As expected, Kurt Anderson is new OL coach
- Thread starter Medill '03
- Start date
Not much of a surprise. Kudos to Fitz to have a ready made succession plan in place.
Expected news. As many of us have been saying on this site, Fitz had a succession plan prepared the whole time.
Cushing has probably been interviewing or looking around the past 2-3 years before landing his EIU gig; Fitz was ready when last year's staff changes occurred and had Anderson come in ready to go.
Cushing has probably been interviewing or looking around the past 2-3 years before landing his EIU gig; Fitz was ready when last year's staff changes occurred and had Anderson come in ready to go.
Not only a great candidate but one with a tremendous advantage having spent the last year at NU. I am sure he has reviewed every practic and game rep taken by the OL and has put together a player development play for every OL on NU’s roster. No one from the outside could have stepped in and hit the ground running like this guy. It’s almost as if it was planned
.All kidding aside, I am pumped about this hire. I think we will see improvement as early as next year but the full impact of this hire will fully manifest itself in 3-4 years. Huge kudos to FItz.
Nah. MCCall will now bear the wrath from the fans all by himself.
Fitz will still be a busy man in San Antonio as there are a few more openings on the staff. NU has become a desirable location for up and coming coaches and scouts. Looking forward to some more fresh blood coming on board. Any chance we can get Tony Jones out of his recruiting role at Michigan and/or Christian Jones back as a G.A.?
Kudos to FItz for being the best coincidence coach in the Big Ten. Coincidentally losing Larkin and finding Bowser. Coincidentally winning 4 of 5 bowl games in very bizarre ways. Coincidentally losing all 3 out of conference regular season games and then winning the west by 3 games. I hope he continues his streak of coincidences.Better than giving him credit for doing a good job.
I'm glad Anderson is taking over as OL coach, after Fitz did his due diligence, which I think was very important. Anderson's got his work cut out for him. With Doles, Hance, and Butler graduating, he has to get the next group of players ready to play championship football. The good news is that our two best linemen, Thomas and Slater, are returning. The rest of the crew needs serious work, at least from what we saw in the early part of this past season.
Where did I say he isn’t going a good job?
Anderson wasn’t brought in expressly as a Cushing replacement. Hard stop.
My god.... can you imagine how good this team could be with just a slight improvement at OL?? I feel tingling.
The expectation of improvement is the first step to disappointment.
Arkansas fans are trashing him and the hire on Twitter. Am I missing something? The local ties, previous experience, and existing relationship with the returning guys seem like big advantages. The importance of culture in the OL room really can't be overlooked, so it helps that he has a leg up in that area by already knowing the kids. Are these just ticked off, meatball SEC fans doing what SEC fans do on the internet, or were there actual struggles he had that aren't being brought up?
Kinda feel like I already know the answer, but still worth bringing up.
Kinda feel like I already know the answer, but still worth bringing up.
He may have been a victim of circumstance and may be good at Northwestern, but while he was at Arkansas they had the worst OL in school history. Austin Allen was among the most pressured QBs in college football. Bielema sucked at recruiting OL after Sam Pittman left for Georgia though, only had 8 scholarship OL to work with at one point during fall practice it was so bad
Hog fans didn't like the hire from the start with his only experience coming at Eastern Michigan and the assistant to the assistant for the Bills. He'll likely have better recruiting ties in the Big 10 than he did in the SEC at least.
This sums it up well - http://www.uatrav.com/sports/article_64089e24-ae11-11e7-842e-0bc5f9d84aac.html
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They're from Arkansas.
“After being hired Jan. 9, 2016, Razorback offensive line coach Kurt Anderson has served as the offensive line coach.”
Personally, I can’t argue with that level of analysis.
Fair point. We have had our difficulties on the O-line. Ultimately we will see if this is a good hire in 2-3 years when he has had time to coach the O -line for awhile. Our last O - line coach has not put any lineman in the nfl and he was here for 8 years. On the contrary, we have had several DE/DL make it to the NFL. Currently Tyler Lancaster and Dean Lowry and Jordan Thompson is likely a late round pick. Joe Gaziano and likely Earnest Brown will be the next to be drafted
I think the point of the article, though poorly edited, was that Arkansas' OL gave up 70 sacks in two seasons under Anderson. There certainly may have been extenuating circumstances and I'm sure not all of that can be attributed to Anderson. But it does give one pause...
I get the point, I just thought the poor editing/writing was a bit funny.
There are so many variables that affect a simple counting stat like that. Id have to dive way deeper into that was going on at the team, personnel, recruiting cycles, etc. before deciding whether to be given pause.
I think the most salient point of our viaitor’s post above was that Anderson inherited a position group with only 8 scholarship OL. That is a recipe for disaster at any school but particularly in the SEC. Most P5 programs are carrying 13-15 scholarship OL.
Some additional color in Tribune story.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/spor...-offensive-line-coach-20190103-story,amp.html
https://www.chicagotribune.com/spor...-offensive-line-coach-20190103-story,amp.html
Didn’t take long for Anderson to feel this boards skepticism
People can worry if they like, but the fact that Anderson is already a very well-known quantity from already being on the staff makes this a significant and well-informed vote of confidence.
And Fitz might just be a little invested in the team's success, given his public statements over the past week.
Not concerned at all about what happened at Arkansas. Let's see what he does with our players and incoming recruits.
He's been around the program for a year, so if Fitz was comfortable with him taking the job, he deserves a fair shot.
He's been around the program for a year, so if Fitz was comfortable with him taking the job, he deserves a fair shot.
But Fitz was also comfortable with Cushing for 9 years........
I didn't have the same concerns about Cushing that some of you did (perhaps due directly from a lack of football acumen on my part). But I would say that there's a distinct difference between not firing someone and affirmatively elevating someone.
Would someone be interested in seeing how many assistants Woody Hays let go during his very long tenure?
Fitz is a loyal and stubborn guy; we all know that. It's served him well on many things, so I can't fault him for being loyal to a fault in this instance.
He literally preaches stability as a hallmark of the program, so I think we all knew that the OL job would only open up when Cushing elected to take another position as he did last month.
It's hard to argue given the recent results since wins/losses are the most important thing. We all know that the defense has been stronger across the board than the offense, and while that starts at the DC/OC level, individual units on both sides have shown that as well.
Given the recent staffing changes, let's hope that we see improvement on the offensive side as Hunter Johnson takes the reins. If we're going to take that next step as a program, our offense has to produce at the same level as our defense.
Two interesting tidbits from the story. First the story states that the formal hiring announcement has not been made because the University’s HR department has yet to complete its process, which I think explains the delay in the formal announcement. Secondly, as indicated by the quoted passage below, Fitz is putting an emphasis on Anderson's ability to teach techniques and develop players, something that I think was lacking previously.
"A source said Fitzgerald views Anderson as a top-notch teacher and technician, an outstanding recruiter and a great fit on the staff."
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