Bajakian needs to held to account to being at minimum a top 50 offense. He’s never achieved that nor sniffed it outside of the Ramsey year. He fields bottom 20 offenses. He needs to go. Plain and simple. For that matter, any future Northwestern coach. While I was a Fitz supporter, his hypocrisy on holding athletes to performance but didn’t hold them for his staff (loyalty over performance) was damaging to his program.
BRAUN AS PERMANENT HC PER PETE THAMEL
- Thread starter gocatsgo2003
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Coaches who want a "complimentary offense" are often extremely happy with bottom 50 offenses as long as it allow the defense to make plays.
Let's let coach Braun decide how complimentary he expects us to be. I hope coach Jake gets a chance to stay on.
Let's let coach Braun decide how complimentary he expects us to be. I hope coach Jake gets a chance to stay on.
He didn't come close to sniffing top 50 in the Ramsey year
Correct. It was a bit ironic that Bajakian’s offenses were statistically even worse than JON’s defenses, but JON lost his job first.
You’re in deep and quite strange.
Bajakian won’t be retained because he has been unsuccessful at recruiting quarterbacks and leading productive offenses.
I posted this in a different thread last week, though it was about how QBs didn’t want to play for Fitz. Richardson was Bajakian’s first QB recruit. He has outrecruited one P5 team in four classes.
Non-NU P5 offers, per Rivals
Thorson: BC, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Mississippi, NC State, Penn State, Syracuse
Yates: None
Smith: BC
Marty: None
Whittaker: Indiana, Iowa State
Richardson: None
Sullivan: Indiana
Lausch: None
Gray: None
Thanks. That’s really sad. And recruiting a kid who had no business playing Division I got Fitzgerald fired.
Our offense isn’t why we win games. Just like when we had Hank. It’s not enough to settle for good enough. We should go out and get the best damn OC we can and Bajakian has shown over the years that he isn’t that. We can do a lot better
As I look at that list, Yates also had issues. Really problematic to recruit players who can’t compete for playing time. Not good for them mentally and not good for the program. It’s one thing to not have success at the position. That happens at every program. It’s another thing to not have any chance to play. Let’s hope we can get back to consistently recruiting quarterbacks that are at the same level as the rest of our recruits.
They've been dismal on the field and in recruiting. Nay, they'd need a 50 foot ladder to rise to dismal. Rather than continue to muddle along with Fitz' OC selection, I want Coach Braun to build his own coaching staff himself. I'd be stunned to learn he prefers to muddle along.
Watching the NU D develop, you can see that he knows coaching talent. A new OC and coaching staff would likely do similar things for the NU O. And NU O recruiting. NU recruiting always needs better talent, but the NU O needs it the most. After the season ends, it can't happen soon enough.
Another key for me to getting a coach that implements an offensive system increases the performance of the players as a whole
Hank rolled out top 30 defenses without top 30 players. His system allowed his players to perform greater than their individual talents allowed.
Bajakian’s system needs an above average QB to be a below average offense. Otherwise it’s a total dumpster fire.
Anderson continues to keep rolling out offensive lines who perform worse than the top mac level teams with lower level talent. How many times this year have we seen over 5 sacks in a game? Do you now horrible that is? Yet he keeps his job.
Enough is enough. I hope Braun acts like leader and boss and demands excellence. If he doesn’t pull the trigger on Bajakian than I will be disappointed in his leadership ability. You lose credibility with your players.
Hank rolled out top 30 defenses without top 30 players. His system allowed his players to perform greater than their individual talents allowed.
Bajakian’s system needs an above average QB to be a below average offense. Otherwise it’s a total dumpster fire.
Anderson continues to keep rolling out offensive lines who perform worse than the top mac level teams with lower level talent. How many times this year have we seen over 5 sacks in a game? Do you now horrible that is? Yet he keeps his job.
Enough is enough. I hope Braun acts like leader and boss and demands excellence. If he doesn’t pull the trigger on Bajakian than I will be disappointed in his leadership ability. You lose credibility with your players.
I'm not sure how many changes Braun will be making.
First, I don't know the size of Braun 's coaching network, given that he came from a DII program. Second, he's going to have a lot of priorities this off-season -- recruiting first and foremost. Doing nothing with the staff seems like the easiest path forward...at least for next season. Third, MacPherson has been recognized as one of NU's best recruiters. However, he may be persona non grata due to his association with the hazing scandal. Regarding Anderson and Bajakian, it will be interesting to see how bold Braun will be. Making wholesale changes right away is risky, unless you're confident in your options. Plus, he definitely is going to need a defensive coordinator, since he'll presumably not be both HC and DC.
First, I don't know the size of Braun 's coaching network, given that he came from a DII program. Second, he's going to have a lot of priorities this off-season -- recruiting first and foremost. Doing nothing with the staff seems like the easiest path forward...at least for next season. Third, MacPherson has been recognized as one of NU's best recruiters. However, he may be persona non grata due to his association with the hazing scandal. Regarding Anderson and Bajakian, it will be interesting to see how bold Braun will be. Making wholesale changes right away is risky, unless you're confident in your options. Plus, he definitely is going to need a defensive coordinator, since he'll presumably not be both HC and DC.
Were any of Braun, Smith, Binns, Foster, Hicks from Fitz’s coaching network? It appears that all four have done a *great* job, and a fifth (Foster, RB) has done pretty well.
Big Ten. Great facilities. Good kids (except for the thing).
The biggest problem with the last three years was an in-network coach.
No, NDSU is NOT a DII program. It is one of the best FCS DI programs, on par with bottom half FBS programs. Get your facts straight.
Correct. NDSU is something like 6-0 against FBS opponents since 2010. The fan base, at least, is interested in transitioning to FBS. Not sure what the main roadblocks are to that happening.
Even for Fitz fans like myself, I don't see any reason why one would naturally feel any loyalty to his assistants. To me, it's not about a past vs. future thing, it's just whether an assistant coach is performing or not.
And while his hiring clearly wasn't that good and it took him a long time to get comfortable with change (which I suspect is due to how young he started as a head coach), I give Fitz credit that towards the end of his tenure, he did make some changes and wasn't afraid to do so when performance wasn't good. This past offseason was a prime example of that. Giving a coordinator two years to prove himself and letting him go if he didn't (JON) seems pretty reasonable to me. Same with the myriad of other position coaches that saw new names fill those slots. The results demanded it.
And while his hiring clearly wasn't that good and it took him a long time to get comfortable with change (which I suspect is due to how young he started as a head coach), I give Fitz credit that towards the end of his tenure, he did make some changes and wasn't afraid to do so when performance wasn't good. This past offseason was a prime example of that. Giving a coordinator two years to prove himself and letting him go if he didn't (JON) seems pretty reasonable to me. Same with the myriad of other position coaches that saw new names fill those slots. The results demanded it.
