Sven Alskog
Sports Editor
As first reported during the ISU Coaches Show on Wednesday, Oct. 7, Head Coach Mike Kramer recently fired himself as the special teams coordinator for the football team.
Brilliant.
Let’s take a look at the numbers and happenings for the special teams group up to this point in the season.
In the categories of kickoff return average, net punting average and kickoff coverage, the Bengals either rank last or in the bottom four out of Big Sky conference teams.
During an 80-8 loss on the road to UNLV, the Rebels had starting field position on the ISU side of the field a whopping eight times, half of which came off either a punt or a kickoff.
The first play of the game was a 58-yard return to the ISU 28 yard line, putting the Bengal defense to the wall right from the get-go.
While numbers don’t tell the whole story, the consensus exists, ISU’s special teams play this season has been terrible at best.
“I’ll tell you this, one time we kicked off last week [Cal Poly game] and I forgot to call the kick,” said Kramer on the show with Jerry Miller and Mark Liptak. “I’m telling you. I fired myself. I deserve it. Have you seen us play in kick game this year? Gah!”
Self-evaluation is a pretty important skill to possess in any industry a person decides to go into.
Kramer evaluated the situation.
He is a great head football coach. For the record, I think with the resources he is given, Kramer is one of the best in the FCS.
Look at the numbers.
In 2011, when Kramer took over for John Zamberlin, he inherited a program that had lost ten games in a row, including going 3-31 the three seasons prior.
The Bengals were depleted. They needed someone that would completely change the mindset of the football program.
Kramer has been perfect.
People talk about ISU football now. The program is relevant.
Since 2003, the Bengals have had just one winning season, the 2014 campaign under Kramer.
It was a historic year.
Quarterback Justin Arias patrolled the offense, throwing for over 4,000 yards and 38 touchdowns, ending up as a finalist for FCS Player of the Year honors.
Offensive Coordinator Don Bailey called the plays so well that Hawaii, a division one program led by legendary Head Coach Norm Chow, took notice, offering Bailey the same position in the Aloha state.
Kramer was named Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year.
Four years of hard work had begun to show their merits, with ISU finishing 8-4 and just missing a berth in the FCS playoffs.
You could say it was a pretty successful season.
Even this year after starting the season 1-4 with blowout losses to UNLV (80-8), Boise State (52-0) and Cal Poly (58-26), the Bengals didn’t quit.
The week after Kramer fired himself as special teams coordinator, replaced by David Fiefia, ISU went into hostile territory on the road in Grand Forks, N.D. and shocked everyone but themselves with a 37-31 upset over then #23 North Dakota.
ISU had not knocked off a team with a winning record on the road in conference play since 2002 in Cheney against Eastern Washington.
Let’s go back to the special teams.
North Dakota started in ISU territory twice during the game, both off punts again.
There was improvement however.
Neither of those instances came in the second half, where ISU made a frantic comeback, as the Bengals came all the way back from trailing 31-15 at the 1:21 mark of the third quarter.
It takes a complete team effort to make that comeback. All three facets have to be outstanding.
So let’s be clear, Mike Kramer is an outstanding football coach. If his number one priority was the special teams, they would probably be one of the best units in the country.
That wasn’t the case though.
A head football coach has plenty of other things to focus on. That’s why assistants exist.
So this brings me to the question of the story. In an era where it seems like nobody wants to self-evaluate, doing the bare minimum to get by in work, school, relationships and whatever else, I challenge you to self-evaluate.
Would you fire yourself?
