Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

Today Bill Snyder will be announced as the replacement for recently fired Ron Prince at Kansas State University. This might be one of the most bizarre moves in major college football history and it didn't just start with the firing of Prince and the impending glorious return of the Wildcat's legend Bill Snyder and I'll make the case that they are crazy.

The caveat to my post this morning is that to recognize that Bill Snyder presided over the most incredible turnaround in a college program in history. The program was hapless and had gone without a win for at least 2 years if not 3 before he got there. In the course of a few years he took the team on a incredible 10 year run (1993-2003) culminating in a couple legitimate runs at National Championships. That deserves credit. To all of us Jayhawks it was torture to watch but certainly you had to respect it.

I think people forget about the last 2 years of his run at K-State. He had losing seasons in both those years and my recollection is that people were starting to grumble that the game and the rigors of recruiting had passed him. They were saying they needed to move on to keep the program moving up. They said he was tired and old. Also remember this was a team with players. Darren Sproles, who we watched last night play against the Chiefs, was a member of those last two campaigns. Finally, he lost to Kansas in 2004 and barely beat Kansas in Manhattan in 2005. Nope, the bloom had fallen off the flower in Manhattan by then and K-State fans were hungry for a return to the 11 win seasons.

So how did this happen? Of course we all know that absence makes the heart grow fonder. They should remember his legacy for the run from 93-03 and not those past two years.....if he had stayed retired. But now that he is coming back doesn't it make sense to examine what happened to them have two consecutive losing seasons with NFL players on the roster?

The problem lies in that when the man was coaching he didn't have time to talk with fans and boosters and the success insulated him. When he retired he stuck around. They should have told him that he didn't need to come around anymore. It isn't the pressure of the new coach that was the problem it was all the cups of coffee playing armchair head coach with boosters and administrators that was the problem. I can imagine he sat there and told them all what he would do to stop Reesing from beating them and they all nodded in agreement until finally some booster came up with a great idea.

That fondness for the past works both ways too. Over time Snyder probably forgot how the 12-15 hour days made the middle 60 year old tired and how the loses made him worry his legacy would be tarnished. It made him remember the fun and not the grind of replacing coaches who ran off to head coaches by using his resume as a proxy for their own and then promoting guys he was loyal to but weren't near as good only to have that confirmed when nobody else was calling to hire them away from you. He forgot and the fans forgot. Their big mistake was letting him hang around. His staff was horrible in those last couple years and he refused to fire anyone.

This is a bad idea and I might be the only one to call it. It isn't as bad as when he started back in 1988 not even close but the Big 12 North is different too and it won't be as easy to get past a former patsy in Kansas, and new monster in Missouri and a Nebraska that is finally showing signs of life again under Bo Pellini. Back in 1993 they only had to really prove they could beat Nebraska. Today they can't beat Colorado. The South has become a multi team monster as well with few easy wins either.

Rarely do these remarriages work in life nor probably sports. He will not bring this team back to the 11 win days of 1993-2003 and the fans will accept not much less. Can he get them back to 6-6 and bowl eligible? Certainly, these players are good enough that a little better coaching should get them a couple more wins but I don't think the Fort Worth Sisters of Big Hair Bowl will satisfy the faithful.

As a Jayhawk I guess this makes me happy. I was concerned that the guy from TCU was coming up here and that would have been trouble for Jayhawks. Whew....we can rest a little easier that KU won't have to get much better to keep beating K-State. Unlike our purple friends, I am happy with a nice bowl 2 out of 3 years as long as we beat K-State most of the time and Missouri some of the time.

AND.....today marks a milestone in that this is my 150th post since Life in SOJOCO was launched! Rock Chalk Jayhawk.

Here is Ms. November from the Women of KU calendar. This is Stephanie from Newton, Kansas. I would have featured a young lady from the Women of K-State Calendar except....uh....couldn't find one. What's that say? Moooooooove Over K-State girls.

When does the 2009 Calendar come out?????

John Toplikar is still an idiot

I've written before about the incredible lack of skills of John Toplikar and thus the saga continues. I was skimming the newspapers that piled up while I was on vacation last week and I came across something that caught my eye. John Toplikar is showing he is still an idiot and after all these years still doesn't understand the basic processes of government. I'm a conservative too but why do the hard core conservatives in his district love him so much? I'm probably one of the few conservatives in this county who don't think this guy is fit for office.


Chuck Kurtz, former editor of the Olathe Daily News and now staff writer for The Sun, wrote in the August 27th edition of The Sun about Toplikar's latest antics at a meeting of the Johnson County Commission on August 14. These are the things that make the "deadwood" media still relevant in my mind. Who else would cover this stuff? Thanks to Chuck for reporting it. You've come a long way since covering Olathe high school sports.



As reported, Toplikar baffled his fellow commissioners by offering a laundry list of last minute cuts to the budget that was ready for final approval after months and months of work. I guess Toplikar doesn't know how the budget process works OR he knows but likes to waste his colleagues time by offering them for purely political reasons. The article says his timing of late changes is something of a tradition for Toplikar. County Manager Mike Press and Dave Linstrom both indicated that commissioners do get active in the budgeting process but suggestions should be made early enough in the process so the entire commission can consider them thoughtfully. Apparently, Lindstrom knows how to do it and worked with Press to lower the mill for 2009. After all these years in public service is this guy still too stupid to know the process? His colleagues showed up to pass a final budget and he wants to move 1% from the arts to human services and cut magazine subscription costs in half. What an idiot. The article said he left fellow commissioners scratching their heads.



Am I being a little petty on our resident idiot servant John Toplikar? I don't think so. I think a guy who has served as long as he has should know when during the process to submit budget ideas. Some of the ideas looked interesting which is even more of a crime because his job is to make sure our money works the best for us and he blew it because he doesn't get it.



This article reminded me of when Toplikar was on the Olathe City Council and he would gratuitously remove seemingly simple items from the consent agenda and make staff and his fellow council members roll their eyes. This is just more of the same.



Toplikar isn't a smart man. He might be a decent guy, a man of good character and a guy who shows up and votes. We shouldn't put a medal on his chest for doing the minimum that mankind asks of one another. With this election cycle we are missing yet another chance to get this guy out.

Where did the month go? I forgot to put up Ms. August from the girls of KU. Here is Trinity and she is one of our own from Shawnee, Kansas. Go Jayhawks.