Bajakian suing the university for defamation
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Getting on the gravy train? Does he really have a case?
According to ESPN: 'According to the lawsuit, Bajakian lost the chance to have his contract renewed, could not land comparable employment and suffered reputational damage.' and 'Northwestern ranked 120th nationally in yards and 129th in scoring during Bajakian's tenure.' Seems to me that all the university needs to do is point to the stats to answer all of allegations in the lawsuit.
This suit has less legs in it than his offense.
They should sue him for malpractice or something. Or, at least, Malik Washington should
Why not sue? Everyone else is doing it to NU and they typically fold like a tent. If there was a ranking for most lawsuits against a University, NU would be world class!
His suit claims that the administration has defamed him and so he’s unable to get comparable work. What a laugh.
Northwestern ranked 120th nationally in yards and 129th in scoring during Bajakian's tenure.
That probably had something to do with his inability to get comparable work.
People talk about JON being Fitz’s worst hire, but it’s all relative. We just think so because the gap with Hank was so wide and obvious. But the reality is our offense under Bajakian was even worse than JON’s defenses statistically. Bajakian benefited from hiding behind Hank’s stellar defenses for a couple years and then when you add JON defenses you really get a shit show reflected in 4-20 over two years. 1-10. And people think the program was never better when Fitz left. What a hoot.
Northwestern ranked 120th nationally in yards and 129th in scoring during Bajakian's tenure.
That probably had something to do with his inability to get comparable work.
People talk about JON being Fitz’s worst hire, but it’s all relative. We just think so because the gap with Hank was so wide and obvious. But the reality is our offense under Bajakian was even worse than JON’s defenses statistically. Bajakian benefited from hiding behind Hank’s stellar defenses for a couple years and then when you add JON defenses you really get a shit show reflected in 4-20 over two years. 1-10. And people think the program was never better when Fitz left. What a hoot.
Since Bajakian is suing for defamation / reputational damage, I think he has a case.
It is pretty clear to me that Schill, Gragg and the kids at the Daily Northwestern were trying to paint him as a bad human being.
And they implied that he knew about the alleged hazing and did nothing.
Bajakian's claim that he wore the "Cats against the world" shirt while talking to Gragg (who said nothing about it) stands in sharp contrast to the later statement (after the Daily ran photos)
"I am extremely disappointed that a few members of our football program staff decided to wear 'Cats Against the World' shirts," Gragg said in a statement. "Neither I nor the university was aware that they owned or would wear these shirts today. The shirts are inappropriate, offensive and tone deaf. Let me be crystal clear: Hazing has no place at Northwestern, and we are committed to do whatever is necessary to address hazing-related issues, including thoroughly investigating any incidents or allegations of hazing or any other misconduct."
This statement links Bajakian to the hazing. Logic tells you that the shirts were NOT offensive and were NOT defending "hazing." They were defending themselves against unwarranted reputational smears and defending Fitzgerald. Free speech is (supposedly) protected...
It is pretty clear to me that Schill, Gragg and the kids at the Daily Northwestern were trying to paint him as a bad human being.
And they implied that he knew about the alleged hazing and did nothing.
Bajakian's claim that he wore the "Cats against the world" shirt while talking to Gragg (who said nothing about it) stands in sharp contrast to the later statement (after the Daily ran photos)
"I am extremely disappointed that a few members of our football program staff decided to wear 'Cats Against the World' shirts," Gragg said in a statement. "Neither I nor the university was aware that they owned or would wear these shirts today. The shirts are inappropriate, offensive and tone deaf. Let me be crystal clear: Hazing has no place at Northwestern, and we are committed to do whatever is necessary to address hazing-related issues, including thoroughly investigating any incidents or allegations of hazing or any other misconduct."
This statement links Bajakian to the hazing. Logic tells you that the shirts were NOT offensive and were NOT defending "hazing." They were defending themselves against unwarranted reputational smears and defending Fitzgerald. Free speech is (supposedly) protected...
I can fight this case for NU and I don't have a law degree.
No. Gragg spoke as NU's representative and publicly impugned the character of a member of the football staff, not for the team's performance, but directly linking him to hazing / misconduct.
And (apparently) lied about the circumstances.
He didnt issue the statement until the Daily ran the photo of Bajakian wearing the shirt.
Bajakian has every right to sue and might win.
F this guy. With the exception of JON, he is the number one reason Fitz should have been fired. He let this guy coast for way too long. His ability to squander the great Hank defenses is really a shame.
His incompetence has nothing to do with protecting that clown Gregg from besmirching his reputation with equal or greater incompetence by how he didn’t handle the situation.
What reputation? His reputation as a bad OC? The reason he couldn't find another gig is because of bad performance on the field. If he was great at his job, he would still be at NU, or any other number of programs. Him suing the University does not hurt Gragg, it hurts the University.
I simply don't understand the (crazed) animosity.
Bajakian was hired after the 2019 season, in which Hunter Johnson flopped disastrously and the Wildcats finished 3-9, leading to Mitch McCall's termination.
We had a very good year in 2020 with Peyton Ramsey at QB and Mike Hankwitz at defensive coordinator.
We had a bad year in 2021 with Ryan Hilinski and Andy Marty at QB and Jim O'Neil at defensive coordinator.
We had a really bad year in 2022 with Hilinski and Brendan Sullivan at QB and Jim O'Neil at defensive coordinator.
We had a pretty good year in 2023 with Ben Bryant and Sullivan at QB and David Braun at defensive coordinator.
Not hard to figure out why we did well and why we didn't.
At least for me.
And obviously there is no history of Bajakian squandering Hankwitz defenses.
The only year they worked together, NU had its best winning percentage since 1995.
Comprende?
No animosity. But job number 1 is the quarterback, and nobody wanted to play for him.
If Gragg hadn’t done his public tongue lashing this wouldn’t be an issue. If it is true that Gragg saw this shirt twice before and kept his trap shut it would indicate his reaction was to simply to squish public outcry by pointing the finger at the “tone deaf” staff/players that had the gall to support their fired HC.
Jake was not a good OC. However, Gragg’s actions open the door to a charge of reputation damage.
93rd in ppg
106th in ppg.
Gotta disagree with ya on this one.
And your obvious, unstated point about his offenses being "good" (not really) when he had a QB, well, he's responsible for the QBs, right? Maybe, you know, recruit and develop one.
Whether there was defamation is a red herring. You need to prove damages and that they were caused by the tort. Let’s assume defamation and damages. Good luck proving his inability to find similar or better job was due to the defamation.
Unless he can show he can’t find step down work appropriate for his results - like a positions coach job at a lower level school - he’s going to lose. And I doubt his ego has him applying for any lower level positions.
Curious as to the monetary value that reputation held independent of his coaching capabilities. His damages must be proven to be caused by the tort. So are we talking coach Bak or great human but terrible coach Bak?
Regardless, neither result in causally connected damages worth a thing.
Bajakian recruited Carl Richardson (as his first recruit!) so in that sense he was definitely the worse hire. But then again, without Carl, Fitz is still coaching at NU and turning in 3 win seasons. So I guess it’s how you look at it.
Another thought - if his production didn’t destroy his marketability at D1 and above, I bet this lawsuit does. Hope enjoys a new career as the greeter at wallyworld when he doesn’t get a dime.
There is always crazed animosity these days. That's the way the internet, social media and anonymity roll.
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Well, he was previously the OC at Boston College and Tennessee. QB Coach with Tampa Bay in the NFL. He likely would take a step down no matter what, but even with his poor performance, a QB Coach could have been possible. I agree that no one touches him now and he was a poor OC at NU. Probably won’t win the suit, but not a lot to lose at this point.
That's what Mick did (no tort involved). Not a lawyer like Bob, but I always though the plaintiff had a responsibility to do reasonable efforts to mitigate their own damages. Former HC has a much bigger claim, but if Hugh Freeze can find a lower level job, why not him? Perhaps he's applied and been rejected, but, near as I can tell, only him and Mel Tugger remain unemployed
It is deliberately biased to measure Northwestern's offensive success based on points per game versus the entirety of D1.
The Big Ten plays a different style of football, where points are much more difficult to come by.
Fitzgerald was conservative on offense, even for the Big Ten.
Everybody knows this, but we still see the same (dumb) stats being recycled as "proof" that Bajakian was a bad OC.
What matters is winning and losing. I stand by my statements that we were really bad in 2 of Bajakian's 4 years primarily because of the defense, but also because our QBs were not good enough.
I agree that Bajakian/Fitzgerald whiffed on QBs out of high school, but obviously Ramsey and Bryant were eager to play for him as transfers. And those teams were successful.
The Big Ten plays a different style of football, where points are much more difficult to come by.
Fitzgerald was conservative on offense, even for the Big Ten.
Everybody knows this, but we still see the same (dumb) stats being recycled as "proof" that Bajakian was a bad OC.
What matters is winning and losing. I stand by my statements that we were really bad in 2 of Bajakian's 4 years primarily because of the defense, but also because our QBs were not good enough.
I agree that Bajakian/Fitzgerald whiffed on QBs out of high school, but obviously Ramsey and Bryant were eager to play for him as transfers. And those teams were successful.
It’s called mitigate their damages and they do with some exception.
Battle of ‘experts,’ I line up a few retired ad’s and hc’s to testify performance would have necessitated seeking lesser position and suing former school would demonstrate an absolutely undesirable ego and personality. Then I would show a variety of scandaled coaches that experienced little to no problem finding work and argue that defamation would not have been the problem, even if it did occur.
During his tenure at NU, Bajakian’s offenses ranked 120 in yards and 129 in scoring. It is absolutely clear why we did well a couple years with him at OC. Hint: not because of MB. We won in spite of well below average offenses that just happened to be (slightly) relatively better than bottom of barrel offenses that he otherwise fielded.
We did not have pretty good years EVER with him at the helm. He never fielded anything close to a decent offense. Did we score enough with Bajakian offenses to win more games than not? Yeah, on the strength of our defenses. Kind of like Brian Ferentz’s offenses helped them with the B1G West, but that doesn’t make either his or MB’s offenses good nor make them any less stink of an OC.
And my sense is that it’s more likely MB ruined Hunter Johnson and Ryan Hilinski both of whom looked a lot better playing for their previous teams than not.
It's much easier for me to find stats on all of FBS vs B1G, but just "back of the envelope" for his two "good" years were 10th in B1G in ppg. I don't believe that I have THAT high of standards, but my opinion is that "really good" would be top 5 and "pretty good" would be top half of the conference.
But thats not too likely considering that Hunter played for McCall before Bajakian was hired to replace McCall.
I made the trip out to Stanford for that scorching season opener. My expectations of Johnson were extremely high.
Two possessions into the game it was obvious Johnson had no idea what he was doing - or I guess to be more kind, he appeared to be very unsure of himself, almost panic-stricken.
He stayed that way.
Hilinski? I don't know. Seemed to be mediocre all along.
Neither guy improved significantly for Bajakian, thats fair.
I have a pretty hard time seeing how this has merit. He can claim he’s unfairly criticized for the t shirt, but being criticized some isn’t all that unusual and doesn’t seem unduly damaging. Plus, NU can point to his abysmal on-field results.
In the other hand, it’s sort of legally novel to try to glom onto the Fitz lawsuit and insist that if NU did Fitz wrong then it inherently also did Jake wrong because any reputational damage to Fitz was inherently reflected onto his staff. Of course, the big difference there is Fitz is really suing for breach of guaranteed contract, which Jake doesn’t have to fall back on.
But I guess since everybody thinks NU is just throwing out bushels form the money tree you can always stick your hand out and se what drops in.
In the other hand, it’s sort of legally novel to try to glom onto the Fitz lawsuit and insist that if NU did Fitz wrong then it inherently also did Jake wrong because any reputational damage to Fitz was inherently reflected onto his staff. Of course, the big difference there is Fitz is really suing for breach of guaranteed contract, which Jake doesn’t have to fall back on.
But I guess since everybody thinks NU is just throwing out bushels form the money tree you can always stick your hand out and se what drops in.
Skipping all the legal analysis by the amateur and not so amateur lawyers here, one outcome of Fitz's firing is that there is a general perception by the public that oversight of the football department was lacking and that inappropriate harassment occurred. That brush painted wide IMO and likely impacted the employment prospects of ex-staff irrespective of whether they were good at their job or not. This resultant environment resulted in part from NU's direct actions but also from the actions of others such as the Daily Northwestern and ex-players. One can argue the reasons but it appears that Bajakian's career prospects in big-time football aren't so great post-Northwestern. That would be a big deal for anyone so Bajakian seeking redress is hardly surprising.
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a) it is a fact that Bajakian wore the shirt - the only supposed lie is Gragg claiming he hadn't seen the shirt before. But this CYA by Gragg is not material to what is factually true about Bajakian's behaviour. He wore the shirt. Factually true.
b) Gragg's statement criticises the judgement, but does not impugn the individuals in any way that links them to the hazing activity, it only takes exception on matters of judgement.
c) Gragg's statement is a statement of opinion - since it is about judgement (e.g. 'Tone deaf')
Weasel-like as Gragg's tweet was, it doesn't seem to meet the defamation standard spelled out in the link - unless you are seeing something I'm not? My goodness - never expected to be arguing Gragg's position on anything!
I read that Bajakian had been hired as an "offensive analyst" by Utah in March.
Kyle Whittingham, defense-minded type of coach, has been leading Utah football for 20 years and doesn't mind running the ball.
There is a radio interview out there from March where Bajakian says he met Utah folks at our bowl game against them and they started talking.
However, the Utah football website doesn't show Bajakian as a member of the staff and it lists a bunch of people.
And "offensive analyst" is a serious step down from "Offensive Coordinator."
Although, if Derrick Gragg had his way, the job would be "Offensive Tone-Deaf analyst"
In case anybody misses Bajakian's voice, here's the interview. (it is pretty boring)
Mike Bajakian on why he’s joined Kyle Whittingham’s staff as an Offensive Analyst, Spring Football + more - ESPN700
Utah’s newest offensive coach talks about why he’s joined Whitt’s staff, Spring Ball + more
espn700sports.com
Seems like some other programs in recent years had problems and so the departmental reputation may be well deserved.
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