I have to admit, I have always been loyal to loyalty. When it comes to supporting Kent State football coaches, I have, for the most part, been very loyal to them. Despite the overall lack of success in football at KSU, I have supported all the head football coaches with the exception of Dick Crum, Pete Cordelli, and Jim Corrigall. After ten years of incompetence under Crum (1988-1990), Cordelli (1991-1993), and Corrigall (1994-1997), I actually thought Dean Pees brought a certain amount of respectability to Kent State football. When Flash fans wanted Kent State to fire Pees after losing to Miami 38-30 in 2003, I wrote the following post professing my loyalty to Pees:
"Losing another close game to Miami is frustrating. However, I am not convinced that bringing in a new coach is the answer. Until someone can convince me that Kent will be able to hire a much better football coach than Dean Pees, I will be reluctant to call for a new coaching staff at Kent. Flash fans know very well that the only great coach Kent has had in recent memory was Glen Mason. Except for Don James and Mason, Kent has had very poor head coaches who could not compete on the football field. Just because an assistant coach can have success at one school does not necessarily mean that he can have the same success as a head coach at another school. I agree that winning is important and a coach's winning percentage is a major criteria for evaluating a coach. However, in Pee's case, Kent has shown major improvement over previous years and despite his record this year, Kent is good enough to compete with strong teams such as Connecticut and Miami. In yesterday's game, I don't believe anyone can blame the coaching staff for the turnovers that were committed. Areas in which a coach can be faulted are poor preparation (i.e., players out of position), lack of motivation, and poor play selection. Since I am not exactly sure what happened in the overtime loss to Connecticut with respect to the coin toss and Pee's decision to first go on offense, I will defer my criticism to others who may know more about it. Despite the loss, I will argue that Pee's has made great improvement to the program and fans should acknowledge this.
Now that Kent has shown that it can compete with some of the better programs in the MAC, it will just have to learn how to eliminate costly turnovers and how to make plays in the closing minutes so that it can win more games. Bringing in a completely new coaching staff after this season and starting all over again might undermine the progress that has been made. Although many might suggest that a new coach is needed at this juncture, I am not one of them. Please give me your thoughts on this subject. If you think Kent can get a better coach than Pees, who would it be?"
That post was written 13 years ago and the same argument could be made today. But unfortunately not enough fans agreed with me. Sensing lack of support, Pees decided in February of 2004 to resign and become a linebackers coach for the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
In his six years at Kent State, Pees only had one winning season going 6-5 in his fourth season but considering what he inherited after Crum, Cordelli, and Corrigall, I believe his record was about as good as anyone could have had under the circumstances.
Although KSU was favored to win the MAC, Crum finished 5-6 in his first season at Kent. He went 0-11 in his second year and 2-9 in his third and final season. Despite inheriting a good team after Glen Mason left for Kansas, the Flashes under Crum finished 7th in the MAC. In Mason's two seasons at Kent, Mason placed 2nd in the conference both years.
Prior to coming to Kent State, Crum was successful at Miami and moderately successful at North Carolina but didn't have enough passion to succeed at Kent. As bad as Crum was, Cordelli and Corrigall were even worse and should have never been hired as head coaches at any level, much less Division I. On defense, their players were often out of position and were absolutely an embarrassment to watch. In 1996, the Flashes played Miami in Oxford and Kent lost 64-6. During that game, it was obvious that the coaching staff was clueless on defense. On several plays, Kent had players out of position and Miami was able to score with little effort. The following year, Kent played Ohio in Athens and Kent lost 31-7. But at least this time, Kent was still in the game after two quarters. During halftime, I remember the Athletic Director, Laing Kennedy, telling me, "We're still in the game." On the radio the next morning, an Athens radio announcer commented, "OU defeated MAC patsy Kent 31-7."
And if you think Corrigall was bad, Cordelli was even more clueless. Following a 42-7 loss to Akron in Cordelli's last season, Cordelli called a midnight staff meeting during which he asked his assistants to dig deep and figure out what was wrong with their football team. Recalling the incident, Jon Hoke, the defensive coordinator at the time said, ``I'm sitting there thinking, are you kidding me? I mean, we had good kids, they tried hard, but they were bad players."
Today, the Flashes continue to lose more games than they win, but the talent level has improved dramatically since then. When Coach Haynes states his team is close to winning, evidence shows that he is correct. The Flashes lost their three conference games this season by just four points. A play or two on offense or defense could have made the difference in any one of those games.
That said, the Flashes are no longer considered the "patsy of the MAC" and are getting respect from other teams in the conference. Since Haynes' contract (click web address below) ends June 30, 2018, he should be coaching at least another year. And if the Flashes continue to improve, I expect Haynes will get a contract extension. Because given the history of Kent State football, the administration should finally realize it's better to keep what you have than go with an unknown like Bowling Green's head coach, Mike Jinks, who could go down as one of the worst hires in college football.
https://hkm.com/football/wp-content/uploads/coach-contracts/paulhaynes-ksu-employment-contract.pdf
"Losing another close game to Miami is frustrating. However, I am not convinced that bringing in a new coach is the answer. Until someone can convince me that Kent will be able to hire a much better football coach than Dean Pees, I will be reluctant to call for a new coaching staff at Kent. Flash fans know very well that the only great coach Kent has had in recent memory was Glen Mason. Except for Don James and Mason, Kent has had very poor head coaches who could not compete on the football field. Just because an assistant coach can have success at one school does not necessarily mean that he can have the same success as a head coach at another school. I agree that winning is important and a coach's winning percentage is a major criteria for evaluating a coach. However, in Pee's case, Kent has shown major improvement over previous years and despite his record this year, Kent is good enough to compete with strong teams such as Connecticut and Miami. In yesterday's game, I don't believe anyone can blame the coaching staff for the turnovers that were committed. Areas in which a coach can be faulted are poor preparation (i.e., players out of position), lack of motivation, and poor play selection. Since I am not exactly sure what happened in the overtime loss to Connecticut with respect to the coin toss and Pee's decision to first go on offense, I will defer my criticism to others who may know more about it. Despite the loss, I will argue that Pee's has made great improvement to the program and fans should acknowledge this.
Now that Kent has shown that it can compete with some of the better programs in the MAC, it will just have to learn how to eliminate costly turnovers and how to make plays in the closing minutes so that it can win more games. Bringing in a completely new coaching staff after this season and starting all over again might undermine the progress that has been made. Although many might suggest that a new coach is needed at this juncture, I am not one of them. Please give me your thoughts on this subject. If you think Kent can get a better coach than Pees, who would it be?"
That post was written 13 years ago and the same argument could be made today. But unfortunately not enough fans agreed with me. Sensing lack of support, Pees decided in February of 2004 to resign and become a linebackers coach for the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots.
In his six years at Kent State, Pees only had one winning season going 6-5 in his fourth season but considering what he inherited after Crum, Cordelli, and Corrigall, I believe his record was about as good as anyone could have had under the circumstances.
Although KSU was favored to win the MAC, Crum finished 5-6 in his first season at Kent. He went 0-11 in his second year and 2-9 in his third and final season. Despite inheriting a good team after Glen Mason left for Kansas, the Flashes under Crum finished 7th in the MAC. In Mason's two seasons at Kent, Mason placed 2nd in the conference both years.
Prior to coming to Kent State, Crum was successful at Miami and moderately successful at North Carolina but didn't have enough passion to succeed at Kent. As bad as Crum was, Cordelli and Corrigall were even worse and should have never been hired as head coaches at any level, much less Division I. On defense, their players were often out of position and were absolutely an embarrassment to watch. In 1996, the Flashes played Miami in Oxford and Kent lost 64-6. During that game, it was obvious that the coaching staff was clueless on defense. On several plays, Kent had players out of position and Miami was able to score with little effort. The following year, Kent played Ohio in Athens and Kent lost 31-7. But at least this time, Kent was still in the game after two quarters. During halftime, I remember the Athletic Director, Laing Kennedy, telling me, "We're still in the game." On the radio the next morning, an Athens radio announcer commented, "OU defeated MAC patsy Kent 31-7."
And if you think Corrigall was bad, Cordelli was even more clueless. Following a 42-7 loss to Akron in Cordelli's last season, Cordelli called a midnight staff meeting during which he asked his assistants to dig deep and figure out what was wrong with their football team. Recalling the incident, Jon Hoke, the defensive coordinator at the time said, ``I'm sitting there thinking, are you kidding me? I mean, we had good kids, they tried hard, but they were bad players."
Today, the Flashes continue to lose more games than they win, but the talent level has improved dramatically since then. When Coach Haynes states his team is close to winning, evidence shows that he is correct. The Flashes lost their three conference games this season by just four points. A play or two on offense or defense could have made the difference in any one of those games.
That said, the Flashes are no longer considered the "patsy of the MAC" and are getting respect from other teams in the conference. Since Haynes' contract (click web address below) ends June 30, 2018, he should be coaching at least another year. And if the Flashes continue to improve, I expect Haynes will get a contract extension. Because given the history of Kent State football, the administration should finally realize it's better to keep what you have than go with an unknown like Bowling Green's head coach, Mike Jinks, who could go down as one of the worst hires in college football.
https://hkm.com/football/wp-content/uploads/coach-contracts/paulhaynes-ksu-employment-contract.pdf
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