WestCoastWildcat said:

Have to give whomever made this happen credit. Agree with the need for stabilization and in moving aside the former lead into a slot where they could do no further harm either through past actions (or inactions by dialing it in). Hopefully the group of donors/leaders working behind the scene to dampen the dumpster fire aspects of the department continue to move things forward. We have to acknowledge there are a lot of positives the kast year- winning basketball and football seasons with post-season appearances, flood of money coming in, temp lakeside football facility, new stadium, etc. Just hope the positive direction continues after the blowup last year. Thanks to those behind the scene working to push the program back on track. Not done yet cleaning up the mess but definitely some good moves have been made so far.

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hdhntr1 said:

Thanks Hard to remember all the details. He was a solid OC for us.

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EvanstonCat said:

You kind of forgot to mention the facts that the offense sucked the entire time he was at the helm, and one other pretty key thing happened before things improved immediately: Fitz was fired and Braun took over

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phatcat said:

No pressure, Zach

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hdhntr1 said:

You win and lose as a team.

No one really has Os that Frosh or RS Frosh can walk into

You are so intent on giving McCall absolutely no credit for anything. You have to remember that coaches are extremely limited in amount of time they are able to be in contact. The finer points require a lot more time than they are allowed to spend with players. They can recommend things but reality is that the finer points which are often the difference take a lot more time than coaches are allowed. For all we know, McCall may have even recommended Baz

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PurpleWhiteBoy said:

One could easily argue that the necessary change was made.
Fitzgerald hired David Braun as defensive coordinator to replace the inept Jim O'Neil.

"We are thrilled to officially welcome David, Kristin, Lucas and Andrew, to our football family," Fitzgerald said. "His record on the field speaks for itself during a decorated leadership tenure with one of the most successful programs in college football. The innovative ways he thinks about defense, and his passion for creating relationships with players immediately stood out during a comprehensive search process. His enthusiasm for the game is obvious and infectious, and we already are beginning to see the impact he's having on our student-athletes and staff."

It is pretty obvious, isn't it? I mean, seriously. Logic is a stubborn thing.

If I recall correctly, Fitzgerald and the Cats had a crap season in 2019, going 3-9 with 5-star transfer Hunter Johnson handed the reins.
Fitzgerald publicly declared "That will never happen again."
Then Covid came along, we ran a "gold standard" program, finished 7-2 and kicked Auburn's ass in the Citrus Bowl.
Hankwitz retired. Fitzgerald made the biggest mistake of his career and hired Jim O'Neil to replace Hankwitz.
Seasons of 3-9 and 1-11 followed, with the defense cratering.
Fitzgerald fired O'Neil and brought in Braun.
Things improved immediately.

The hard truth is that the football program was on solid footing when Fitzgerald was (wrongfully?) terminated.

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DaCat said:

Fitz didn’t acknowledge the problems in the 3-9 and 1-11 seasons. He lost me with his arrogant and snippy attitude during the press conferences. I also sense he knew about some of the hazing and tried to laugh it off as good clean American fun - which it wasn’t. He was great for Northwestern, and then he wasn’t.

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CappyNU said:

I did some data analysis around this, and here's what I found:

There have been 40 coaches who have coached for 15+ years at the same school while having at least one season coached in the last 40 years (i.e. were still coaching in 1984). For these coaches, I set a beginning limit of 1973 when the first scholarship limits were put in place. Five coaches are still active in the only CFB HC job they've had - Kirk Ferentz (Iowa), Mike Gundy (Ok St.), Kyle Whittingham (Utah), Troy Calhoun (Air Force) and Dabo Swinney (Clemson). For 31 of the other 35 coaches, it was either their only head coaching job in CFB or their last one. Rich Brooks (Oregon, first job, went to NFL), Mark Richt (Georgia, first job, went to Miami after being fired), Mack Brown (Texas, UNC before and after) and Johnny Majors (Tennessee, went to Pitt after) were the four who didn't fit the criteria.

I used Sports Reference's simple rating system (SRS) to look at each coach's seasons, and highlighted their top and bottom seasons (3 for 15-19 years, 4 for 20-24 years, 5 for 25+). I also did not include the 2020 COVID season for those coaches who were active given the uniqueness of that year.

Looking at coaches who had back to back seasons that were in their bottom 3/4/5 years after they had already coached 10+ seasons:
Joe Paterno (PSU) - 2000-01 (10-13, 8-8), 2003-04 (7-16, 3-13). Somehow managed to survive both of these runs and coach for another 7 years until, well, you know.
Bobby Bowden (FSU) - 2006-07 (14-12, 7-9). These seasons were the beginning of the end, as he was fired after the 2009 season.
Tom Osborne (NEB) - 1988-91 (39-9-1, 24-3-1). A bit of a caveat needed here, as these were not bad seasons by any stretch, given that they made two Orange Bowls and won two conference titles. They were four of his worst five seasons though.
Fisher DeBerry (Air Force) - 2005-06 (8-15, 6-10). Retired following the 2006 season after 23 years.
Grant Teaff (Baylor) - 1987-88 (12-10, 5-9). Had some leeway after winning bowls in 1985-86, but this was the beginning of the end for him. He coached four more years, finishing with a bowl win in his final game before resigning to become the AD.
Terry Donahue (UCLA) - 1989-90 (8-13-1, 6-9-1). Another coach who had leeway from winning 7 bowl games in a row and being ranked as high as #1 in 1988. Coached five more seasons, including making the '93 Rose Bowl after starting the year unranked, before resigning to go into broadcasting.
Hayden Fry (Iowa) - 1992-93 (11-13, 7-9). Rebounded with Sun Bowl and Alamo Bowl wins in 1995-96, but retired after the worst season of his career in 1998.
Barry Switzer (OK) - 1983-84 (17-6-1, 11-3). Much like Tom Osborne, these were not bad seasons per se. Switzer declined a lesser bowl bid in 1983 and made it to the Orange Bowl in 1984 before winning the national championship in 1985. He resigned following the 1988 season under scandal due to players getting paid and one player attempting to sell coke to an FBI agent...
Sonny Lubick (CSU) - 2005-07 (13-23, 8-16). Lubick was fired after the 2007 season and opened a steakhouse in Fort Collins.
Fitz (NU) - 2021-22 (4-20, 2-16).

So only DeBerry and Lubick left their jobs immediately following back to back bottom seasons, though the record for both was better than Fitz's.

Also looked at 5-year averages, which showed me that 24 of the 35 coaches on this list left their jobs following a real slide in the quality of their programs compared to past performance. The only coaches who did not leave due to the declining quality of their teams were:

Tom Osborne - Retired after 25 seasons following three national championships in four years (1994, 95, 97)
George Welsh (UVA) - Retired after 19 seasons due to health issues. Took Virginia out of their 30-year-long dark ages, won 2 ACC championships, was ranked #1 in 1990 briefly, and handed FSU their first ACC loss after 29 straight wins since joining the conference. Retired as the winningest coach in ACC history before being passed by Bowden.
Don James (Washington) - Resigned just prior to the 1993 season under controversy following back-to-back-to-back Rose Bowls due to allegations of paying players and a lack of institutional control on recruiting visits.
Rich Brooks - Left Oregon following their first Rose Bowl appearance since 1957 to become the head coach of the St. Louis Rams in 1995. Lasted two years before being fired.
Rick Stockstill (MTSU) - Despite winning bowl games in 2021-22, he was fired after 18 seasons last year.
Bo Schembechler (Michigan) - Retired after the 1989 season due to health concerns following 3 Rose Bowl appearances in 4 seasons (1986, 88, 89).
Barry Switzer - See above.
Johnny Majors - Forced to resign following heart surgery after 16 seasons. Speculated that his assistant and interim head coach, Phil Fulmer, engaged in backroom shenanigans to force Majors out.
Barry Alvarez (UW) - Retired following a Capital One bowl game win in 2005 after 16 seasons to become the AD.
Frank Solich (Ohio) - Retired due to health reasons in 2021 after 16 seasons, having taken Ohio to bowl games in 10 of 11 seasons, winning their last 3.
Gary Pinkel (Mizzou) - Retired due to cancer in 2015 after 15 seasons, including back-to-back SEC division titles in 2013-14 including wins in the Cotton and Citrus bowls.

The other coaches who made this list but didn't meet any of the previous criteria: Frank Beamer (VT), Lavell Edwards (BYU), Gary Patterson (TCU), Don Nehlen (WVU), Bob Stoops (OK), Nick Saban (Bama), Phil Fulmer (Tennessee), Bill Snyder (KSU), Jeff Bower (S. Miss.), Jim Sweeney and Pat Hill (Fresno St.), Vince Dooley (UGA), Ken Niumatalolo (Navy), and Herb Deromedi (C. Michigan).

I hope you enjoyed wasting your time reading this as much as I did in researching this.

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PurpleWhiteBoy said:

One could easily argue that the necessary change was made.
Fitzgerald hired David Braun as defensive coordinator to replace the inept Jim O'Neil.

"We are thrilled to officially welcome David, Kristin, Lucas and Andrew, to our football family," Fitzgerald said. "His record on the field speaks for itself during a decorated leadership tenure with one of the most successful programs in college football. The innovative ways he thinks about defense, and his passion for creating relationships with players immediately stood out during a comprehensive search process. His enthusiasm for the game is obvious and infectious, and we already are beginning to see the impact he's having on our student-athletes and staff."

It is pretty obvious, isn't it? I mean, seriously. Logic is a stubborn thing.

If I recall correctly, Fitzgerald and the Cats had a crap season in 2019, going 3-9 with 5-star transfer Hunter Johnson handed the reins.
Fitzgerald publicly declared "That will never happen again."
Then Covid came along, we ran a "gold standard" program, finished 7-2 and kicked Auburn's ass in the Citrus Bowl.
Hankwitz retired. Fitzgerald made the biggest mistake of his career and hired Jim O'Neil to replace Hankwitz.
Seasons of 3-9 and 1-11 followed, with the defense cratering.
Fitzgerald fired O'Neil and brought in Braun.
Things improved immediately.

The hard truth is that the football program was on solid footing when Fitzgerald was (wrongfully?) terminated.

Click to expand...