Post MVC: Comment on Your Coaching Staff

[ictjay]

Good post Shock

[iSASO]

I don't believe anyone is asking you to like Coach Marshall. In general, we kinda prefer that you don't. It's what we are used to and it's what we thrive on.
All of those things "The Shock" brought out truly have shaped the attitude of WSU fans, and he didn't even go into the fact that we had the first black player west of the Mississippi, the first black football coach and Gene Johnson, founder of the fast-break offense, all in our storied past. Being known as maverick or 'bad boys' is not such a negative to many. It's nearly a badge of honor so don't even try to shame us into feeling bad for too long about something as minor as Marshall saying 'strange things happened'.

[Snaggletooth]

Marshall fits the WSU fan base perfectly.

Of that there can be no doubt. In fact, it often seems as if WSU decided to hire one of the more infamous WSU posters from the old VAlleyTalk in selecting its coach.

What will be interesting to see is if WSU fans feel the same way when he leaves someday.

Marshall is one of those coaches who is tolerated as long as he is winning and moving the program forward. I do think if and when he decides to leave wsu he might be in for a rude awakening in a power conference if he takes a rebuilding job. I'm not sure if he really knows how good of fit and how good he has in Wichita.

[Wufan]

TheShock,

Well stated!

jwa,

No need to appologize for your feelings. As to comments about WSU being second rate in our own state and comparaing that to other schools, yes there is certainly some of that which others have endured. KU claims the invention of basketball for crying out loud. It's a little different in Kansas. Several "Jayhawkers" are unaware that WSU is a D-I school. There are three D-I schools in Kansas; KU, KSU, WSU. Two play in the BCS ONE does not.

Nebraska: three, TWO don't play in the BCS.
Iowa: four schools TWO don't play in the BCS.
Missouri: five, FOUR are non-BCS.
Indiana: 10. SEVEN are non-BCS.
Illinois: 13, TEN are non-BCS.

We are indeed a little chippy.

[DoubleJayAlum]

Marshall fits the WSU fan base perfectly.

Of that there can be no doubt. In fact, it often seems as if WSU decided to hire one of the more infamous WSU posters from the old VAlleyTalk in selecting its coach.

What will be interesting to see is if WSU fans feel the same way when he leaves someday.

Just because we choose to support our coach doesn’t make us bad people. Yes, we have idiot fans like everyone else. We also have some of the most knowledgeable and passionate fans in the country. Our fan base might be one of the oldest in the Valley (damn, we have a lot of gray hairs) with people like myself that remember the great teams of the 50’s and 60’s and playing in the top rated conference in American. Like it or not, we are proud of our history and we are passionate about Wichita State basketball. Yes, many of us have been raised with a ‘chip’ on our shoulder.

Unlike Creighton, Wichita State fans live in a state where we’re considered the 3rd best institution and are often treated like the ‘red headed’ step child by fans and also the state legislature. We’re consistently put down by our Big 12 brethren. We were even put down when we were cut and dried better than either one of them. I can’t tell you how much crap I’ve received from KU and K-State fans the past 50+ years. Right or wrong, over a period of time it starts to wear on a person. Wichita State is considered the villain by many fans in the Missouri Valley Conference. No doubt the probation period of the early 80’s added to our villain reputation. That’s OK, every league needs a villain. We carry the Rodney Dangerfield, “I just can’t get any respect” mantra.

Wichita State was also one of the first institutions to recruit and play black players. That also fueled our ‘bad boy’ reputation in the 50’s, 60’s and early 70’s. There are some unbelievable stories during that era surrounding Shocker basketball. Wichita State started a second half against Louisville (at Louisville) with 5 black players. If I recall correctly, this was a year before Texas Western (now UTEP) started 5 black players and won the national championship. As you can imagine, we were hated by a lot of people for this practice.

I do think it’s time to move on from this topic. Yes, coach Marshall lost some respect this weekend. In the heat of the moment he over reacted. He has a personality that some people will always love to hate. I respect all Valley fans, even you DoubleJayAlum. We get it… we all understand that you don’t like coach Marshall and his antics. We also know you’re not too fond of the City of Wichita or Wichita State in general. You’ve made that perfectly clear. I choose to look at his success (the body of work) and the type of players he brings to my alma mater. I can’t tell you how proud I’ve been of the players he has brought to Wichita. If coach Marshall is a bad person as you like to portray, why does he continue to get quality student athletes to choose WSU?

During the off season, coach Marshall and his family support many local charities and promote and sell the City of Wichita like no other. They are passionate about Wichita and Wichita State. Regardless of his arrogance and sometimes over the top personality, he is a great fit at WSU… I think the perfect fit. These are several reasons why I will be totally “Shocked” if he goes elsewhere anytime soon. I don’t believe he has the personality to ever be a high level BCS coach. He’s a high major non-BCS coach and currently has a great gig. He coaches at a ‘basketball school’ where he doesn’t have to compete for football scraps. He’s at a place where he is the proverbial “big fish in a small pond.”

OK, I’m done… let’s go have a beer!

P.S. When he's long gone, this fan will always appreciate what he did for my school.

Thanks for the explanation. It does explain why WSU fans are so quick to adopt the persecution complex and buy into the conspiracy theories while other fanbases roll their eyes. I guess I don't completely understand though how the mistreatment by KU and KSU fans automatically leads to the belief that the MVC is out to get them though. I also don't understand why you guys talk about Creighton so much (there were tweets and message board posts blaming Creighton after WSU lost to Illinois St, even though WSU didn't even play Creighton! I didn't get it then and I still don't.).

I am certainly up for a beer. In fact, if WSU gets sent here for the NCAA tournament, I'll buy.

For the record, I've never been to Wichita, so I don't think its fair to say I hate the place. It is true that I am not especially fond of your coach and, like Jason King of ESPN said on yesterday's Bluejay Banter program, I think he is a big whiner. It is also true that there are certain segments of the WSU fanbase that I can't stand as well, although I've had drinks with a few WSU fans in St Louis and found them to be okay people.

[Wufan]

Marshall fits the WSU fan base perfectly.

Of that there can be no doubt. In fact, it often seems as if WSU decided to hire one of the more infamous WSU posters from the old VAlleyTalk in selecting its coach.

What will be interesting to see is if WSU fans feel the same way when he leaves someday.

Marshall is one of those coaches who is tolerated as long as he is winning and moving the program forward. I do think if and when he decides to leave wsu he might be in for a rude awakening in a power conference if he takes a rebuilding job. I'm not sure if he really knows how good of fit and how good he has in Wichita.

All coaches are tolerated if they are winning (and not cheating).

I think Marshall knows EXACTLY how good he has it in Wichita.

Marshall might leave WSU, but there are numerous reasons he won't. I won't restate several that have already been mentioned, but I will add a couple.

His personallity, as was alluded to above, is not condusive to a LONG rebuilding project. Three years of sub-.500 basketball will get him yanked as his personallity is not particularly endearing.

His personallity will make him the #2 guy on a lot of coaching lists. HCGM will take that as a snub and a challenge. If he is offered a job second, he might just turn it down out of sheer pride.

[PorkTornado]

I do find it interesting that the fan base that feels the most disrespected by the BCS schools in their state are the quickest to disrespect the Valley. I don't think any other fan base feels more strongly that they are too good for the Valley than the Shockers. Obviously it isn't all Shockers that feel that way, but it certainly seems like a higher percentage than the others.

[Wufan]

I do find it interesting that the fan base that feels the most disrespected by the BCS schools in their state are the quickest to disrespect the Valley. I don't think any other fan base feels more strongly that they are too good for the Valley than the Shockers. Obviously it isn't all Shockers that feel that way, but it certainly seems like a higher percentage than the others.

Nothing curious about it at all. It's more about getting respect locally. If the MVC was a better conference, I think most of us feel we would get more respect. Do all other MVC schools have posters from their local big-name school (Illinois, Iowa, Indiana) come on to their fan board and ask the question, "How do you think Indiana State would do in the Big 10? I don't think they'd win more than 5 games in an up year." That's a regular occurrence on Shockernet.

[DoubleJayAlum]

Do all other MVC schools have posters from their local big-name school (Illinois, Iowa, Indiana) come on to their fan board and ask the question, "How do you think Indiana State would do in the Big 10? I don't think they'd win more than 5 games in an up year."

YES.

And by the way, this is starting to sound a lot like the UNI poster that said that UNI had to deal with things that no other MVC team had to deal with....

As "mid-majors" we all have to deal with our BCS counterparts. Even in this state, where our basketball program is light years better than its BCS counterpart has ever been (Nebraska has never won an NCAA tourney game...), we still hear how the same crap about how we could never compete at the major conference level.

[PorkTornado]

I do find it interesting that the fan base that feels the most disrespected by the BCS schools in their state are the quickest to disrespect the Valley. I don't think any other fan base feels more strongly that they are too good for the Valley than the Shockers. Obviously it isn't all Shockers that feel that way, but it certainly seems like a higher percentage than the others.

Nothing curious about it at all. It's more about getting respect locally. If the MVC was a better conference, I think most of us feel we would get more respect. Do all other MVC schools have posters from their local big-name school (Illinois, Iowa, Indiana) come on to their fan board and ask the question, "How do you think Indiana State would do in the Big 10? I don't think they'd win more than 5 games in an up year." That's a regular occurrence on Shockernet.

Husker fans ask that question constantly. They do it on message boards, they do it on local radio shows and they ask the newspaper reporters when they do their weekly chat.