Almost no Griz fan or supporter who was an important supporter or financial booster thought what you said in your 3d para., to my knowledge. I know a number of those guys, and not one of them thought anything remotely like that. The ones I know fully supported and liked Bobby. In fact, some are very disappointed that he retired. The team had a terrific season.
Haslam made a big mistake hiring Stitt. I assume he and the top supporters recall that huge mistake.
I hope some of these demanding people are not going to end up getting what they wished for, i.e. a Nebraska situation or another Stitt.
I wonder if financial support for the program is going to get harder now that Bobby is gone. I don't see BK, or Haslam, being able to call these guys and be effective in getting them to put up more money, like Bobby could. Of course, these big hitters will still support the program under BK, but I just don't see them stepping up big time or for special things like they seem to have been doing when Bobby was around. And, I know what one of the biggest supporters quite well and have talked to him.
While I assume the new coach and staff will do well or fairly well, especially given what Bobby has said to some of my friends about what he believes the quality of the new recruits and team will be for next year.
In recent years in FCS, the Portal/NIL (both in and out) and the movement of coaches at top programs have impacted the top teams considerably. This has created opportunities which hadn't been there before. Obviously, NDSU has not turned out to be unbeatable in the last several years. Coaches have moved on. MSU has held on without going big in the Portal, but their QB was the key to their team's success last season. I don't see MSU being able to sustain that model, and I assume their coach will depart. He's tried to depart the past 2 years. The QB injury to SDSU impacted its season greatly. The Portal has hurt the Dakota schools. So far, the Portal is helping UM more than it's hurting it. And there's a significant amount of luck each season, including luck with injuries and ball bounces at key times.
My view is that BK or any new UM coach is not going to be the answer to winning a national championship as much as these other factors mentioned in the prior para, which will have a bigger impact on that.
Elevating BK quickly and keeping the remaining staff and hopefully keeping the good group of players already assembled was clearly the way to go, and to keep up the success and momentum.
The vocal fanbase on egriz, which, in my view, is not a reflection of what the full fan base of UM believes, has become way too demanding and unrealistic. I loved AZGriz's comment asking whether someone was saying they wanted/demanded BK to have more and better success than Bobby had been able to achieve in 5 or so years.
I wonder what the combined annual financial contributions to football of all of the egriz posters who have become so demanding, is. My guess is that it is pretty small. Big mouths, small wallets.
