Coach Huse

[FTG06']

It is indeed time for Fields to move on. But he won't until he is told to. If I have learned one thing in my professional career it is that you can mess up in your job description, but you will be terminated if your personality conflicts with your boss and/or the majority of your co-workers. Fields personality conflicts with the business model that MSU athletics is currently under. Men's basketball has been in hibernation for years now, the volleyball program is a complete shambles, and were it not for our current president MSU would be in the "quiet phase" for another 10 years before the football stadium was renovated (I understand Gamble was part of the problem). People are always asking how we can make MSU athletics better. I think the first thing to do is tell Huse thanks, it's been great but we're going in a different direction. New blood is a good way to reinvigorate the program. Get some butts in seats in the Fieldhouse, and hopefully the recruiting will follow suit with a decent team being put on the floor.

My bottom line is that you cannot be ultra conservative like Fields has and expect things to develop. You need to put some capital out there and invest in the future, but still hold some in reserve as well. If you hold onto the gold and you never use it for anything, then you will watch everyone else go right by you on the way to the top (look no further than fizzoula). Huse being retained at least two years beyond when he probably should have been let go is an embodiment of this conservative practice that MSU athletics was stuck in for much too long (thank god for Cruzado). I'm not saying that the state of the department is bad, far from it. But I think it could be much better, and it all starts with Huse's termination, followed shortly by Field.

[Gidal Kaiser]

Forgot to post this as early as Saturday ... http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/sp ... 963f4.html The season-ender. The audio will be up Monday, and we'll have a blog-only top 10 moments starting Monday evening.

[BelgradeBobcat]

Forgot to post this as early as Saturday ... http://www.bozemandailychronicle.com/sp ... 963f4.html The season-ender. The audio will be up Monday, and we'll have a blog-only top 10 moments starting Monday evening.

Top 10 moments??? It will take all your skills and all your powers to come up with one of those for this season. Good luck!

[Gidal Kaiser]

Hint: Top 10 moments don't ALWAYS have to be positives. It's the top 10 moments that impacted MSU's season the most.

[aucat]

I thought that Gidal Kaiser's intverview with Coach Huse carried in the Bozeman Chonicle was rather contradictory. On the one hand, it appeared that Kaiser was intent on "poking his finger in his eye" just a bit by including all of Huse's verbal hiccups. He must have printed "you know" and "uh" about twenty times in the interview. I would expect that most journalists would edit those out since they have nothing to do with the meaning of what Coach Huse was saying. It almost appears that Kaiser was trying to make him appear to be somewhat incompetent with his verbal skills.

But on the other hand, I did not think that Kaiser asked Huse the tough questions. If I had conducted the interview, here are some of the questions I would've asked:

1. What do you think are the expectations at MSU for men's basketball?
2. Why do you think you have not been able to win either the regular season or tournament BSC conference during your six year tenure?
3. Do you have any explanation as to why UM can achieve such great success and MSU cannot, since both schools reside in the same state?
4. During the last few years, Portland State, Weber State, UM and even the new kid on the block, Northern Colorado have all won championships. Why do you think they have been able to achieve such success and MSU cannot?
5. MSU has not won the BSC and hosted the tournament for many, many years. What do you think the program is lacking (facilities, finances, media coverage, recruiting base, top assistant coaches, fan and alumni support, student support, academics, etc. etc.) that prevents MSU from competing on a regular basis for championships?
6. Given your record over the past six years, many MSU alumni and fans do not believe that you should be retained as head coach. What would be your response to them as to why you should continue to be the head men's BB coach at MSU?

[BelgradeBobcat]

I thought that Gidal Kaiser's intverview with Coach Huse carried in the Bozeman Chonicle was rather contradictory. On the one hand, it appeared that Kaiser was intent on "poking his finger in his eye" just a bit by including all of Huse's verbal hiccups. He must have printed "you know" and "uh" about twenty times in the interview. I would expect that most journalists would edit those out since they have nothing to do with the meaning of what Coach Huse was saying. It almost appears that Kaiser was trying to make him appear to be somewhat incompetent with his verbal skills.

But on the other hand, I did not think that Kaiser asked Huse the tough questions. If I had conducted the interview, here are some of the questions I would've asked:

1. What do you think are the expectations at MSU for men's basketball?
2. Why do you think you have not been able to win either the regular season or tournament BSC conference during your six year tenure?
3. Do you have any explanation as to why UM can achieve such great success and MSU cannot, since both schools reside in the same state?
4. During the last few years, Portland State, Weber State, UM and even the new kid on the block, Northern Colorado have all won championships. Why do you think they have been able to achieve such success and MSU cannot?
5. MSU has not won the BSC and hosted the tournament for many, many years. What do you think the program is lacking (facilities, finances, media coverage, recruiting base, top assistant coaches, fan and alumni support, student support, academics, etc. etc.) that prevents MSU from competing on a regular basis for championships?
6. Given your record over the past six years, many MSU alumni and fans do not believe that you should be retained as head coach. What would be your response to them as to why you should continue to be the head men's BB coach at MSU?

I would love to have #3 asked and answered and Huse would be the perfect person for that question since he's coached at both places.

I suppose in a small market like this the reporter has to tread lightly. If you piss off the coach too much you suddenly don't have access and no more stories. Actually-I think this would be a pretty interesting topic if our reporters don't mind divulging...

[wbtfg]

I just went back and read through a lot of the posts during the Huse interviews, and it looks like pretty much everyone on the board though Huse was by far and away the best candidate for the job. I didn't see anyone who was upset we didn't hire one of the other candidates. \



Just sayin

[FTG06']

I just went back and read through a lot of the posts during the Huse interviews, and it looks like pretty much everyone on the board though Huse was by far and away the best candidate for the job. I didn't see anyone who was upset we didn't hire one of the other candidates. \



Just sayin

That was six years ago. Alot has happened since then (or not much, depending on how you look at it). Hindsight is always 20/20, but that's just it. You have new perspective with the passage of time. We can sit here and bring up the past all we want, but in the end the results really speak for themselves. Somebody might interview for a job really well and say all the right things, but in the end their job performance isn't what it was advertised to be.

[wbtfg]

I just went back and read through a lot of the posts during the Huse interviews, and it looks like pretty much everyone on the board though Huse was by far and away the best candidate for the job. I didn't see anyone who was upset we didn't hire one of the other candidates. \



Just sayin

That was six years ago. Alot has happened since then (or not much, depending on how you look at it). Hindsight is always 20/20, but that's just it. You have new perspective with the passage of time. We can sit here and bring up the past all we want, but in the end the results really speak for themselves. Somebody might interview for a job really well and say all the right things, but in the end their job performance isn't what it was advertised to be.

Totally agree. I didn't post that to defend Huse or to indicate that he shouldn't be replaced. Just reminding people that everyone was ethusiastically on board with the hiring of Huse. Hiring coaches, like recruiting players is a crap shoot.

[John K]

I just went back and read through a lot of the posts during the Huse interviews, and it looks like pretty much everyone on the board though Huse was by far and away the best candidate for the job. I didn't see anyone who was upset we didn't hire one of the other candidates. \



Just sayin

It's the AD's job to hire the best guy, regardless of which candidate is favored by the fans. And that decision will ultimately be judged by the results produced on the floor, not by who may have appeared to be the best candidate "on paper" at the time of his hiring. Would any of the other candidates have done any better...who knows? But I don't believe that PF should get a pass for a coaching hire that didn't work out, just because the guy he hired was also the "fan's choice". The AD is the one who is paid to make the right decision, not the fans.

[Old Skool Cat]

Here's the part of the interview that really bothered me:

Q: Not to keep sticking to the negatives, but you just mentioned it. Second year in a row, long losing streak during the second half of the season. What is it about the second half of the season that it just seems things don’t go exactly right?

A: Well, I think people want to make more out of that than it’s worth. We – if you go back to, you know, a few years back, we got hot in the tournament and got to the championship. And the season after that, we won some big games at the end of the season to finish third and get 10 league wins. Obviously, the last two years hasn’t gone well the last month. And, you know, collectively there’s a lot of reasons that play into that. We were a really young team last year; this year was probably a little more disappointing because we had chances to win some games there that we didn’t finish. And so, we’ve just got to keep moving forward. I feel like we’ve got some real talent coming back in this program. We’re injecting some talent, you know’ obviously we had guys sitting out this year and we’ve done some recruiting already. So I feel like, you know – that for the first time in quite a while we should have a pretty nice core back beyond just a couple guys that have had experience, have seen our league, that have been through the rigors of it. Hopefully that will help us as we head into next season and get into league play and throughout the entire conference season.

The guys is either trying to put a positive spin on things, or is just fooling himself because it's been more than just the last two years. Here's a look at all his seasons since his hire, accounting for wins-losses for the month of February and on, the last 10 games of the season, and Big Sky tourney results:

--2011-2012 -- February & on: 1-7; last 10: 2-8; BSC tourney: lost first game; notes: lost 8 of last 9 games
--2010-2011 -- February & on: 2-7; last 10: 2-8; BSC tourney: lost first game; note: lost 10 of last 12 games
--2009-2010 -- February & on: 4-3; last 10: 5-5; BSC tourney: lost first game; note: his best finish to end the regular season
--2008-2009 -- February & on: 2-7; last 10: 3-7; BSC tourney: advanced to championship game losing to PSU; note: finished regular season with 5 game losing streak
--2007-2008 -- February & on: 2-6; last 10: 4-6; BSC tourney: lost first game; note: lost 6 of last 8 games and finished on 4 game losing streak
--2006-2007 -- February & on: 4-5; last 10: 4-6; BSC tourney: did not qualify; note: lost 5 of last 6 games and finished on 3 game losing streak

These numbers indicate that it's not the last couple of seasons with Coach Huse, but rather it's been his entire tenure with MSU. Having a coach who can't win is terrible, but having a coach who can't be honest with himself and his own assessment of the job he is doing is even worse.

[John K]

I just went back and read through a lot of the posts during the Huse interviews, and it looks like pretty much everyone on the board though Huse was by far and away the best candidate for the job. I didn't see anyone who was upset we didn't hire one of the other candidates. \



Just sayin

That was six years ago. Alot has happened since then (or not much, depending on how you look at it). Hindsight is always 20/20, but that's just it. You have new perspective with the passage of time. We can sit here and bring up the past all we want, but in the end the results really speak for themselves. Somebody might interview for a job really well and say all the right things, but in the end their job performance isn't what it was advertised to be.

Totally agree. I didn't post that to defend Huse or to indicate that he shouldn't be replaced. Just reminding people that everyone was ethusiastically on board with the hiring of Huse. Hiring coaches, like recruiting players is a crap shoot.

But isn't it part of the AD's job to make it not a crap shoot (or at least less of a crap shoot)? Regardless of what you think of O'Day personally, he's put together a pretty good resume with regard to his hiring of coaches. On the other hand, PF has had a couple of hits but he's had some misses too. By the same token, a good coach should also be able to make recruiting much less of a crap shoot, but Huse has had a ton of misses with his recruits. It seems like there's always been an unusual amount of personnel turnover, as well as many players who just never seemed to fulfill their potential. Either they weren't as talented as we all thought they were, or else he and his staff are just not very good at developing talent.

[DicTater]

Here's the part of the interview that really bothered me:

Q: Not to keep sticking to the negatives, but you just mentioned it. Second year in a row, long losing streak during the second half of the season. What is it about the second half of the season that it just seems things don’t go exactly right?

A: Well, I think people want to make more out of that than it’s worth. We – if you go back to, you know, a few years back, we got hot in the tournament and got to the championship. And the season after that, we won some big games at the end of the season to finish third and get 10 league wins. Obviously, the last two years hasn’t gone well the last month. And, you know, collectively there’s a lot of reasons that play into that. We were a really young team last year; this year was probably a little more disappointing because we had chances to win some games there that we didn’t finish. And so, we’ve just got to keep moving forward. I feel like we’ve got some real talent coming back in this program. We’re injecting some talent, you know’ obviously we had guys sitting out this year and we’ve done some recruiting already. So I feel like, you know – that for the first time in quite a while we should have a pretty nice core back beyond just a couple guys that have had experience, have seen our league, that have been through the rigors of it. Hopefully that will help us as we head into next season and get into league play and throughout the entire conference season.

The guys is either trying to put a positive spin on things, or is just fooling himself because it's been more than just the last two years. Here's a look at all his seasons since his hire, accounting for wins-losses for the month of February and on, the last 10 games of the season, and Big Sky tourney results:

--2011-2012 -- February & on: 1-7; last 10: 2-8; BSC tourney: lost first game; notes: lost 8 of last 9 games
--2010-2011 -- February & on: 2-7; last 10: 2-8; BSC tourney: lost first game; note: lost 10 of last 12 games
--2009-2010 -- February & on: 4-3; last 10: 5-5; BSC tourney: lost first game; note: his best finish to end the regular season
--2008-2009 -- February & on: 2-7; last 10: 3-7; BSC tourney: advanced to championship game losing to PSU; note: finished regular season with 5 game losing streak
--2007-2008 -- February & on: 2-6; last 10: 4-6; BSC tourney: lost first game; note: lost 6 of last 8 games and finished on 4 game losing streak
--2006-2007 -- February & on: 4-5; last 10: 4-6; BSC tourney: did not qualify; note: lost 5 of last 6 games and finished on 3 game losing streak

These numbers indicate that it's not the last couple of seasons with Coach Huse, but rather it's been his entire tenure with MSU. Having a coach who can't win is terrible, but having a coach who can't be honest with himself and his own assessment of the job he is doing is even worse.

Obviously, that shows one thing, and that is that Huse's teams don't improve during the season, while other teams do. I think the main reason the Cats never improve is that Huse never makes any adjustments while other teams do. The second time around the league, every other team knows exactly what the Cats are going to do and prepare a game plan. On the other hand, the Cats always look like they have no plan. That's not talent or the lack thereof, that's coaching and these are damning numbers.

[wbtfg]

But isn't it part of the AD's job to make it not a crap shoot (or at least less of a crap shoot)? Regardless of what you think of O'Day personally, he's put together a pretty good resume with regard to his hiring of coaches. On the other hand, PF has had a couple of hits but he's had some misses too.

I agree, however, if you look back at the finalists I don't think any of them were any better than Huse. Huse was the pick of the hiring committee, boosters, the general public, and Peter Fields followed the recommendation of those entities. That said, I guess we could raise the question of whether or not we did a good job of recruiting potential candidates. I have no idea what was done there.....

By the same token, a good coach should also be able to make recruiting much less of a crap shoot, but Huse has had a ton of misses with his recruits. It seems like there's always been an unusual amount of personnel turnover, as well as many players who just never seemed to fulfill their potential. Either they weren't as talented as we all thought they were, or else he and his staff are just not very good at developing talent.

No arguement here. I could complain for pages and pages about this....

[John K]

Here's the part of the interview that really bothered me:

Q: Not to keep sticking to the negatives, but you just mentioned it. Second year in a row, long losing streak during the second half of the season. What is it about the second half of the season that it just seems things don’t go exactly right?

A: Well, I think people want to make more out of that than it’s worth. We – if you go back to, you know, a few years back, we got hot in the tournament and got to the championship. And the season after that, we won some big games at the end of the season to finish third and get 10 league wins. Obviously, the last two years hasn’t gone well the last month. And, you know, collectively there’s a lot of reasons that play into that. We were a really young team last year; this year was probably a little more disappointing because we had chances to win some games there that we didn’t finish. And so, we’ve just got to keep moving forward. I feel like we’ve got some real talent coming back in this program. We’re injecting some talent, you know’ obviously we had guys sitting out this year and we’ve done some recruiting already. So I feel like, you know – that for the first time in quite a while we should have a pretty nice core back beyond just a couple guys that have had experience, have seen our league, that have been through the rigors of it. Hopefully that will help us as we head into next season and get into league play and throughout the entire conference season.

The guys is either trying to put a positive spin on things, or is just fooling himself because it's been more than just the last two years. Here's a look at all his seasons since his hire, accounting for wins-losses for the month of February and on, the last 10 games of the season, and Big Sky tourney results:

--2011-2012 -- February & on: 1-7; last 10: 2-8; BSC tourney: lost first game; notes: lost 8 of last 9 games
--2010-2011 -- February & on: 2-7; last 10: 2-8; BSC tourney: lost first game; note: lost 10 of last 12 games
--2009-2010 -- February & on: 4-3; last 10: 5-5; BSC tourney: lost first game; note: his best finish to end the regular season
--2008-2009 -- February & on: 2-7; last 10: 3-7; BSC tourney: advanced to championship game losing to PSU; note: finished regular season with 5 game losing streak
--2007-2008 -- February & on: 2-6; last 10: 4-6; BSC tourney: lost first game; note: lost 6 of last 8 games and finished on 4 game losing streak
--2006-2007 -- February & on: 4-5; last 10: 4-6; BSC tourney: did not qualify; note: lost 5 of last 6 games and finished on 3 game losing streak

These numbers indicate that it's not the last couple of seasons with Coach Huse, but rather it's been his entire tenure with MSU. Having a coach who can't win is terrible, but having a coach who can't be honest with himself and his own assessment of the job he is doing is even worse.

Agreed...and even in 2009-2010, when we finished the regular season with a 3-game win streak, as a #3 seed we lost at home to #6 seed PSU, in the one and only time that we actually earned a home playoff game in the 1st round of the tourney. I was at that game, and we p****d it away in the final seconds. We had the ball and the lead with about 30 seconds to go, and somehow found a way to lose. And it should really tell you all you need to know, that we've only managed to host one 1st round game during his 6 years on the job, which of course means that we've only finished in the top 4 during the regular season one time during his tenure. Come on...it shouldn't be that difficult to finish in the top 4 of a 9-team league, should it? Can you imagine if Tinkle had produced similar results in Missoula? He would have been run out of town on a rail a couple of years ago.

[John K]

Here's the part of the interview that really bothered me:

Q: Not to keep sticking to the negatives, but you just mentioned it. Second year in a row, long losing streak during the second half of the season. What is it about the second half of the season that it just seems things don’t go exactly right?

A: Well, I think people want to make more out of that than it’s worth. We – if you go back to, you know, a few years back, we got hot in the tournament and got to the championship. And the season after that, we won some big games at the end of the season to finish third and get 10 league wins. Obviously, the last two years hasn’t gone well the last month. And, you know, collectively there’s a lot of reasons that play into that. We were a really young team last year; this year was probably a little more disappointing because we had chances to win some games there that we didn’t finish. And so, we’ve just got to keep moving forward. I feel like we’ve got some real talent coming back in this program. We’re injecting some talent, you know’ obviously we had guys sitting out this year and we’ve done some recruiting already. So I feel like, you know – that for the first time in quite a while we should have a pretty nice core back beyond just a couple guys that have had experience, have seen our league, that have been through the rigors of it. Hopefully that will help us as we head into next season and get into league play and throughout the entire conference season.

The guys is either trying to put a positive spin on things, or is just fooling himself because it's been more than just the last two years. Here's a look at all his seasons since his hire, accounting for wins-losses for the month of February and on, the last 10 games of the season, and Big Sky tourney results:

--2011-2012 -- February & on: 1-7; last 10: 2-8; BSC tourney: lost first game; notes: lost 8 of last 9 games
--2010-2011 -- February & on: 2-7; last 10: 2-8; BSC tourney: lost first game; note: lost 10 of last 12 games
--2009-2010 -- February & on: 4-3; last 10: 5-5; BSC tourney: lost first game; note: his best finish to end the regular season
--2008-2009 -- February & on: 2-7; last 10: 3-7; BSC tourney: advanced to championship game losing to PSU; note: finished regular season with 5 game losing streak
--2007-2008 -- February & on: 2-6; last 10: 4-6; BSC tourney: lost first game; note: lost 6 of last 8 games and finished on 4 game losing streak
--2006-2007 -- February & on: 4-5; last 10: 4-6; BSC tourney: did not qualify; note: lost 5 of last 6 games and finished on 3 game losing streak

These numbers indicate that it's not the last couple of seasons with Coach Huse, but rather it's been his entire tenure with MSU. Having a coach who can't win is terrible, but having a coach who can't be honest with himself and his own assessment of the job he is doing is even worse.

Obviously, that shows one thing, and that is that Huse's teams don't improve during the season, while other teams do. I think the main reason the Cats never improve is that Huse never makes any adjustments while other teams do. The second time around the league, every other team knows exactly what the Cats are going to do and prepare a game plan. On the other hand, the Cats always look like they have no plan. That's not talent or the lack thereof, that's coaching and these are damning numbers.

As much as that, I think it's also that he doesn't do a very good job of developing his own players, either individually or as a team, throughout the course of the season (or throughout their careers for that matter). As the season progresses, a good coach should be able to analyze his team's strengths and weaknesses, and tweak his schemes accordingly, but Huse doesn't seem to do this very well. And of the few players who have actually played 4 years, how many have shown significant improvement during the course of their careers? Or how about all of the players who were great shooters in HS/JC, and all of a sudden can't throw it in the ocean once they get to MSU?

Why has he failed at MSU, even though he seemed to be a great hire at the time? He was very successful as a head coach at the NAIA level, and by all accounts was very well respected as an assistant at both MSU and UM. Do the problems with MBB run deeper than the head coach? Is the program underfunded compared to the other BSC schools, or even compared to historical MSU standards? With the rise of the FB program during the last 10 years, have booster donations increasingly been diverted to FB, and away from MBB? Is it a coincidence that the MBB program started declining at approximately the same time that the FB program began improving? Obviously it doesn't have to be an "either/or" type of situation, since UM has managed to field strong programs in all 3 of the major sports for many years. In fairness to Huse, as well as to MSU fans, I hope these questions are asked and answered before any decisions are made about his future, and before a new coach is hired if/when PF does make a change. Otherwise, any new head coach may be destined for the same fate as Durham and Huse.

[aucat]

The comments/ questions below are excellent. I attend football, basketball (both men and women) and women's volleyball. I know that I am biased, but I think all the ingredients for success are present. The arena for our hoops is both historic and unique. We have good fan support, that would absolutely go through the roof if we only could compete for championships. Even the VB games are well-attended by loud and enthusiastic fans. MSU is a great institution. Bozeman is a wonderful college town. And in Montana, you don''t have competition from any of the "big guys" like you have in other states with BSC schools.

So, I'm sorry, I just don't accept losing at MSU in football, hoops or VB. I strongly feel that if the team is not competing for a championship each year-(-and I know you can't win them all, but you can consistently have a strong program), then we have a failure in leadership--it may be the coach or maybe the coach AND the AD. But losing on a regular basis like MSU does in men's basketball is unacceptable and should not be tolerated.



Why has he failed at MSU, even though he seemed to be a great hire at the time? He was very successful as a head coach at the NIA level, and by all accounts was very well respected as an assistant at both MSU and UM. Do the problems with MBB run deeper than the head coach? Is the program underfunded compared to the other BSC schools, or even compared to historical MSU standards? With the rise of the FB program during the last 10 years, have booster donations increasingly been diverted to FB, and away from MBB? Is it a coincidence that the MBB program started declining at approximately the same time that the FB program began improving? Obviously it doesn't have to be an "either/or" type of situation, since UM has managed to field strong programs in all 3 of the major sports for many years. In fairness to Huse, as well as to MSU fans, I hope these questions are asked and answered before any decisions are made about his future, and before a new coach is hired if/when PF does make a change. Otherwise, any new head coach may be destined for the same fate as Durham and Huse.[/quote]

[Gidal Kaiser]

aucat,
First off, there are many more verbal hiccups I could have included but didn't. It's no secret, if you've listened to Huse interviews at all in his tenure, that he hems and haws and hedges a lot during his answers. I don't know what else to tell you.
Secondly, this wasn't an interrogation about his career; it was a look at the past season. Were the a couple of questions I might have asked that I didn't? Possibly. Could I have ripped him a lot more. Probably - no definitely. Would it have impacted how we work together/relate? Yes. Did I want to ask him everything you people have been voicing your opinions about all season, much less in the three years I've been here? Yes.
But this was a look at one season. That's all it was meant to be. If Huse resigns or is not asked back once his contract is over, all these questions are in play. They're even in play currently. But for what I meant the season-ending Q&A to be, I'm not going to ask more than maybe the first question (which I should have, couching it with his and what he believes Fields' are), possibly the final one (as in: next year is the final year of your contract; what do you think is the biggest thing that needs to happen for you to continue your tenure past next season?). The main point of doing this is to look back at one year - not his tenure. That will happen at a later date if Huse consents to it (i.e. he consents to an exit interview if/when he moves on). That's just how it goes.

[Bleedinbluengold]

I just went back and read through a lot of the posts during the Huse interviews, and it looks like pretty much everyone on the board though Huse was by far and away the best candidate for the job. I didn't see anyone who was upset we didn't hire one of the other candidates. \



Just sayin

That was six years ago. Alot has happened since then (or not much, depending on how you look at it). Hindsight is always 20/20, but that's just it. You have new perspective with the passage of time. We can sit here and bring up the past all we want, but in the end the results really speak for themselves. Somebody might interview for a job really well and say all the right things, but in the end their job performance isn't what it was advertised to be.

Totally agree. I didn't post that to defend Huse or to indicate that he shouldn't be replaced. Just reminding people that everyone was ethusiastically on board with the hiring of Huse. Hiring coaches, like recruiting players is a crap shoot.

I was glad that you followed up on your comment, because I was about to ask whether, or not, you still owned Enron or Westinghouse stock...

[The Butcher]

Two comments I would make after catching up on this topic:

1. I thought Huse was a great hire and I wouldn’t give Fields a “ding” for pulling the trigger on him. I will give Fields a “ding” for NOT putting Huse on the hot seat after 4 (and honestly 3) below average seasons. I give Fields A F***ING HUGE “ding” for signing Huse to a 3 year extension, when he most certainly did not deserve to get a three year commitment from MSU. The Board of Regents allowed State Universities to offer multi-year contracts to give our best coaches stability, not our below average coaches.
2. Fields was hired to fix MSU’s Athletic Department’s finances. I believe Fields has met this expectation, but new goals/objectives should have been put in place 5-7 years ago. Perhaps Fields has not received said goals/objectives, and all he is to MSU Athletics is an accountant/CFO. I feel Fields ability to make tough decisions, connect with boosters & the fan base, raise money, and be the face of MSU athletics are not areas he thrives in and it is hurting MSU’s athletics. I personally think Fields should move on, but I would accept his continued employment at MSU if his job description and goals/objectives were made public so we could see his progress.