Rob Ash Fired

[UMGriz75]

Were we bad with Ash, or is he a just a really good coach who is a victim of a delusional fanbase?

Yes.

Ash was as good as MSU ever got. By that standard, what do you think? Was he the victim of a delusional fanbase? There is no doubt about it. Every competent coach in the country sees that the winningest coach in school history just got fired because he didn't win the ego games, the vendetta games, the hate games that MSU has made paramount in their program's existence. A competent coach would have to be out of his mind to want to coach with that kind of psychotic fanbase.

This had a better outcome. Ash could have been talked down and into retiring. Give it a few weeks. Make it look like he's going out on his out terms. Give him a healthy severance. They could have made this look good, and instead made it look precisely like a football program operated by deranged psychopaths, motivated not to win, but only to defeat a hated rival.

 

[Ursus1]

Ash firing is due to his inability to fire defensive coaches after last season...thus the defense was horrible this year again. If they had a decent defense they would likely have won quite a few more games.

 

[UMGriz75]

Yes, like MSU hadn't won three national championships before the Griz ever even appeared in one.

Get off your high horse.

It is also true that the Spartans defeated the Persians at Thermopylae. Those three national championships didn't produce an "elite program." Each was a one-off, in different and lesser divisions, and at a time when college football was a different kind of a sport, and none of those wins produced anything resembling a "winning tradition," indeed, in 1985, Cats went 2-9, forever burying the idea that 1984 was a harbinger of success, indeed, that an "elite" program can sustain success and MSU proved, right there, that it could not.

We are a long ways from 1984 and it is telling that the Cats still resurrect that, as though proof that 1985 did not happen to destroy any illusion. But, that's the problem, illusion and delusion.

 

[tnt]

I never thought I'd see the day that UM fans lecture MSU fans on expectations. :lol:

Expectations are fine, except it takes some action, a lot of action, to make them happen. Just hiring a coach isn't enough. Ash did exactly what he was hired to do. He cleaned up the mess left by the previous coach who was hired to make MSU Eastern. He did............. Maybe what MSU needs to do is hire someone who can lead the athletic department set some goals to build a real program. It starts way before the "coach"

 

[UMGriz75]

I never thought I'd see the day that UM fans lecture MSU fans on expectations. :lol:

You missed all the days that UM fans lectured MSU fans on realistic expectations. Today is merely another one.

 

[IdaGriz01]

Word Gets Around

Wow, give those fellas at STATS.com credit ... they have already posted the coaching news from boob-cat land:
http://www.fcs.football/cfb/story.asp?i=20151123161824115117704

Part of it:

Although the Bobcats were 70-38 under the popular 64-year-old coach, this year's 5-6 finish marked their first losing season since they posted the same record in 2001. They were 3-5 in conference games, tying for eighth place.
...
Under Ash, the highlights included an outright Big Sky title in 2011 and shared titles in 2010 and 2012.

But Ash went 2-7 against Montana, including a 54-35 defeat in Bozeman last Saturday. That made the Bobcats 4-8 in November the last three seasons, including a home playoff loss to South Dakota State last year.

 

[Larry Donovan]

In contrast, other than Pflugrad, when was the last time a Griz football coach left for another reason besides a better job offer or retirement?

You have to go back to 1980-1986 coach Larry Donovan with only one winning season.
Go Griz!

Hey now... be nice...

Larry, I was there in the stands singing "Goodbye Larry" with the student section at your final game.

It was bitter sweet.
Well, no it wasn't.
I believe it was just bitter.
We were bitter you'd not been sent packing earlier.
FWIW, alcohol was involved. Good times. Yeah, good times.

Were you the guy who threw the frozen pumpkin through the front window of my house?

 

[IntuitiveGriz]

Wow, did not see this coming if true. I know the last couple of years were tough but what is his record at MSU like 70 -38 total and 48 - 23 in conference with the current season being the only losing season he had? Figured he had a year or two based on the contract extension he just got!!

I am surprised as well. Ash's overall record is very positive on the wins, and he kept the kids and coach's out of trouble. There hasn't been a single murder on his watch.

Ash isn't ordinarily the kind of coach you fire (or "retire" early). What this results from is losing to the Griz three games in a row. It also results from a near-psychopathic fan base that has themselves convinced that "they" are an elite program and that it is just the darn coaches and players that keep letting them down. The Cat "program" is the worst case of "projection" in all of college football. The fanbase has one perception of what they are; the reality produces a different view. Ash is their voodoo doll and they are vicious abut sticking the pins in.

It sends quite a message to recruits and to the next coach and coaching staff. If I was a college coach, and had a prospect of applying, I would think twice about applying to MSU. I would have to note that the major opponent the coach faces isn't opposing teams, it's the "fans."

that is certainly one way of looking at it. however, you could also look at it as we are committed to winning. and winning games that matter. beating the griz matters. winning playoff games matter. beating quality teams in the conference matter. these are things coach ash did not do well.

beating fort lewis at home doesn't matter, although they certainly help pad the win/loss column.

Don't forget that gem of msu beating a first year program made up of almost all freshman! That ranks right up there with the Griz beating 4-time defending national champion NDSU!

 

[NorthEndZoneDan]

"This season was hard for everybody," including Ash, Fields said. "When you watch the players leave the field after a loss, you see the dejection in their faces."

I read this quote and immediately thought of the Trail of Tears, all the little sad bobkitty faces trudging down the Trail of Tears.

ftc

 

[get'em_griz]

So in all of this mess, Fields is the one that schedules their schedule every year... and the one who bought out the NDSU game. I'm surprised he hasn't been canned yet.

 

[UMGriz75]

Other news from La La Land:

Does Dakota transfer off season?

Postby utucats on Mon Nov 23, 2015 4:08 pm

Rachac talking to Cramsey right now
https://twitter.com/gregrachac
Cramsey: "Me and Dakota (Prukop) are very close. He's very upset. Very unhappy"
Cramsey: "Prukop does not want to play for another coach other than myself"

Looks like Crams is lobbying for the job already. Prukop has every right to be upset but he needs to realize that UM has had the instability of 4 different coaches since Ash arrived and yet they are still heading for the playoffs. We however have had a very stable situation and the results aren't where they should be. Something had to happen if you care about winning. Winners don't settle and hopefully Dakota understands that.

Re: Cramsey for head coach?
Postby SonomaCat on Mon Nov 23, 2015 4:25 pm

Junior quarterback Dakota Prukop, Cramsey’s disciple for running his spread option offense, will graduate from Montana State in December with a degree in economics. A source with knowledge of the situation said Prukop does not want to play for another coach other than Cramsey.

Wait a few days for emotions to calm down -- I'm sure a lot of people are saying things right now that they wouldn't want to be held to forever. It's totally understandable. This really sucks for the players and the coaches and pretty much everybody with close ties to MSU football.

 

[IntuitiveGriz]

Bozeman High coach name being thrown around...

 

[rocklobster]

Went for two instead of one, and left the Cats two scores down with 9 minutes to go. That was the straw that broke the camel's back! It shouldn't have been, and the administration should have backed him! Fire the AD! He gave the extension! The biggest problem is recruiting in state. How many kids-in state-want to play there after watching that game; or past games for that matter? His players played their hearts out, but between team speed and injuries, the Cats didn't have a chance! Good luck Coach Ash in the future! He's a nice man, and gave a lot to the community of Bozeman, and the kids he coached!

 

[IntuitiveGriz]

Per the Montana Standard:

Fields said Tim Cramsey will be the point person for recruiting until a new coach is hired. The new coach will evaluate assistants.

 

[UMGriz75]

Went for two instead of one, and left the Cats two scores down with 9 minutes to go. That was the straw that broke the camel's back!

It was the vaunted offense, that went for it on two fourth downs with bad field position if they failed -- and then failed -- and two turnovers. Four offensive plays that turned into TD's for the Griz.

And the OC is lobbying furiously for the position of HC, taking the QB hostage. Not even waiting for the ashes to cool. Ash should have been proactive after that game and fired Cramsey first.

 

[tnt]

Prukop graduates in Dec (Econ) He claims to have been contacted by several programs and supposedly was considering transfer trying for a "VA." He's no VA................. He's just making noise and marketing himself. One of the reasons (like EWU) they are successful from time to time but not an "elite program"

 

[rocklobster]

Went for two instead of one, and left the Cats two scores down with 9 minutes to go. That was the straw that broke the camel's back!

It was the vaunted offense, that went for it on two fourth downs with bad field position if they failed -- and then failed -- and two turnovers. Four offensive plays that turned into TD's for the Griz.

And the OC is lobbying furiously for the position of HC, taking the QB hostage. Not even waiting for the ashes to cool. Ash should have been proactive after that game and fired Cramsey first.

I totally agree! MSU needs to move on-like they did when they hired Ash from Drake! There's a great coach at Southern Oregon-Craig Howard! Also a defensive coordinator at the University of Montana!

 

[CDAGRIZ]

Yes, like MSU hadn't won three national championships before the Griz ever even appeared in one.

Get off your high horse.

Bahaha! Cat fans' thinking they've won three NCs will never get old!!!! :lol: :lol:

 

[blackfoot griz]

You don't think the 1984 NC at MSU had any affect on UM? Oh wait, WA-Griz stadium was built two years after the Cats NC! I wonder, just maybe, if UM saw what MSU did and decided to step up their game?

I'm not keen on the history of Griz coaches, but it appears you fired your coach in 1985, built a new stadium in 1986.

So to recap:
Cats win NC in 1984
Griz fire coach in 1985
WA Griz stadium built in 1986

What was your record in 1985?

 

[grizindabox]

Some of the stupid shit that is even dredged up in a "coach is fired" thread....