense at New Mexico State--a team that was 2-10 last year--put up 800 yards of offense and score 52 points in the past two weeks against Ohio and Minnesota, with the Aggies beating Minnesota in Minnesota.
Somehow, Martin's offense avoided the same mistakes we saw so frequently in Kent. Did he suddenly learn to coach in New Mexico?
Our former defensive coordinator is now at Miami. The RedHawks only allowed 17 points to the high-powered Missou Tigers. That same Missouri team scored 30 against Arizona State yesterday.
One of our former coaches also is at Bowling Green, a team that was 2-10 last year. Through two games the Falcons are 2-0 and have scored 90 points and allowed just 28.
Every team our former coaches are now with have improved. Yet, Kent State got worse.
Great move Nielsen and Kleinlein. Fantastic.