Here's my story on Carson Grove, David Braun's first offer since he became interim head coach.

I just went through four threads and found posts by handles I have never seen before.

A check showed many are registered just recently. As in last week, or the week or two before.

Some are pro Fitz (a few, not many but a few) but many, seem very anti Fitz. In fact those posts seem to have almost a legalish elemant to their substance. " Well we will see in depostiions under oath what X has to say".

Beware guys that we are not being bombarded with posts from law firms here.

Not saying you have to be pro-Fitz. Nor is he some Saint who didn't make some mistakes. I don't know what went on, I wan't there. He has the guys in the Daily article saying bad things and an equal amount saying "nothing like that happened or if Fitz had known he would have ended it right then and there".

Just....check the "date registered, date of first post" for some people and think about why these people became huge Wildcat fans after a lawsuit was filed.

Hey, could be wrong or whatever! Just pointing something out!

Oh, and some could be Law Enforcement too!

Seemed like a reasonable post with a good amount of legal information? What did I miss?

Here's my quick story on Benjamin's decision.

NFM

Terrific article from an unlikely source. I did not have Jim O’Donnell on my Bingo Card as one coming to the defense of Fitz.

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Assuming Fitz attorney will want him to say those comments under oath. Conversely the plaintiffs will certainly cross examine him.

Disturbing stuff. However this is likely contained to one player.

Locker room stalk…

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Hi all,

Tomorrow night I leave for Italy for 9 days and have no idea what, if any, access I will have to the site. Fortunately nothing important has been happening recently...

I beg of you, please don't have me come back to find things like this:



In a very odd coincidence, the last full day that I spent in Italy was June 30, 2006 - the day Coach Walker passed away.

So again, play nice, and don't burden Lou with excessive moderation nonsense as I'm sure he will be busy with actual football news.

Grazie in anticipo.

I had an interview with Carson Grove, the 2024 WR from Hersey, earlier this afternoon. I'll write up the story to run tomorrow morning, here are my notes and some key quotes from the call:

-Coaches didn't talk in detail about the hazing investigation and its fallout, Grove didn't press them on it

"The other three times I was there and Coach Fitz was talking, obviously he was a great guy and everything, I liked him a lot. But having another great guy like Coach Braun stepping in, that helps a lot. They didn't say too much about the situation and I didn't ask too much about it. I just know that with Coach Braun, having the program in his hands is always going to be great. So I'm not too worried about that."

-Grove wasn't worried about potentially a new staff in 2024

"I'm not, I pretty much know all the staff they have right now and they're great people. I know if they do end up hiring a new guy, they'll be great as well."

-Northwestern is at the top of his list and I expect they'll pick up the commitment

"The school is 40 minutes away or so, and I've been able to build a connection with Coach Binns for quite some time now. So I think Northwestern is sitting on top right now."

"Our season's first game is on August 26. So [I'll make my commitment] definitely before then, so it could be in the next couple weeks."

-This was Grove's fourth visit to campus, his offer is committable

"We haven't talked about an official [visit], but [Coach Braun] told me it's definitely a committable offer and that if I want in, then I'm in. If I do commit, I'll definitely be back on campus, they said I'm always welcome there."

I would highly recommend the latest West Lot Pirates episode with Kalyn Kahler, one of the authors of the long piece that ran on the Athletic a few days ago. She goes into a lot of detail about the conversations she had with ex-players, as well as how she approached the story. It's over an hour, but worth it. It certainly doesn't answer all the questions, but I think she's been able to put the pieces together better than anyone else so far.

“That’s on us coaches”
“Good clean American fun”
“Our Young men”
“Stats are for losers”
“We’re 1-0/0-0”
“We just needed to execute better”
“Trust Yourself”
“If you screw up on the field I’ll order your teammates to haze you”

What’d I miss?

I would be interested in your take on this Interview with Gragg

He basically doesn't answer any questions, and is clearly being advised to say nothing related to the report, the firing of Fitz and the extent of the allegations.

I don't think this interview did much to help anyone involved in the situation. The impression it leaves is that Gragg and Schill are far more invested in protecting the institution legally than they are in sharing the facts or truth about what happened. Not a good look.

I'm reposting this thread here, even though @CappyNU deleted it for some unknown reason.

I don't understand why everyone was so up in arms about this. It's SOP when a coach gets fired. We were going to write a similar story, but probably weren't going to start reaching out until tomorrow.

Look, I get that everyone is emotional. I am too. But no one died today. To the rest of the world, a college coach got fired. Happens all the time. Adam, Clint and Sean are just doing their jobs.

BTN doing recap right now of 54-51 NU victor over Michigan with a overview of the Wildcat's 2001 season leading to the game and the backdrop of Wildcats resurgence in the 1990s to where it can contend against teams like Michigan. It is kind of nostalgic seeing back in the olden days when the Wildcats were viewed as having an innovative offense, especially in contrast to the current situation. A summary is also on the Youtubes:
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Kirk:

“They do a great job coaching up there,” Ferentz said.

Fitzgerald and Ferentz have “had contact” since Northwestern ousted him earlier this month, Ferentz said.

Ferentz, the longest-tenured college football head coach in the country, believes it is “important right now that people let things play out” as he offered his “personal commentary” on the situation.

“There's a big difference between allegations sometimes and facts,” Ferentz said. “I doubt anybody knows all the facts right now. ... I’m not here to judge. I have no idea.”


Rhule:

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Bret:

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Oh, the huge manatee:
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Here's my story on Northwestern's recruiting outlook after Big Ten Media Days.

Sharing my own hypothesis on Schill's approach to things - based on a deeper dive on his background and some practical observations I've gained from dealing with lifelong academics who suddenly are tasked with the messy externalities of the real world. I'd like to know what you think.

First, Schill is a lifelong academic/thinktank guy. He was a law clerk and spent 2 years in a law firm - the short tenure in practice is first hint that he's not cut out for a world of practical realities or externalities.

1. Let's unpack what it really means to grow up in academia. Academia is a well-funded, political world in which posturing, jockeying, and positioning are essential, while publishing as much stuff as possible. It's not a place where there is a lot of accountability, focus on outcomes or regard for what's happening to real people in the real world. (No, publishing is not an outcome....). Having dealt with a lot of PHD's I find it remarkable how misinformed they can be, and how hard it is to get them to relate to business practicalities. It can take years to 'deprogram' the academic reflex so they can thrive in a business environment. They simply don't know what they don't know, because they've been so protected and insulated from externalities and because there are few good role models for leadership. So Dr. Schill is first and most a careerist who has clung to the insular comfort of academia - his bio makes that clear.

2. Why he hasn't flushed Gragg.

As much as we might think that is indefensible, we shouldn't assume that Gragg still has a job is about support or loyalty. There is a more Machiavellian angle that may explain it. If Schill moves fast, flushing Gragg, Foster, MacPherson, et all right away, he'll have no wiggle room left - no buffer. I suspect he knows that much more is coming. Keep people around = keep bullets in the chamber. Fire them at the right time to look responsive in the moment. They had to know about Foster but didn't do anything until they needed a bullet. Now, Shill waits for the next bombshell and he can fire another (MacPhereson?). Gragg will get his when something bigger emerges, when the legal groundwork is done, or at the end.

At that point, Schill will position himself with the board as the captain who navigated story waters.

Not a fan of Schill - I think he's a terrible President. But I think we underestimate him if we assume he's not playing some chess.

I am in no way connected to any influential person at NU otherwise I would ask, but one would think there has to be some seriously negative feedback on the AD's leadership over the past few weeks (or entire) tenure at NU? I would think ex-players, major donors, whomever would be pressing for answers? I listened to the interview on BTN and struggle to see his value or the benefits to his leadership.

I've seen this mentioned a few times. Can anyone relay where they've heard it from? Does a player have the recording?

2023 version off to a great start so far. Really hard to tell right now who will be in yellow come Paris. Will Cav get the stage win record? How good is Hindley? Is Jasper Disaster the fastest man on wheels? What does Sepp Kuss think about in those Cat 1 climbs?

Ride, you sumbitches, ride.

Not sure if anyone cares or not, but I hopped on a podcast done on the Casual Big Ten Channel. Also not sure if we can plug podcasts or anything like that, but whatever.

Give it a listen and let me know how perfectly right I am (or how wrong I am).


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