"Deserve" is a tough word to work with. In part, honesty is a key indicator of how well a coach, CEO, etc can manage his or her franchise. In business, this is almost invariably done by "strategic plans." Woe to the CEO that oversells by putting it down on paper.
Unfortunately, we have something of that at work at UM.
Griz Nation is experiencing something quite different than the Wombats. I doubt that any coach has ever arrived with as much hype as Bob Stitt. That was a journalism-driven publicity campaign, driven by people like George Ferguson and Kyle Sample, which put way too much positive spin on the hire, breathlessly reporting titles like "offensive genius" and reporting how he had "dominated" the RMAC. One "journalist" tried to argue, even just recently, that Stitt had been heavily recruited before "accepting" Montana's offer. I had to point out to this "journalist" that Stitt himself had pointed out that he had never been recruited before Montana. The koolaid was being heavily mixed and distributed, and sports journalists were the most enthusiastic purveyors. Fans came away with the impression, heavily promoted, that Stitt's record was "phenomenal!"
From that reporting, fans came away with a promotional brochure that allowed no room for the usual ups and downs of rebuilding -- didn't need to with this guy! And of course, it became murky as to how to rebuild from successful back-to-back seasons.
Nobody did due diligence. The record at Mines was journeyman, a "good" record but not exceptional. Nobody noticed that Rob Ash had a substantially better record at MooYOO in nine years than Stitt at Mines in 15 years, even though "Mines" was the best funded program in that conference.
Nobody bothered to point to nine losses of 15 games to Chadron State, including a 55-0 walloping. Didn't fit the "Narrative." Nobody pointed to the complete lack of DI experience in coaching, recruiting, or managing a DI program. No one bothered to ask if DII defenses were really comparable to DI defenses that the DII coaches would be facing. Nobody looked to any record of success or failure of DII coaches moving to DI.
The astounding lack of any efforts at an objective or critical examination of this hire was ... astounding. That was a full-blown, all-in public relations campaign. The amazing thing is that Stitt got it all for free.
And Stitt fed that promotional bandwagon, as much as he could. He gloried in it. If the Caddy had a brake pedal, he was not going to look for it and temper the adoring, fawning, obsequious wordage pouring from the word processors of our "journalists."
Now, it's "The Morning After," to borrow from a famous sports column at the Seattle P-I. Real "sports journalists" can tell you who wrote it and why it was one of the best sports columns of all time.
Griz fans were misled. It's not the reaction of having some set-backs, perhaps inevitable, it's the fact that the hype was so pervasive, and the reality so different.
If there is a "backlash" it is well-deserved. Thanks to "sports journalists" and Stitt himself, expectations were created, whole cloth, that the coach had not earned, but nevertheless encouraged.