Will WKU Football be OK? Absolutely.

With WKU's Football spring 2016 practice about a month and a half away, fans, and probably some players, are quite anxious. The 2016 spring practice and regular season campaign will probably look and feel a little different compared to the past two seasons. Many may wonder what six coaching departures (thus far) and the loss of a large senior class will do to the program. Is it ok to be nervous? Sure. Is it ok to start fretting? No. Here are my consoling thoughts:  one fan to another...

On Losing Six Coaches
"Brohm talk" started considerably early during the 2015 season. When news broke that Illinois fired head coach Tim Beckman one week before the start of the season, some Fighting Illini fans made a case to hire Brohm (Illini QB coach from 2010 - 2011). Steve Spurrier resigned from South Carolina, Frank Beamer retired from Virginia Tech, then Virgina fired Mike London. It was a crazy 2015 season for head coaches. Each time a coach was fired, retired, or resigned, Brohm's name was thrown into the mix of potential candidates. WKU fans started to face reality:  we may lose our beloved coach. However, Brohm stayed and our hearts were full and happy.

WKU has a successful, young coach, and a program that has touted back-to-back bowl wins, one conference championship, projected NFL draft picks, and one of the nation's most prolific offenses. Other schools were bound to take notice.

Ricky Brumfield, Neil Callaway, Ken Delgado, Tyson Helton, JaMarcus Shepard, and Ryan Wallace were noticed. We can look at this one of two ways:

1. We are losing six great coaches. What is going to happen? This stinks. Are we going to lose recruits?

or the latter (which I prefer)

2. This is a true testament of WKU Football. Ken Delgado is headed to the NFL's Cleveland Browns to be an assistant defensive line coach. Tyson Helton is joining the USC staff as the running back's coach/passing game coordinator, while Neil Callaway joins the USC staff as the offensive line coach. Washington State hired JaMarcus Shepard as the inside receivers coach. Ricky Brumfield heads to C-USA rival UTSA as the special teams coordinator. Ryan Wallace will coach tight ends and tackles for Tennessee Tech (FCS). Think about it. The NFL and Power 5 conferences are taking notice of WKU's success. These are the type of hires WKU makes.

We Will Be Fine
I will admit, losing six coaches is a hard pill to swallow. But you know what? Losing Brandon Doughty, Tyler Higbee, Jared Dangerfield, Antwane Grant, Nick Holt, Gavin Rocker, Garrett Schwettman and the rest of the seniors is tough, too. Much like it was tough to lose Bobby Rainey, Antonio Andrews, Quanterus Smith, Jack Doyle, Mitch Henry, and any other football alumnus.

I am alluding to the mantra: "next man up."

In the realm of sports, the phrase is a philosophy meaning, every player should be willing and prepared to get the collective job done. If one man gets hurt, another steps up. If someone leaves, another steps up into the new role. Let's take a look back at some moments a WKU Football fan worried over a coaching or player departure:

• Willie Taggart to USF. Bobby Petrino hired.
• Bobby Petrino to Louisville. Jeff Brohm hired.
• Bobby Rainey to NFL. Antonio Andrews stepped up.
• Antonio Andrews to NFL. Leon Allen stepped up.
• Leon Allen injury. De'Andre Ferby & Ace Wales stepped up.
• Jack Doyle to NFL. Mitch Henry stepped up.
• Mitch Henry to NFL. Tyler Higbee stepped up.

The list could go on and on. My point:  we will be fine. Coaches and players leave every year; it is inevitable. Although we do not know what is going on in the inner-workings of WKU Football, with Brohm manning the ship, I have no doubt great things are to come.

It is not the end of WKU Football. We kept Brohm. We kept, Nick Holt, Mike Cassity, Don Dunn, and Bryan Ellis. We have plenty of returning players who are well aware of WKU’s playbook. We have incoming kids with a ton of potential. We have already hired two new coaches:  Chris Barclay and Reggie Johnson. We picked up three U of L transfers:  players transferring from the ACC (Power 5) to C-USA (Group of 5). 

Coaches may be leaving, but other coaches see WKU's success and want to be a part of the program. They know that WKU has become the hub for big-breaks. Likewise, athletes with continue to see the talent, watch the prolific offense, note the great coaching staff, and want to play for WKU.

What Fans Are Saying

"At the G5 level, when you have success, coaching changes are always going to happen: be it head coach, or assistants. Our loyalty to a university sometimes gets in the way of our "understanding" as a fan. But the bottom line is it is still a job, and it is hard to fault someone for jumping ship for twice the pay. Often situations come up where the salary and the "worth" of the job are not the same thing being offered (I.E. Brohm's view of ECU). While stability at coaching positions is definitely a factor, what is most important is that the university keeps supplying the resources and funds for WKU to get good recruits and to keep gaining national attention. A packed house while a recruit is on his official visit, fancy uniforms, and that top 25 ranking will do just as much for our program as our assistants could, when it comes to recruiting. As far as coaching talent goes, Brohm is a great coach and will get great replacements for his staff, and when the day comes that he gets his big chance to jump to P5, it's our AD's job to make sure we have a suitable replacement. And IF the day comes (again) that WKU is firing coaches instead of coaches leaving for more money, then we have a bigger problem on our hands."

- Kale Butler, WKU OL 05-09

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"This is a special group of boys. Even though we've lost a tremendous amount of talent between both coaches and players, I still believe we have the potential to be great. Our football team is made up of some amazing young men, both on and off the field. And I'm sure the new additions to an already phenomenal coaching staff will only benefit the team as a whole. I can't wait to see what's next for the Tops!"

- Sarah Naas