Former Post sports editor Eric Pfahler told me around the time of baseball's opening day how different it was watching the Pirates after covering them for MLB.com the previous summer. After my first stint following a team, I see what he meant.
Whether it is berating the coach's play calling or pleading with the running back not to dance in the hole, the sports fan not only questions the team on a daily basis, but does so with little knowledge of the people making the decisions or the plays.
Which brings me to the subject of embattled football boss Brian Knorr. Saddled with a 7-28 record over the past three years, he is probably the only one who benefited from Ohio's budget crunch, because in richer times he might not have his job.
Knorr likely would be the first to say his record during his tenure is unacceptable. In saying performance is the only measure of potential, he may well have been talking about his own tenuous position.
But, for all the losses, this is not an incompetent man, and if his team is as promising as it looks in the spring, Ohio fans will be happy the currently maligned coach was given another chance.
While not admitting it, Knorr likely swallowed his pride by bringing in offensive coordinator Phil Earley. Earley's devotion to a pass-happy one-back attack offers a stark contrast to the Air Force option style of Knorr and several other Ohio coaches. If anything, this is a team that will provide more entertainment than the pitch left and sweep right remnants of the Jim Grobe era.
And he picked a perfect time to make the switch. With perhaps four solid running backs, a plethora of receivers and a veteran group of linebackers and defensive backs, Knorr has the pieces to compete.
Which brings me back to Pfahler.
A fan can and must judge only by the record. But, the writer has both the benefit and burden of more information. While it may have been easy in the past for me to condemn Coach Knorr or anyone else, after meeting him and getting accustomed to his thoughtfulness and positive demeanor, I am more inclined to have faith in this once, to me at least, faceless figure. In this, the coach with the .200 winning percentage has earned the benefit of the doubt from at least one student.
Brian Knorr may not last beyond next season. But here's one fan who is glad he will get another chance to save Ohio football.
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Kyle Kondik
