The unofficial online home for fans of the Kent State University Golden Flashes. Part of Collegiate Sports Nation (CSN).

After reading some good analysis and comments on the Navy game from Polish Hammer and Kstud on a previous thread, I would like to know everyone’s impression of Coach Martin and his staff at this juncture. At 1-5, the bottom line suggests Martin is not moving this program forward and he runs the risk of becoming just another Kent head coach who cannot win games despite a stellar reputation as a successful assistant coach.

Because, I have not been able to see this year’s team play, it is difficult for me to assess the Flashes and have to rely on what others have to say about their performance. If you are the type of person who only looks at the bottom line, you would probably say that Martin cannot coach very well and might suggest that Kent should be looking for someone else to replace him.

On the other hand, if you are the type of person who looks beyond the bottom line, you might overlook the 1-5 record and give Martin the benefit of the doubt. Because of injuries incurred by several key players, you might suggest that Martin would have had a better record at this point had the injuries to Machen and Drager not occurred. Furthermore, you might be less critical of the younger players who have made critical mistakes and are willing to give them more time to develop.

From my perspective, I see a program that is considerably better than it was under previous head coaches despite the 1-5 record. Of course that is not saying much when you look back at all of the incompetent head coaches that have been at Kent during the last 20 years.

I know many on this board will disagree, but I believe that Martin and his staff are about as good as Kent will probably be able to get. Let’s face it, Don James was an aberration and the chances of Kent finding someone with his ability is highly unlikely given the lack of success this program has seen over the last 30 years.

Of course, I might change my position on this and be one of the first to seed a moving van to Martin’s house if he is humiliated by Akron on Thanksgiving Day, but I don’t see that happening.

At any rate, I would like to know what others think about Martin and his staff and what direction you think the program is heading.

Martin seems to be the only one in the stadium who doesn't think that Machen is anything more than a high school QB. He is an embarrasment. He still can't make decisions. Many of his throws are bad. The biggest problem is that he doesn't have confidence and that means the other 10 don't either.

Defense finally stopped the run but, are still nowhere near the receivers. After Sessler went out they couldn't stop the run. Sessler's loss will be dramatic for the rest of the year. He must have had 10 tackles before he went out in the 2nd quarter.

Navy is little and the O-line had trouble moving them out of the way at times.

The penalties against us were ridiculous and without the injuries we would have won. Holding the ball out as you score a touchdown should not be a personal foul. They were not taunting, they were celebrating. That kind of celebrating is not out of bounds. The one chop block penalty was totally legal.

We hurt ourselves as usual but, were also hurt by poor officiating.

Every coach gets three years to show improvement, and Martin won't be the exception. I think he has a four year contract, if so, he'll finish it out unless he leaves.

The only thing that could make Kent State worse is to have a swinging door on the coaching staff. Good coaches won't ever sign up if they think they have two years to break a twenty five year downslide.

FlashFan Wrote:Every coach gets three years to show improvement, and Martin won't be the exception. I think he has a four year contract, if so, he'll finish it out unless he leaves.

The only thing that could make Kent State worse is to have a swinging door on the coaching staff. Good coaches won't ever sign up if they think they have two years to break a twenty five year downslide.

What degree of improvement is necessary to retain him? Obviously, the Flashes will not have a winning record this year and a 6-5 record next year looks doubtful with games at Virginia Tech and Vanderbilt. I don't see Miami regressing and Ohio University is starting to show some improvement with its new coaching staff. Unless Martin can develop more depth and build a better running game to complement his aerial attack, the Flashes will have a difficult time defeating Miami and some of the other MAC opponents who should be better next year. Although I am not knowledgable about all of the MAC teams that Kent will play in 2006, I believe overall the MAC will be stronger next season.

Improvement sometimes is difficult to quantify. Personally, wins over New Hampshire, Liberty, and Southeast Missouri don't do much for me. I rather the Flashes play someone like Navy close in a losing effort than have a meaningless win over a I-AA school.

With Sessler out on defense, isn't it likely that Kent will miss him in the lineup this week and his absence will show against a good Northern Illinois team? Although others on defense might actually play better, the defense without Sessler may not be as good and the team's improvement could be difficult to detect.

The only way that Kent can establish a winning record against respectable opponents is to develop more depth so that when players like Sessler go down, the talent level does not drop off dramatically.

I still contend that the better MAC teams have more depth than Kent and because of this they are in a much better position to have winning records.

Until Kent develops more depth, a winning record will just be an elusive goal. So this brings me to the question, does Martin have to have a winning record next year or in 2007 to keep his job? If yes, should he consider recruiting more junior college players like Machen who can come in and play right a way?

Those are all questions which Laing Kennedy will have to answer. He gets the big bucks for those answers. :D I agree KSU is severly lacking in depth with a few MAC teams (BG, Toledo, Miami). But I don't think KSU is behind more than three or more. I refuse to believe that Akron, OU, EMU are getting so much better than KSU. KSU has played with and beaten those teams over the last several years. A winning record is not out of the question next year. It just means winning all of the swing games and even pulling an upset or two like they did in 2001.

An injury or two, scheduling and timing can all turn a 5-3 MAC season into a 2-6 season. That's why going by sheer win numbers makes it tough to judge performance.

If it's just up to Laing, he'll change coaches as a last resort. Anyone at the alumni pre game alumni brunch Saturday? Laing openly stated, without prompting, that Martin was taking the program in the right direction and he was going to stay the course.

FWIW, I think it's a bad decision to change coaches now. It's very hard to believe a quality coach will sign up after seeing Martin get two seasons.

NGF talks about 2007. It will be a new President helping to evaluate the situation at that time, including Laing - too soon to speculate.

FlashFan Wrote:If it's just up to Laing, he'll change coaches as a last resort. Anyone at the alumni pre game alumni brunch Saturday? Laing openly stated, without prompting, that Martin was taking the program in the right direction and he was going to stay the course.

FWIW, I think it's a bad decision to change coaches now. It's very hard to believe a quality coach will sign up after seeing Martin get two seasons.

NGF talks about 2007. It will be a new President helping to evaluate the situation at that time, including Laing - too soon to speculate.

I was there. There was a lot of good, positive talk from both him, and CC. Even though we didn't win, I had a great weekend out there!

I would love to be positive about this team and I hate to be the one showing all the frustration but, here is the reality check.

The only team we beat is a still win-less 1-AA team and most of the teams that beat SEMO beat them worse than we did.

If we win another game it will be a bit of a miracle.

Joshua Cribbs made the players around him look better than they are. Without his scrambling, the weakness of the offensive line has been revealed.

I don't see how Kent can win consistently until they recruit some first-rate running backs. Without a strong running game, you can't put together the time-consuming drives that keep the opponent's offense on the sideline. When was the last time Kent had an all-MAC running back?

In 1987, Erik Wilkerson was MAC Offensive Player of the Year. Since then Kent has not had anyone nearly as good as Erik at running back. Wilkerson was not only fast but played with a lot of heart. He truly was a pleasure to watch.

Be careful how you suggest that a running game is required for winning. I have been doing that on this board and have been called a Woody Hayes disciple or wanting a wish bone attack. Then we have those who thinks that at least Martins style of FB is not boring, it is more entertaining. Quite honestly, I would just like to win ugly and unentertaining. For entertainment, I go to Broadway. I like to go to a stadium for FOOTBALL.