Keeler’s Firing was Personal NOT Business

[Henzone]

Convienent how the ultimate choke in the 2004 playoffs is left off your analysis. Remember they blew a 3 TD lead in the 4th Q against W&M. And yes that was ALL coaching!!!

And who recruited Schoenhoft to play QB.

You should really stop, you come off less and less credible with every post.

And not only Schoenhoft. Who was the dude from JuCo who took nary a snap? I forget. For Pete's sake we had a TE and a WR sharing time under center, even when QBs were healthy. That was not bad luck. That was lousy management, simple as.

As to the Personal versus business, I don't get it. What decisions don't have a personal element? This dismissal had been building for a while (Exhibit A the mediocre to mind numbing performances in our non playoff years) and I suspect that the timing (crappy as most on this board agree) may have been triggered by personal dislike but not the actual decision.

Hakes was the name you were searching for.

[BlueBlood]

Unless an insider to the program comes on here and identifies him or herself as such, we will never know all the details of the firing.

AlI that I know, because I saw it with my own eyes, was some of the most miserable, uninspired, pi** poor efforts that I have ever seen put forth on a week to week effort by a Blue Hen squad. This year. Some decent defense at times, but poor play calling and questionable player management. What the exact cause was, I do not know.

It is done, and it is time to move on.

Great post. I have been a season ticket holder for many years and was ready to give them up. Tired of watching bad football.

[HenZoneNation]

From the NJ:

[b]Delaware officials have removed a large picture of Keeler leading the Blue Hens onto the field at the NCAA title game in Frisco, Texas, two years ago from the UD locker room.[/b

This is a bit odd....

[Caribbean Hen]

From the NJ:

[b]Delaware officials have removed a large picture of Keeler leading the Blue Hens onto the field at the NCAA title game in Frisco, Texas, two years ago from the UD locker room.[/b

This is a bit odd....

why? K.C probably took it with him

[Henzone]

Don't feel bad for KC, they're putting his old sun glasses on the 3 Hall of Fame busts starting in June.

[BlueHenBobby]

At the end of last season I felt something had to change. To me the pattern was set for what you would get with KCK as
head coach. To me the program was only successfull when we had a NFL caliber quarterback running the offense. The
program went roughly in 3-4 year cycles. My initial hope was that KCK would go, but in my mind I was satisfied that the
OC got fired. Was willing to give KCK another year, but he would really need to make some significant changes. I was
skeptical that Hurley would be "that quarterback", but let's wait and see. I suspect a lot of factors played into KCK getting
fired- performance, attendance, declining season ticket holders, etc. Some of those factors would be unfair to attribute
solely to the coach. Certainly the STH's were treated badly in recent years and the implementation of "seat licenses", UDAF
contributions (whatever you want to call it) played into it. But the fact of the matter to me was performance. What was
put on the field in the last five years (2010 being the exception) was not good and certainly not a lot of fun to watch.
Looking at it realistically 2008 they were 4-8 overall and 2-6 in CAA. 2009 they were 6-5 overall and 4-4 in CAA. The reality
of that record that year is that the win column includes W's from 2 teams that shouldn't have been on the schedule. Call them
4-5 in reality. 2010 was a great year- with that NFL caliber QB fully at the helm with a pretty good defense. 2011 they were
7-4 and 5-3. Take out those 2 wins they were really an average team at best. 2012 speaks for itself- except there were 3 "out of
league" games with teams that didn't belong there. To me the trend for the future with KCK was clear as was the pattern over
the last 11 years. Who knows, maybe there was a personal element to it, but surely there was enough reason based on recent
history alone to let him go. I'm sad to see the connection to the past go, but I hope for the best going forward.

[Tailgating Hen]

Does anyone else think its ridiculous that there are a few overly opinionated pundits on this message board who claim KC was a Jerk, while everyone I have heard from that actually knows the man personally thinks he's a Good Man

[BluehenJK]

Does anyone else think its ridiculous that there are a few overly opinionated pundits on this message board who claim KC was a Jerk, while everyone I have heard from that actually knows the man personally thinks he's a Good Man

No.

[Henroid]

Does anyone else think its ridiculous that there are a few overly opinionated pundits on this message board who claim KC was a Jerk, while everyone I have heard from that actually knows the man personally thinks he's a Good Man

Nope, I don't find it ridiculous at all nor do I feel those that do are "overly opinionated". No one said he wasn't a good man either. You can be a good man and still be an egomainiac and be disliked by many. The trick is to make sure that the right people don't dislike you. That is where KC apparently went wrong.

[foghorn1]

Funny how impressions differ among people. I always took KC's apparent 'arrogance' and 'ego' by many, as pride in being the coach of the University of Delaware, which he loved to exhibit. I think his winning the national championship in only his second year was somehow viewed by some as going to stain the accomplishments of Tubby and diminish the 'glory years' of the '70's among the older crowd, of which I am one. A few dismissed KC's ability from 'day one', an attitude which I hope does not extend to our new coach.
I truly believe that KC's dogged determination to upgrade the football facilities to 21st century standards was in direct conflict with Harker's envision. I'm not saying that Harker is wrong, but putting those millions into a 'basketball' training
facility while embellishing the football stadium with token streamers with pictures of former players, probably, and with good reason, further inflamed KC. I imagine KC had a few choice words to say about it which didn't sit too well with Harker.
This is just one possible scenario, but for whatever reason, I believe it was personal and ordered by Harker; Ziady was simply the lieutenant to carry it out. No question, KC had his faults, but he also had his assets, number one being his love of Delaware football and the university as a whole. I wish him all the best.

[Bandwagon]

Funny how impressions differ among people. I always took KC's apparent 'arrogance' and 'ego' by many, as pride in being the coach of the University of Delaware, which he loved to exhibit. I think his winning the national championship in only his second year was somehow viewed by some as going to stain the accomplishments of Tubby and diminish the 'glory years' of the '70's among the older crowd, of which I am one. A few dismissed KC's ability from 'day one', an attitude which I hope does not extend to our new coach.
I truly believe that KC's dogged determination to upgrade the football facilities to 21st century standards was in direct conflict with Harker's envision. I'm not saying that Harker is wrong, but putting those millions into a 'basketball' training
facility while embellishing the football stadium with token streamers with pictures of former players, probably, and with good reason, further inflamed KC. I imagine KC had a few choice words to say about it which didn't sit too well with Harker.
This is just one possible scenario, but for whatever reason, I believe it was personal and ordered by Harker; Ziady was simply the lieutenant to carry it out. No question, KC had his faults, but he also had his assets, number one being his love of Delaware football and the university as a whole. I wish him all the best.

Foggy - you're right on the mark!