That didn't take long

It's still been less than 24 hours since official word came down that Bob Huggins was turning his back on K-State to go to West Virginia, and we already have a replacement coach. GoPowercat.com and the KC Star are reporting assistant coach Frank Martin is being promoted to the head coaching position. Perhaps more importantly, it appears Dalonte Hill is staying put in Manhattan. For those who don't remember, Hill is the coach who was hired away from Charlotte because he was the man who recruited Michael Beasley.

Obviously, this appears to be a calculated risk on AD Tim Weiser's part. We're hiring a 40 year old, lifetime assistant to take the reigns of a major conference program. We're also dancing with them what brung us by hiring one of Huggins' guys to replace the man who walked out on us after one year. See Jason Whitlock's column in the KC Star for an assesment of the merits of that risk.

I'm not saying I agree with Whitlock, but it looks like we're gambling that Martin is ready to be a head coach at a major program in order to hold together the #1 recruiting class in the nation. If we can manage to get Beasley, Pullen and Sutton on campus for next year, as well as keep Bill Walker in Manhattan (I doubt he's going anywhere), we will have as much talent as anyone next year. The question is, can Martin coach? Does he have a system? Is he ready to handle the day-to-day operations of a major college program? I would like to see him hire an old coaching hand as his director of basketball operations or a special adviser to help get him started. The good news is, I highly doubt Martin would be tempted to leave K-State for his alma mater (Florida International).

I'm ready to give him a shot. I'm a K-State basketball fan, not a (name of coach here) fan. K-State basketball existed long before Bob Huggins was born, and it will continue long after he's dead. Let's get those recruits in town, pack Bramlage, and bring on the Cats.

***

At least we could find a silver lining in our misery, and had a day or two to get ready for it. Today, Texas A&M fans awoke to the news their head coach, Billy Gillispie, had bolted College Station for Lexington, Kentucky, to take over at UK.

To me, this is quite the egotistical move on Gillispie's part. He got to make A&M lick his boots and promise the world to keep him in College Station, then he left them high and dry by not signing his new contract and and bolting for Kentucky. As I mentioned before, I don't know why the hell anybody would want to coach Kentucky basketball. Ok, so you have 24,000 screaming fans at every home game, all the money in the world, and a ton of tradition. You also have a whole bunch of Kentuckians whose lives hang on how succesful your team is every year, and just winning SEC championships isn't enough. Now that conference rival Florida has upstaged the Wildcats, the hunger is probably twice as strong to "get back to where they belong." I would never want to coach at a place where two or three conference titles every five years and a Final Four every five years isn't good enough. What a bunch of delusional fans.

Best of luck Billy Clyde. For what you're about to put up with, I hope sexual liberties with Ashley Judd is part of your contract.

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Thanks to all the new readers I apparently have. I had triple the hits yesterday of any previous day. I won't have a weekly update posted Sunday night, but I'll try for sure to have one up by Monday night. Cheer on those Bat Cats in the crappy Great Plains weather against Mizzou tonight.

(Picture courtesy GoPowercat.com)