Latest Matchup: SFA Basketball vs. Keyboard Warriors

Think back to March of this season when the name Kyle Keller first started appearing on the news feeds of Stephen F. Austin fans. Comments like: highly-skilled recruiter, numerous years of assistant coaching experience, a man with roots in Texas, appeared everywhere.

Keller, the Texas A&M assistant, seemed the perfect fit for the suddenly coach-less team coming off of a wildly successful three-year run as the flagship athletic program of the Southland Conference.

So needless to say, when Keller was named the head coach of the Lumberjacks back in April, the decision was met with little scrutiny. He was the chosen one - tabbed as the man to continue the success of Brad Underwood and grow the Lumberjacks basketball program into a national brand.

Seven months and three losses have passed; and suddenly these facts mean nothing to the hungry fan base of a team that has limped to a 2-3 record. It seems that basketball, the most revered sport among SFA fans, is actually not immune at all to the lynch mob mentality that Lumberjacks have inflicted other teams with.

Look no further than social media this week as the Jacks dropped two-straight at Louisiana-Monroe and Arkansas. Suddenly there seems to be no shortage of those second guessing Keller's hire while impatient fans openly question if his team has the level of talent promised to them. How did it get here so fast? Why are Lumberjacks fans so pessimistic at the slightest sign of struggle?

The Sawmill Kentucky guard De'Aaron Fox drives against Stephen F. Austin forward TJ Holyfield.

To understand why Keller is already on the "hot seat" with certain fans, take a step back and review the bigger picture.

Before he stepped on the court for the 2016-17 season, a sudden perception of an underachieving athletic program began to emerge in Nacogdoches. The women's soccer and volleyball teams continued their postseason curse, falling short in conference tournaments again. Softball spent time this offseason finding a new coach and baseball has struggled to stay relevant at all in the Southland. Women's basketball hasn't yet managed to take the next big step in becoming a mid-major threat and like other Ladyjacks teams seem voodooed each year in postseason play.

SFA's athletics department also just finished winning its second-straight Southland Conference commissioner's cup - but that's too logical for an emotional sports fan. As they say, perception is reality. Lack of postseason success has in large part created a notion among fans that SFA's teams are not living up to their potential and hype.

And yet, most of these issues aren't anything new at all. They just go conveniently ignored when basketball and football are winning. At this moment, neither are.

The football program just wrapped up what can only be described as a tumultuous season, complete with a quarterback controversy, obscene amounts of injury, and - you guessed it - calls for a new coach from fans.

Even with the current problems at Homer Bryce Stadium and shortcomings of other teams, fans have always found sanctuary inside the four walls of William R. Johnson Coliseum. No matter how poorly other teams performed, Jacks basketball (save some postseason issues of their own for awhile) has been source of stability for just about the past decade.

Until now.

In the early 2000s, a young Danny Kasper took over a downtrodden Jacks basketball program and started to build it from the ground up. The next decade would be a renaissance, and after Kasper departed in 2013, Underwood took the program to previously unseen heights.

The cliche "Rome wasn't built in one day" comes to mind. At most college programs, coaches are tasked with taking over losing teams from a fired predecessor with the understanding that it will take time to build prosperity. The problem for Keller is, as unfair (and untrue) is it may be, SFA has already been Rome for awhile in the minds of some. Anything less than the previous level of success is going to be seen as a step back, met quickly with disgruntled fans. 

A wise man once said, "you don't want to be the man to follow a legend.” I heard this phase frequently used to describe why Charlie Strong would never be a successful football coach at the University of Texas - not that he lacked the skill to be great, but simply that holding him to the unparalleled standards of his predecessor was not the appropriate way to make an evaluation.

This is a team comprised of rookie DI players and Underwood’s remaining talent (players who operated with a senior point guard last season in a different offensive system). Like a coaching MacGyver, Keller and his staff are trying to work miracles with limited resources on the court.

Perhaps the biggest issue though is that SFA fans have been spoiled these last three years. To expect the kind of achievement they have become accustomed to is unreasonable, at least immediately.

This is not to suggest we accept mediocrity - SFA fans want to be more and lofty expectations are a prerequisite to ambition.

But blasting Keller this early in the process does nothing to aid the transition. This season may not be pretty at times, but it's a good time to relax and trust the process. No matter what happens, Brad Underwood isn't walking out of that tunnel anytime soon.