I think critical facts would be fair and reasonable to factor in evaluatng his overall record. I was pretty sick about yesterday's loss. I, too, am tired of blown opportunities. The losses to 1AAs were real lows IMO. With all those qualifiers stated supporting my desire to see better and more success, the last decade has demonstrated that MTSU is not the only 1A program to lose to some 1AA teams. Ranked Michigan. Ranked K-State come to mind. VaTech. USF was decimated by McNeese St on opening day the year following our loss to McNeese St. Leading up to that season, USF had been riding a pretty successful wave. Those losses for MTSU stung badly, but MTSU is not the lone disgraced loser with the scarlet A in that regard.
On to the main point that I think most people overlook or forget when considering Coach Stock's overall record at MTSU. The first 3 or 4 seasons into coach stock's tenure at least were marred by coach mac's utter neglect of academics. Remember the embarrassment, disgrace, and humiliation when the first APR was released that revealed MTSU dead last in the nation? MTSU football was getting that negative sports coverage locally, regionally, and nationally for a good number of weeks following that first APR release. With it came severe penalties. The penalties were more harsh than if the program had been caught cheating. At least if MT had cheated then gotten busted, there would likely have been several years of really high success for the football program with less severe sanctions. As it went, no associated success with cheating on recruiting or however those programs rise to rapid national success for a few years.
The loss of scholarships and limits on number of recruits MT could sign over the next few years left coach stock and MT trying to compete in 1A and the SunBelt with barely 60 scholarship players and a few walkons. IIRC, coach stock did such a good job of rehabbing the program academically that the NCAA allowed MT to add a few more recruits to those restricted signing classes after a few years. As about as fast as possible, I think coach stock improved APR to acceptable levels that increased the number of signees allowed with a recruiting class. He did such a good job that the APR did not drag on unnecessarily. Nevertheless, coach stock and MT football were severely limited in recruiting and overall scholarship players for those first 4 years or so under his tenure. Heck, I remember those first couple of years when MTSU was already going to be low in overall scholarship players around the low 60s IIRC, coach stock could only sign 12 or 13 recruits per year in those first couple of seasons. I remember it sucked real bad knowing MT was going to struggle for years to come due to coach mac's mistakes or oversights.
I really think is fair and reasonable to take into account the disaster coach stock inherited. Again, his first 3 or 4 years easily was trying to run the program with an arm tied behind his back. I'd hope people would consider those significant factors when evaluating coach stock's performance with his overall 10 year record and/or average.
Anyone else remember that time of trying to replace coach mac? All kinds of talk and rumors would surface of a coach MT might be hiring only to see nothing come of it. Then the process kept drawing out a fairly lengthy time even for MT's overall slow hiring policies. Then Coach Stock's name surfaced when his name was not really much on anyone's wishlist or expected list. I think time has pretty much revealed that no one wanted the MTSU HC job at the time. Smart HC candidates knew what a mess they would be walking into. Hardly none of the high quality coaches out there most fans wanted for the job wanted anything to do with taking over the MT mess. Given a number of factors, coach stock was willing to take the job. IMO, given his age and circumstances, I suspect coach stock appreciated even a difficult opportunity to become a 1A HC. His connection to AD Massaro likely also helped in that he knew Massaro understood MT's dire situation and would accordingly give coach stock a fair amount of time to get the program back on track. I also think coach stock has returned that loyalty in significant ways over the years.
Disclaimer, I have no personal knowledge or connections to any of the relevant people. This is my opinion and observations based upon publicly reported information over the years.
Ultimately though, I do think coach stock is a good and honorable coach. IMHO, coach stock deserves to have all the facts considered when evaluating his overall record and average since he has been here.
