Tell me about the dark days

[ShockerPrez]

I remember going to bars to watch games and having to basically beg and plead for the Shockers to be shown.

[Play Angry]

Then we hired Scott Thompson, who came from Rice after five years of him not having a winning record there either, and he proceeded to do the exact same things here.

I agree with much of your post, but Thompson was coming off a 20 win season at Rice (just their third in school history) when we hired him. On paper, he was great. Of course we all know how it worked out.

[WuShock16]

My highlight of the "Dark Era" came literally seconds before tip-off during our home game against Oklahoma State at Henry Levitt Arena. It was 12/06/00. There was a feisty, larger than usual crowd due to the name of our opponent. I happened to be a ball boy for that game, and was put at the same basket with a kid on my baseball team. Talk about a hell of a night for an 11 year old. Anyways, after both starting line-ups had been introduced, the 10 starters were at mid court awaiting tip off. With the crowd on their feet and everyone ready for the game to start, one of the officials motioned for me to come to the jump circle and wipe up some water that had been leaking from the ceiling/scoreboard. As I moseyed on out to half court, mortified, I look over at Randy Smithson and he immediately yells, "HURRY YOUR ASS UP!!!!" WSU 61 Pokes 59

Not to doubt your memory, but wasn't Mark coaching in December 2000?

[Rosewood]

if I didn't have class in 15 minutes I would. But basically, in the 80's WSU was a powerhouse. Then right before their best season, they got in trouble for "recruiting violations" or something of the sort. A few key players transferred to KU, and thus began the descent. Randy Smithson was hired to help bring some MTXE back, Maurice Evans came, Randy was a head case, Maurice transferred to Texas. Then before things could regress too far, Jim Schaus hired Mark Turgeon and Rosewood enrolled at WSU.

I'll be here after your class gets out. I'd love to know more about the violations and transfers.

[Hurley]

I remember going to the MVC tourney and watching us play in the play-in game. Every year. And I'd be one of about 30 WSU fans in attendance. What a stark contrast to today.

[WheatShocker2]

Not to doubt your memory, but wasn't Mark coaching in December 2000?

Yes, my apologies. It was the Pepperdine game on December 4, 1999. I was fortunate enough to mop sweat for both games. Thank you for doubting my memory!!!

[RoyalShock]

I'll state the obvious. The problem was three bad hires in a row. Scott Thompson didn't seem like a bad hire, but just couldn't put it together. The lack of a real/professional AD was a problem too.

The crowds were sparse enough sometimes that it was great to take young kids, b/c they could run around the upper sections without bothering anyone.

I know the conventional wisdom is that "Fogler left cupboard bare" but I disagree. Cooper, Guffrovich, Claudius Johnson etc.

I also agree with a comment above that University just wasn't focusing on athletics. If I remember, WSU to borrow the basketball floor from the Kansas Coliseum. So part of the problem were the Athletic Directors that were hired. I think Bill Belknap was basically a place holder. That left Stephenson to fend for himself and that set up the conflict with Schaus when he arrived. The baseball program should not be an island to itself but was forced too and Gene didn't want to go back to the old ways of being part of an athletic department.

Back to Scott Thompson, he was hired without WSU having an AD, so I don't know who hired him. Then Gary Hunter was hired as AD and left very quickly. Not sure why. He seemed like he was what WSU needed, but left.

I think that Smithson was a bad hire. I know many on here love him, but he was a terrible representative of the University and should never have been hired to be a head coach at a Div 1 University.

I think Thompson was hired by a search committee.

The borrowed floor was during the Smithson years. They realized that the permanent floor was so stiff that it was contributing to injuries. The temporary floor from the Coliseum had some flexibility and I believe it was used until the renovations were completed in 2003.

[wufan]

An excessive amount of people would show up for our games against Tulsa....and then the arena would be half-empty before halftime because we would be down by 20-30. And you had to pee in a trough.

Peeing in a trough! What a strange experience that was for a 10 year old.

[Rosewood]

EFB
Also didn't the Kansas Coliseum have troughs? I remember a circus and a clown and ...

I need to schedule a session with my therapist now

[LandStander]

I was a kid in the 90s so those dark days are my fondest memories. It's why I feel in love with wsu. All the tradition during the game, clapping until we scored, which sometimes took way too long. Knowing everyone that sat around us. We had season tickets above an exit and they had chairs that spin. A kid couldn't ask for more.

I was also a ball boy quite a few times so I felt part of the team. As a kid, winning and losing just didn't seem important, I just wanted us to score 100 so I could get a frosty! The bathroom troughs terrified me. I also remember getting really impatient waiting in the car trying to get out of the lot. As I got older the team got better, but it's been a long journey. I remember when the NCAA tourney was played at the colosium and I'm watching michigan (93?) and I was just imaging what it would be like if I was watching wsu.... Great times for a kid

[ShockerPrez]

We won about 2 road games in the 90s.

We had a home and home with St Peters and lost both by a combined 30 or 40 points.

[ShockerPrez]

Chad Elstun beat KState.

[ShockerPrez]

Talking trash with SIU fans on the Prodigy college basketball bulletin board.

Prodigy was AOL's Grandfather.

[HockeyShock]

I'll be here after your class gets out. I'd love to know more about the violations and transfers.

The big one during the 'dark days' was Maurice Evans. KU recruited the hell out of him, and Roy thought they had him locked up. Then he turned around and committed to WSU. Roy figured that there was no way that a kid born in Wichita, raised in Wichita, went to Wichita State games as a kid, would have ever chosen Wichita State over KU, so he called the NCAA and, with no evidence other than the fact that Evans signed with us rather than them, the NCAA opened an investigation on our recruiting. It took most of two years if I remember correctly, and we were cleared of any wrongdoing, by Maurice had had enough of Smithson by that point and transfered to Texas anyway. So not only did we not get to keep the best player, and the first big locally-produced player to come down the pipe in a long time, but we had the stigma of the NCAA investigation during all that time, which put a damper on our other recruiting efforts.

That's why I hate Roy Williams and hope that UNC loses every game that they play. I hope his private hell is having to play Wichita State at Koch Arena and getting blown out by 50+ every night for eternity.

[Play Angry]

The 90s also made you appreciate the quality of young men in the program under Turgeon and Marshall.

We had some great kids play for us under Cohen/Thompson/Smithson, but we also had a non-negligible amount of total crap humans who embarrassed the school on a regular basis.