[Husker] The Irresponsible Rush to "Bury Barry"

[NUStLNorris at aol.com]

The easy thing to do is hop on the "Bury Barry" bandwagon ... however, 
there's not much room left.  Five weeks ago, I thought Barry Collier's job here was 
safe.  Now I'm NOT so sure.  The bandwagon is gaining momentum on a daily 
basis.  But the piling on and superficial sniping by some of the knee-jerk, 
flavor-of-the-week crowd is starting to get to me.

If someone were to ask me "should Barry be fired?" ... I'd have to admit I 
can see both sides.  But I'm leaning about 70-30 that he SHOULD be given one 
more year.  Nobody's been more specifically critical of him on this list than me 
(come to think of it, nobody's probably defended him as much, either).  But 
you've NEVER heard me come close to saying he should be axed.

I know the record.  I know the frustration.  I know about how he sat his star 
freshman for basically all of the second half of the KU game -- I won't 
defend it.  But I also know what the program was like when he took it over.  Fire 
him and who are you gonna' get who's going to wave a magic wand over the 
Devaney Center and make it all better?  No, he hasn't done what he needs to do ... 
not yet.  Maybe he won't.

But I also remember the old baseball axiom that goes "sometimes, the best 
trades are the ones that you DON'T make."  You'll find some K-State fans who wish 
they wouldn't have tried to run Dana Altman out of town years ago.

We lose four seniors off this year's team, but next year we'll have more 
overall talent.  I heard some idiot on some talking-head show say today that 
"nobody's seen these incoming players play."  Yes, we have and they ARE legit (I'll 
guarantee you that Pedersen and Boehm have seen them play!).  Nobody's 
questioning whether or not McCray and Maric are ready-for-prime-time Big XII players 
now, and these new guys are supposed to be in their talent class.  I say, 
bring it on!  

There's a major change coming next year.  The new guys take over.  Next year, 
Joe McCray and Aleks Maric are, all of a sudden, the cornerstones of your 
team.  It's THEIR team (and they've shown enough of a collective nasty, 
get-after-it, only-the-strong-survive mentality to make me think that they definitely 
"get it.").

Eddie Sutton is as good as it gets.  Last night he said that he didn't think 
Collier initially understood the level of talent needed to compete in this 
league.  He also said that it's evident that the talent is getting better at NU 
and that "these people" need to cut him some slack.  Of course, fellow coaches 
are going to be supportive, but it also segues into a rant about what an 
irresponsible "journalist" Tom Shatel is.

Is he (Shatel) aware that he's the sports columnist for the largest newspaper 
in this state?  He's talking about somebody's job here and he was WAY TOO 
QUICK to fire off that column.  I know about selling newspapers, so please don't 
go there.  But he's also in a position where he can help incite and/or sustain 
the witch-hunt mentality and he's chosen to do just that.  I thought it was 
in poor taste.  It was WAY TOO QUICK ... irresponsible?  I think so.  At the 
least, it was very premature.  If you have to run it, why not run it after the 
season's over?  I know ... the rush to be first!  I know he's a columnist, not 
a reporter -- and I know the difference.  But the number one rule in 
journalism is "don't become the story!"  Congrats, Shatel.  They were laughing at you 
on ESPN last night and Eddie Sutton thinks you're an idiot.

Shatel mentioned that the incoming players were legit but questioned whether 
or not Barry was "the right guy to coach them?"  If Barry's gone, that's a big 
assumption to think these new players will stick around for the duration.  I 
think they (Harris, White, Walker, Marks, etc.) have signed and are committed 
for next year.  One scenario is to keep Barry for another year, and say 
good-bye if he doesn't make the leap NEXT YEAR.  At least that would make it tougher 
for these newcomers to leave, I would think.  

My bottom line:  I want to see these new kids in Husker uniforms and if it 
means keeping Barry for another year, if for no other reason, THEN YOU DO IT.  
Disagree?  Fine.  But tell me what you have in mind and how you're 
realistically going to resuscitate the program?

And as far as Shatel is concerned?  What a tower-sitting, pot-shot sniper!  
I've waited for a while now for the talent level to improve like it has over 
the past two years.  I'm ready to stick it out another year.  This talent is 
what I've been waiting to watch.  I'm totally offended by some J-School hack from 
Missouri firing off an "oh, just fire him" piece of drivel relating to 
something I care about.

Thanks for the therapy session, fellow listers.

Dave Norris