Opinion: Kramer deserves some blame
10/07/02
By PETE FAGGEN Chronicle Sports Editor
Montana State football coach Mike Kramer didn't shoulder the blame after Division II Central Washington routed the Bobcats 31-16 on Homecoming Saturday.
While he said the coaches have "overcoached" to the point where the players don't perform well, Kramer routinely ripped his squad.
And he unfairly criticized one of the team's best players — tailback Ryan Johnson — who was a last-minute scratch with a hamstring injury.
Kramer said "it seems like Johnson's been hurt all his life." When asked further how he felt, Kramer said he couldn't utter words because "our editors would fire us (reporters)." He went on and on, leaving doubt as to whether Johnson was really hurt or not.
It turns out Johnson was indeed injured.
To publicly blast Johnson is irresponsible and wrong.
How can you question the guy who's carried the team on his back -- 304 carries last year and 84 this season? How can you chide a player who has sacrificed his body to take a pounding week in and week out, who is 68 yards shy of breaking the school's all-time rushing record?
Granted, losing your tailback right before the game is an inconvenience to say the least.
But Johnson is the main reason the Bobcats (2-3) have won seven games over the past two-plus seasons. Without him, MSU has little to fall back on, as the CWU game illustrated.
More than an embarrassing loss, though, Johnson's injury exposed an even greater problem: the overall stability of the program from coaching down to recruiting.
Before the season Kramer said a coach has 1,000 days (or three years) to build a program. He has had three years to bring in his type of player, most who have proven to be more smoke than substance.
Take quarterback Tyler Thomas, or receiver Aaron Hill or even cornerback Joey Thomas -- disappointments all.
But they aren't the only ones in Kramer's tenure.
Remember receiver Marcel Dunn in 2000, who was supposed to dazzle us with his blazing speed? And Camron King and Vernon Williams, who were supposed to be the new-type of running back rarely seen around here in 2000 and 2001?
And what about Farhaad Azimi, who before Tyler Thomas, was supposed to be the quarterback to lead the Bobcats to a Big Sky Conference championship?
None of those players lasted more than a season with the Bobcats.
I don't fault the players.
Kramer is to blame, for over-hyping and for poor recruiting, for shuffling players in and out of his program like a circus.
After the CWU game, Kramer said his team will rebound in next week's Big Sky opener at Idaho State (3-2, 2-1 BSC).
"We'll play with some bravado," Kramer said. "Some will be false and some will be true. We'll act like we're pumped up and pretend like we're confident."
Since when does a football team have to act confident?
That statement is indicative of where the problem really lies.
And it's not with Ryan Johnson.
