It took Bill Snyder five years to get Kansas State to a bowl game, while Chuck Reedy put Baylor in the postseason after two seasons.
So, Terry Allen, how long does it take a coach to take a mid-level Big 12 team bowling?
“Six (years) is probably about right,” Allen, who’s in the fourth year of a six-year deal as Kansas University’s coach, said Monday.
Six isn’t some arbitrary figure.
That’s how long it took Dan McCarney a longtime friend of Allen’s to get Iowa State bowl-eligible. Kansas (4-6 overall, 2-5 Big 12) and ISU (7-3, 4-3) will finish their regular seasons on Saturday in Ames, Iowa.
For the fourth straight year, the Jayhawks will spend the holidays at home. For the first time in McCarney’s tenure, the Cyclones will go bowling.
“They did everything they had to do,” Allen said of the Cyclones. “Their backs were against the wall. But that’s the way it is today, the drive to win. Mac had his back against the wall.”
McCarney never won more than four games in each of his first five seasons. In fact, he regressed from three wins to two to one in his first three years, but ISU kept bringing him back despite public opinion.
The payoff finally came this season.
“If you compare Kansas and Iowa State, personnel-wise, I don’t think there’s an immense amount of difference,” Allen said. “They kind of won the toss. They play Baylor, Oklahoma State and Texas A&M. We get Texas, Oklahoma and Texas Tech.”
Another difference, Allen noted, was ISU didn’t lose to the likes of SMU, as Kansas did in the season opener.
“We’re kind of the opposite of Iowa State,” Allen said. “They won the games they were supposed to, and we didn’t.”
Is Allen’s six-year plan legitimate?
A quick look at the lesser Big 12 schools proves not much.
Larry Smith suffered through two three-win seasons and a five-win season before his breakout fourth year at Missouri. The Tigers won seven and eight games in consecutive bowl-bound years before falling off to four wins last season. MU has won three this season and Smith’s job appears to be in jeopardy.
At Baylor in the pre-Big 12 years, Reedy took the Bears bowling after just two seasons, but Baylor hasn’t been to the postseason since. Reedy had two bowl-less years, then Dave Roberts had two consecutive two-win seasons before being relieved of his duties. Kevin Steele went 1-10 last season and has two victories so far this year.
Then there’s Oklahoma State. Bob Simmons took the Cowboys bowling in three years, but OSU fell back to two straight five-win seasons and has two victories this year, Simmons’ last.
And then there’s Snyder, who won one, five, seven and five games in his first four years before his breakout nine-win season in his fifth year. Kansas State has been a national power since.
In other words, every Big 12 coach who has been given six years has taken his team bowling more often than not ahead of schedule but not every Big 12 coach has been given six years.
“It takes time,” Allen said. “It’s so dang hard, especially in this league. It’s probably not going to be reflected in the BCS, but this might be the toughest league in the country.”
Allen, in his first job at the NCAA Div. I-A level, won five games his first year, four the second, five last year and four so far this season.
Kansas hasn’t been bowling since 1995. That was the second bowl appearance for KU under coach Glen Mason, now at Minnesota. It took Mason five years to get Kansas to its first postseason appearance.
“I don’t want this to sound like sour grapes, but when did we get here?” Allen asked. “January. A couple, three, four players from that group ended up playing for us. That probably wasn’t the strongest recruiting class.”
Of the 20 seniors who will play their collegiate finales for KU on Saturday, just two were freshman members of that class kicker Joe Garcia and running back David Winbush.
Allen is placing a special emphasis on Saturday’s game, but not from a job-security standpoint. Kansas athletics director Bob Frederick has indicated Allen would return for a fifth season, and, asked if he was worried about his job security, Allen answered with an emphatic, “No.”
“The reason to play is for the future of our young players,” Allen said. “At this stage, it would be nice to finish with a win to go in on a positive note. We have quality young players. It’d be difficult to lose your last four games from a mental mindset standpoint.”
Kickoff for KU-ISU will be 1 p.m. Saturday at Trice Stadium.
Trainer: Kansas altered its game-week preparation by working out on Monday, the Jayhawks’ usual day off. To come in under the NCAA’s hour cap, KU won’t hold any football meetings on Friday.
“We have a little bit of a grass and daylight problem,” Allen said after the Jayhawks practiced inside Monday at Anschutz Pavilion. “We wanted to change things up a little bit.”
