The Blame Game

Recriminations. Angst. Finger pointing. Manhattan, Kansas is thick with sorrow today. And someone must take the blame. But this blame is too big for any one man to bear. It was a confluence of misfeasance, malfeasance and nonfeasance that led us to this point, and here, in order, are those who should take the brunt of K-State’s rage.

Bob Huggins. For the obvious reasons.

Jon Wefald and Tim Weiser. For hitching their wagon to a snake.

John Beilein. For leaving West Virginia for Michigan, thus creating the opening.

Tommy Amaker. For getting fired after a reign of mediocrity in Ann Arbor, thus creating the opening for Beilein.

Steve Fisher. For cheating his ass off at Michigan and leaving a mess behind.

Brian Ellerbe. For failing to clean up Fisher’s mess, getting himself fired, and creating the opening for Amaker.

Dick Vitale. For leaning on the Michigan administration to hire Amaker despite his disastrous tenure at Seton Hall.

Mike Krzyzewski. For failing to better prepare Amaker to be a head coach.

Lon Kruger. For walking out on his alma mater all those years ago instead of taking the Norm Stewart approach and making that job his life’s work.

Dana Altman. For not being as good then as he is now.

Tom Asbury. For the hell of it.

Jim Wooldridge. For nothing in particular. Jim seems like a nice guy, and Pervis Pasco's boardwalk stroll was penance enough.

Nancy Zimpher. For firing Huggins at Cincinnati, thus making him available to take the K-State job in the first place.

O.J. Mayo. For committing to Southern Cal instead of K-State and not putting Huggins to the choice of walking away from the best recruiting class since Duke’s 1997 haul.

Bill Walker. For tearing his ACL, thus making himself easier to leave behind.

Michael Beasley. For raising expectations high enough that they could be dashed.

Dalonte Hill. For toting Beasley to Manhattan.

Bramlage Coliseum. For putting a hex on Kansas State basketball. Nothing has been the same since they shut down Ahearn Fieldhouse.