…but it seemed the writer was missing the larger point that I made before last season. I would have been perfectly willing to give Prince more time to succeed, even if we had gone 5-7 again last year, if the product on the field had at least been competitive or improving. Three years was more than enough to show us that if we “gave him a chance to succeed” we were going to end up in the FCS.

Everyone points to Mangino and Pinkel and other coaches who were “given a chance” as though that were evidence that we made a mistake. I beg to differ. Mizzou and KU were in way worse shape when those two coaches showed up than K-State was, even after Snyder’s disappointing final two seasons. In other words, Prince did less with more than those other coaches. Substantially less. Not only that, but he was headed in the opposite direction. Pinkel and Mangino didn’t make dramatic turnarounds at their schools, but to the perceptive fan, they were at least improving things each year. If you keep seeing improvement every year, you’d be stupid to fire a coach.

is the John Goodman reference. While we all know what you’re talking about, SB Nation’s name recognition system apparently does not. It references to a Notre Dame WR with the same name – and at 6’-3" 193lbs, I don’t see any reason why that John Goodman can’t teach an aerobics class……

Had Prince been an established head coach with significant school ties (and, some say, not an African-American), he might have banked enough good will to warrant another year.

Who the hell said that? And how does that have anything to do with the premise of the article? Did Jason Whitlock edit this article’s content?

fired whether he was red, green, or (obviously not) purple. He was in way over his head here, even a decent coach with previous HC experience would have a tough time at K-State if they didn’t realize how much different the atmosphere is here than almost anywhere else. K-State is a small family-oriented school in a big school’s body, and everyone expects (and needs) it to operate as that big school. Only Snyder has been truly successful at embracing both on the football field. The only person who could have stepped into his shoes and progressed would have had to realize that as well and be able to pull it off. Even growing up in this area I don’t believe RP ever really understood that, and I don’t think he could have handled it even if he did. His first HC gig should have been at a smaller FBS school or even a FCS school where his recruiting skills (HAHA) would have been more in-line with expectations.