Bryant did, and he is a very good QB. Unfortunately, none of our current HS recruits are B1G caliber, so hopefully they can grab one in the portal again.
bajakian sucks eggs...
- Thread starter The_Waterboy
- Start date
No QB that has come to NU under Bajakian to be developed has been successful. Ramsey and Bryant came to have a good final season.
Garbage offensive system is the reason, Very hard to recruit a stud QB, when the overall philosophy on offense has been ball control for years.
True, but he didn't try to change things either, so yeah he does bare some responsibility. Also he didn't have Fitz around this season and the offense was rather average overall. Pre 2019 McCall had a more consistent offense than Bajakian did this season.
Please let the reunion happen at Iowa, I would be forever grateful.
Lol. Look at where our offense has been ranked during his entire tenure here including this one. How many points per game. And speaking of QBs, Bajakian is the QB coach. Not having a decent QB is entirely his fault.
And we are the ones who can’t tell the difference between decent offenses and bad ones. Truly remarkable indeed. LMFAO
This is it in a nutshell. Look at the rest of CFB. Heck, look at the NFL. QB is the most important position in all of sports. We hit with Ramsey & Bryant; whiffed with Johnson and Hilinski. Have been unable to recruit/develop a high school QB since Thorson. A great QB hides a lot of warts; a poor QB exposes them. Ultimately it was all the misses that doomed McCall and Bajakian.
Hmmmmm - he took the job knowing PF is what he is. We all knew the PF philosophy. So it’s Baj’s fault - nobody forced him to a career killing destination. His ego brought him here and under PF.
Some of you all act like Fitz wouldn’t have thrown the ball if he had a decent QB. That is nonsense. McCall completely whiffed in QB’s post Thorson. He paid no attention to the Ramsay’s, Bryant’s, O’Connell’s, or Thorne’s that were right here for the taking and his wisdom elected to pass. Jake did no better. That created the crappy system. Couple that with shaky Coaching throughout the offensive coaches except RB and that is what you have. The Fitz mistake was keeping subpar offensive Coaches too long, not some silly theory that he somehow handcuffed them into playing jar head football.
I don't respect people who deliberately mis-state what others have posted in order to try to make fun of it.
Good try, I guess.
My statement was that the offense was better this year. Because it was. Primarily because Ben Bryant is better than Hilinski, Sullivan and Johnson.
Do better.
Fitz gained a reputation for being rather conservative on offense, whether that is entirely accurate or not. But you are right, some Fitz teams did throw the ball at times. I went back to look at Thorsen's last season. While he had some low usage games such as only throwing 17 times against Illinois, 21 times against Minnesota and 26 times against Purdue, there were also some wild games such as Nebraska where Clayton threw it 64 times! He also had 52 pass attempts against Akron (though many may choose to forget that one).
I think the conservative aspects about Fitz on offense that were more annoying to me included the unwillingness to go for scores at the end of halves, the unwillingness to kick field goals (chicken or egg here... did he never kick because our kickers sucked or did our kickers suck because they never got to kick in games??), and the unwillingness to run up the score and take the life out of an opponent (see Akron 2018 again).
Let’s see Fitz kept subpar offensive coaches too long and the same with subpar defensive coaches and did nothing to find a good quarterback and defense but left it all to this incompetents. Sounds like very poor leadership to me.
Good lord, we know you aren’t a fan, but if everything that goes South is Fitz’s fault then at least give some credit for everything that worked. JON was a flat out bad hire, what other defensive coaches were kept too long? The OC personally watches every single QB throw before we offer. Do you want a former MLB being the main evaluator of a HS QB? Our QB recruits aren’t no doubt college stars. As far as did nothing to find a good QB, Fitz actually was the guy thar brought Ramsey and Bryant to NU! This post was talking about the silly theory that Fitz somehow handcuffed our OC. Did you watch the offense this season? I would argue that Braun is at least as conservative as Fitz. The only reason we won most of these games was we had a QB that understood how to play and executed. You decided to bring in defensive Coaches to support a flawed argument!
This is what we're really up against....
“I am extremely disappointed that a few members of our football program staff decided to wear ‘Cats Against the World’ T-shirts,” said Gragg. “Neither I nor the University was aware that they owned or would wear these shirts today."
“The shirts are inappropriate, offensive and tone-deaf."
Bajakian came in with a pretty good resume. He'd been with Tennessee for several seasons as OC, then QB coach for the Tampa Bay Bucs. Short stint at Boston College.
We / He missed badly with Hunter Johnson and Ryan Hilinski. Sure they have great arms. Probably look awesome when you watch them throw. Unfortunately that means very little compared to what a guy does on the field, going thru progressions and getting the ball out to guys who are somewhat open in a chaotic situation.
I'd fault Bajakian more for player evaluation than whats in his playbook.
“I am extremely disappointed that a few members of our football program staff decided to wear ‘Cats Against the World’ T-shirts,” said Gragg. “Neither I nor the University was aware that they owned or would wear these shirts today."
“The shirts are inappropriate, offensive and tone-deaf."
Bajakian came in with a pretty good resume. He'd been with Tennessee for several seasons as OC, then QB coach for the Tampa Bay Bucs. Short stint at Boston College.
We / He missed badly with Hunter Johnson and Ryan Hilinski. Sure they have great arms. Probably look awesome when you watch them throw. Unfortunately that means very little compared to what a guy does on the field, going thru progressions and getting the ball out to guys who are somewhat open in a chaotic situation.
I'd fault Bajakian more for player evaluation than whats in his playbook.
You make another poor conclusion. I have been a fan for over 70 years and went to NU undergraduate and law school. I cheered for teams coached by Ara and then Agase and lived through Pont, Venturi and others until Barnett came and went to the Rose Bowl. I just disagree with the posters that put Fitz on a pedestal and cannot acknowledge his recent shortcomings.
I don't think that person exists on the free board. Maybe its different on the Rock.
I see your point (comb your hair to hide it) but someone has to be responsible for unimaginative offenses. One of the reasons we had so many sacks this year is that we decided to throw down field so frequently. We had the highest # of passing TDs per game since the Austin Carr year
Notwithstanding his potential criminal culpability, for which I feel he is responsible, it seems to me that he lost his way as a coach, and became, as I have often phrased it a "poor man's Gary Patterson ". Surly, cocky, above reproach, unwilling to change. Now, to his credit, he chose some good assistants this year. Re Bajakian, the small band of supporters for him need to look at ppg THIS YEAR. Still bottom quartile on an 8 win team with two super grad transfers. He almost lost us the Utah game. Good Riddance, Jake.
So you theorize that you don’t want a MLB as main evaluator of QB talent yet you also state PF was the one that brought Ramsey and Bryant (but not Hillsinki and Hunter…)
I hear you argue those that lay blame need to also give credit. You try to deflect anyone saying the same to you by acknowledging JON. Seems you also don’t quite measure up to full fairness on both sides. 🤷♂️
JON came in with a pretty good resume…
I think I read somewhere around here at some point….
Just to prove the point - have you met coral? He ain’t alone. And despite his protests, I find PPD to be not far off that rock.
Fitz was not the “evaluator of talent” in any situations, QB or otherwise. That’s on the recruiting staff, position/area recruiters, and coordinators. All those guys have to sign off on a prospect before they’re even presented to the head coach.
More nonsense. I literally said he kept Coaches too long and that was his downfall. I have said in other posts that his stubborn and glib answers were detrimental.
I also believe he is the single most important figure in Northwestern history. Only one guy is close and in that case Fitz was part of that miracle. I don’t shy away from an unpopular opinion even if Bob wants to hammer me. If you have been around 70 years and can’t see that, then there isn’t really a point of continuing the conversation.
I hadn't yet discovered this hellish online world when either Bakajian or JON was hired, so I don't remember who said what about either hire at the time.
I would note that JON followed Hankwitz and Bakajian followed McCall...
comparative advantage to Bajakian.
"I am grateful to Pat Fitzgerald, Jim Phillips and Morty Schapiro for this opportunity at a world-class institution," said Bajakian. "It is an honor to join Coach Fitzgerald and his staff, developing the highest caliber student-athletes, in the most competitive conference in collegiate football. My family and I are looking forward to becoming part of the community and culture of excellence at Northwestern."
You been around here 70 years? Damn ppd, didn’t realize you were ancient. I understand your occasional dementia now.
Coral is a Fitzgerald guy, but I really don't think anybody (on the free board) has refused to acknowledge Fitzgerald's recent shortcomings / mistakes. That was the statement/claim made above.
Maybe it seems that way to people who disliked Fitz for whatever reason.
Um, coral for starters. How about corbi? Then go back and read a few of PF dismissal discussions, the few not deleted by Cappy. They’re a few more flat earthers here. Not hard to find but they ignore me so none know about this discussion.
I think feral falls in that group as I recall a long but civil discourse on the matter.
This season, because our kicker was good throughout the season.
For many (if not most) people, the general sentiment was that Fitz had screwed up royally (perhaps in hindsight) with the JON hire. It is undeniable now that he took the proper steps to correct that mistake.
But the thing that enraged most of the "pro-Fitz" crowd was the knowledge that Fitz bled purple and had done a lot for the university and did not deserve to be treated as "off-the-charts" poorly as he was by Schill and Gragg. There were some, including you, who fanned the flames relentlessly. Most of those people have backpedaled, retreated or moved on. That does not eliminate the stench that lingers from Northwestern's breach of contract - the disgrace that Schill (nd others) brought upon the university.
Fitzgerald's performance as head coach had undoubtedly been marred by his last two seasons. Those of us who respected him and what he was trying to do were able to look past that, hoping he could turn it around. It seems pretty clear now that this would have happened.
So no blame for HuJo and Hilinski, the no credit for Ramsey and Bryant?
No sense in arguing with Bob. He is the ultimate one trick pony that only criticizes Coaches. It’s the only thing he is good at.
Head coach ultimately gets the brunt of the blame and credit. But Fitz’s primary role in recruiting was in relationships as a “closer,” not in talent evaluation.
Proper steps? Ryan Day, who is a buffoon, demoted Kerry Coombs after ONE bad game? Why did we have to live through 2 years of JON when it was apparent in the first game that JON sucked. We know why. Loyalty. Stubbornness. "They won't tell me what to do". Eff that
I like loyalty. Loyalty is a quality that separates classy people from losers. You make a commitment to someone, you honor it. You know who isn't loyal? Weasels.
Stubborn? Probably.
You know who is stubborn? People who think about things and decide on a path, then trust themselves to be right in the face of detractors, who are often weak and uninformed. Its okay to be stubborn. You just have to be right.
Fitz acted properly with JON. Bad hire. Bad year. Gave him a 2nd season. No better. Fired him.
I'm glad you think Ryan Day is a buffoon, but why would you cite a buffoon's decisions as something to respect? A buffoon is a buffoon. What do respectable people do in the same situation?
