Prince out at KSU

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas State coach Ron Prince will not return for the 2009 season, pushed out after failing to rebuild the Wildcats into a Big 12 contender.

Prince, formerly offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at UVa, took over for Bill Snyder in 2006, his first head-coaching job after 14 years at six different schools. He never lived up to the standard Snyder set, going 16-18 in 2 1/2 seasons in Manhattan, including 4-5 this year.

“We are in a performance-based profession and have made this decision in the best long-term interest of both the university and its football program,” Kansas State athletic director Bob Krause said Wednesday. “Our goal remains the same: to build a winning program that is positioned to consistently compete for championships.”

Snyder was a consistent winner in 17 years as Kansas State’s coach, turning a team that won one game from 1987-89 to one that won at least 10 games seven times, reached bowl games in 12 straight seasons from 1992-2003.

He retired after a 5-6 season in 2006, handing the program off to Prince, Virginia’s offensive coordinator the previous three years.

Prince never got the Wildcats going in the right direction.

Kansas State was 7-6 and went to a bowl game in his first season, but has regressed since, going 5-7 last season, losing four of five Big 12 games this year.

The Wildcats have lost three straight headed into Saturday’s game against Missouri, including a 56-21 setback to Kansas last weekend that dropped Prince to 0-3 against Kansas State’s in-state rival.

Prince’s teams never had trouble generating offense, with a wide-open attack and strong-arm quarterback Josh Freeman piling up yards and points.

Defense has been a problem, though.

Kansas State had one of the nation’s worst defenses last season, allowing 30.8 points and 400.6 yards per game. The Wildcats have been even worse this year, ranking 107th in scoring defense at 33.7 points per game, 108th in total defense at 444.67 yards per game.