Dabo fires his OC

[EvanstonCat]

After consecutive 3 loss seasons. Understanding that without generational talent his offense was vanilla and insufficient to compete at the level they expected to. Saban figured it out years ago and Oklahoma even earlier.

Our coach won’t evolve and get an OC who can run a modern high powered offense after consecutive seasons with 3 wins or less (the latest being a 1 win gem).

I’m beginning to hope the hazing investigation is the first step to making a much needed change for the program.

What Garrett Riley's big move means for Clemson, Dabo and TCU

What does the move of offensive coordinator Garrett Riley from TCU to Clemson say about where the Tigers are? And where does TCU go from here?

www.espn.com

 

[Eurocat]

I am no super duper football guru but I recall our offense kicking some ass in the Nebraska game. We were cooking!

Then after that it was like the brakes were put on. To help the defense?

I have no idea and could very well be talking out of my (rear) but it seemed that our OC - when allowed to - kicked some (rear).

I would give the guy a chance if PF says "okay dude, free reign, I am no longer doing ball control/defensive oriented/"compatible" offense, go out and kick some (rear)".

 

[Eurocat]

To add -

People seem to be forgetting we had a pretty good offensive coordinator in Garrick McGee.

People seem also to - in my opinion - greatly underrate Mick McCall.

But about McGee - His quarterbacks were Kafka, Bacher and Persa, Why have we gone away from this style of ball?

But by the way so many people said blah blah McCall sucks, blah blah fire McCall. What has happened to our offense since we let him go?

Downhill!

Maybe we should have kept him!

Seriously, what has happened to our offense since we fired Mick>

 

[Eurocat]

To add -

People seem to be forgetting we had a pretty good offensive coordinator in Garrick McGee.

People seem also to - in my opinion - greatly underrate Mick McCall.

But about McGee - His quarterbacks were Kafka, Bacher and Persa, Why have we gone away from this style of ball?

By the way if you want to cry look who was on our roster in 2008.

That was a Randy Walker recruited team. (I do give credit to Fitz for going winning nine with the guys).

This is the 2008 team and Randy died in 2006, these are his guys. One of whom will probably be an NFL Head Coach soon. This is a RW recuited squad and I see a lot of NFL names.,

2008 Northwestern Wildcats Roster | College Football at Sports-Reference.com

2008 Northwestern Wildcats Roster

www.sports-reference.com

But by the way so many people said blah blah McCall sucks, blah blah fire McCall. What has happened to our offense since we let him go?

Downhill!

Maybe we should have kept him!

Seriously, what has happened to our offense since we fired Mick?

 

[NUCat320]

I am no super duper football guru but I recall our offense kicking some ass in the Nebraska game. We were cooking!

Then after that it was like the brakes were put on. To help the defense?

I have no idea and could very well be talking out of my (rear) but it seemed that our OC - when allowed to - kicked some (rear).

I would give the guy a chance if PF says "okay dude, free reign, I am no longer doing ball control/defensive oriented/"compatible" offense, go out and kick some (rear)".

Nebraska really, really sucked. Like, really sucked. Frost was a dead man walking, totally afraid what was next. And his team played like they were afraid.

Nothing that happened in Dublin mattered football-wise, because those were two bottom ten teams at that point. I’m happy the players got a positive memory from the season tho.

 

[EvanstonCat]

To add -

People seem to be forgetting we had a pretty good offensive coordinator in Garrick McGee.

People seem also to - in my opinion - greatly underrate Mick McCall.

But about McGee - His quarterbacks were Kafka, Bacher and Persa, Why have we gone away from this style of ball?

But by the way so many people said blah blah McCall sucks, blah blah fire McCall. What has happened to our offense since we let him go?

Downhill!

Maybe we should have kept him!

Seriously, what has happened to our offense since we fired Mick>

McCall was horrible. In 13 or how many seasons he was here I believe he had one offense that was in the top half of D1. The rest were below average to downright horrid including his last one which was dead last out of all schools in FBS. How anyone could defend him is beyond me.

Just because Bajakian isn’t any better or less deserving to be fired doesn’t make Mick McCall’s record here any less horrid than it was.

 

[stpaulcat]

You're saying the silence is the sound of Fitz failing? I think it is too early to make that call.

 

[phatcat]

Something weird happened. Part was the wheels falling off the Hilinski wagon. Part was Sullivan injury. Part was level of competition. But our total offense dropped every week from Neb through Wisconsin, recovery v MD, backsliding to dreadful for the rest of the year.

 

[Figrating]

You're saying the silence is the sound of Fitz failing? I think it is too early to make that call.

NU has 4 Ws over the past two seasons. That sound like success to you?

HC's that want to win fire coaches that they've hired when they under-perform, in spite of their original decisions to hire them. See Harbaugh. See Dabo.

 

[Sheffielder]

NU has 4 Ws over the past two seasons. That sound like success to you?

HC's that want to win fire coaches that they've hired when they under-perform, in spite of their original decisions to hire them. See Harbaugh. See Dabo.

I know people may disagree but there's not an apples-to-apples comparison here. We are not Michigan or Clemson - not even close. There are definitely pros and cons to running alongside them, but we're not them.

Was just scanning through this topic and I would disagree that Garrick McGee was a "good" offensive coordinator - he was promoted under walker after Mike Dunbar left and had zero experience in that role, and then Walker died so he was flying blind. He showed some potential (but I'd argue we were also running on fumes from Walker's high-powered offense and running game)...either way the whole program was in a state of flux, and then he ran home into the arms of Bobby Petrino and has been a journeyman ever since. I wouldn't turn my nose to hiring him again, but I also wouldn't jump at the opportunity.

Re: McCall, I agree he is probably underrated as an offensive coordinator based on his body of work - he put guys in the NFL and he seems to get little/no credit for it. I would argue it's because his offense was generally boring as hell. Short passes and runs that amounted to death by 1,000 papercuts. And in fairness to him, I'm sure Fitz had his hand in that strategy.

Just spitballing on a message board here, obviously, but I wouldn't hate seeing a more gimmick-y offense...what no-huddle was once upon a time, but maybe more up-tempo where it's designed around tiring out the defense, giving them limited time to sub in/out and react. I don't think the Portal really does a school like ours any favors...so if we're not able to reel in the very best QBs or fastest wideouts, then lets outsmart them.

 

[KramerCat91]

It is a sad sign that we are reminiscing about McCall. He was overdue to go, but he was a master of turning lemons into lemonade. QB gets injured - I forget who. Kafka comes in and proceeds almost immediately to "throw" a backwards fumble in a terrible game. He is announced the starter for the next game and I think we are f'd. Kafka then proceeds to set the QB rushing yard for the B10 (and we seal the game on an incredible pick 6 return). The next year Kafka explodes into a passing wiz almost winning the bowl game despite throwing 5 picks.

 

[DaCat]

It is a sad sign that we are reminiscing about McCall. He was overdue to go, but he was a master of turning lemons into lemonade. QB gets injured - I forget who. Kafka comes in and proceeds almost immediately to "throw" a backwards fumble in a terrible game. He is announced the starter for the next game and I think we are f'd. Kafka then proceeds to set the QB rushing yard for the B10 (and we seal the game on an incredible pick 6 return). The next year Kafka explodes into a passing wiz almost winning the bowl game despite throwing 5 picks.

The QB who was injured that year was Bacher. Kafka was still work in progress but like you said, had a pretty good year as a senior. The question one has to ask, is, if another OC had tutored Kafka, what would the results have been?

 

[KramerCat91]

The QB who was injured that year was Bacher. Kafka was still work in progress but like you said, had a pretty good year as a senior. The question one has to ask, is, if another OC had tutored Kafka, what would the results have been?

Whatever rubbed off of McCall onto Kafka seems to have been a positive since Kafka is interviewing for a NFL head coach job. PS I haven't watched the Giants at all this year.

 

[FeralFelidae]

Whatever rubbed off of McCall onto Kafka seems to have been a positive since Kafka is interviewing for a NFL head coach job. PS I haven't watched the Giants at all this year.

Well, Kafka fell under two seasons of McGee including his first starts in 2006, so how much credit does McGee get for his development?

 

[Figrating]

I know people may disagree but there's not an apples-to-apples comparison here. We are not Michigan or Clemson - not even close.

We're talking HC management here. How is it different at UM and Clemson? The practice of that management - THAT is different, because NU hangs on to its underperforming coordinators. But it needn't.

 

[Eurocat]

Then he ran home into the arms of Bobby Petrino and has been a journeyman ever since.

I think he left because Fitz told him to slow down/tone down the offense (BTW - I have zero evidence of this, just speculating). Also being under Petrino was a better leaping off point from which to become a head coach which he did at UAB.

 

[Katatonic]

Re: McCall, I agree he is probably underrated as an offensive coordinator based on his body of work - he put guys in the NFL and he seems to get little/no credit for it. I would argue it's because his offense was generally boring as hell. Short passes and runs that amounted to death by 1,000 papercuts. And in fairness to him, I'm sure Fitz had his hand in that strategy.

Think it's pretty telling that even his own QBs didn't care to give McCall any credit for their success/development, and that Kafka and Persa, instead, were effusive in their praise for another QB who donned purple.

It is a sad sign that we are reminiscing about McCall. He was overdue to go, but he was a master of turning lemons into lemonade. QB gets injured - I forget who. Kafka comes in and proceeds almost immediately to "throw" a backwards fumble in a terrible game. He is announced the starter for the next game and I think we are f'd. Kafka then proceeds to set the QB rushing yard for the B10 (and we seal the game on an incredible pick 6 return). The next year Kafka explodes into a passing wiz almost winning the bowl game despite throwing 5 picks.

Whatever rubbed off of McCall onto Kafka seems to have been a positive since Kafka is interviewing for a NFL head coach job. PS I haven't watched the Giants at all this year.

Think something by the name of Andy Reid has a big part in Kafka being where he is right now, and thank goodness Kafka isn't using any of that "read and react" nonsense.

McCall's poor game planning/playcalling had cost the Cats numerous game, but the 2 most visible losses due to his incompetence was the Army loss and the loss to UM in the M00N game, tho Fitz deserves a large part of the blame as well.

One can have a dynamic O relying mostly on short passes - see any good WC O or Brady during his career w/ the Pats.

But those offenses scheme guys open, something McCall speed incapable of doing.

And really, how many times of failing to convert on 3rd/4th and short by handing it off to the RB does it take before one decides to change things up?

Even to someone like me, who "never strapped it on" in organized FB, knew that the Cats did not have the O-line to sustain a push to convert by handing it off to the RB.

But to see it time and time again, before they (McCall/Fitz) finally changed course?

But this lack of common sense is beyond McCall; what's troublesome is that Fitz is behind many of these puzzling moves.

 

[EvanstonCat]

I know people may disagree but there's not an apples-to-apples comparison here. We are not Michigan or Clemson - not even close. There are definitely pros and cons to running alongside them, but we're not them.

Was just scanning through this topic and I would disagree that Garrick McGee was a "good" offensive coordinator - he was promoted under walker after Mike Dunbar left and had zero experience in that role, and then Walker died so he was flying blind. He showed some potential (but I'd argue we were also running on fumes from Walker's high-powered offense and running game)...either way the whole program was in a state of flux, and then he ran home into the arms of Bobby Petrino and has been a journeyman ever since. I wouldn't turn my nose to hiring him again, but I also wouldn't jump at the opportunity.

Re: McCall, I agree he is probably underrated as an offensive coordinator based on his body of work - he put guys in the NFL and he seems to get little/no credit for it. I would argue it's because his offense was generally boring as hell. Short passes and runs that amounted to death by 1,000 papercuts. And in fairness to him, I'm sure Fitz had his hand in that strategy.

Just spitballing on a message board here, obviously, but I wouldn't hate seeing a more gimmick-y offense...what no-huddle was once upon a time, but maybe more up-tempo where it's designed around tiring out the defense, giving them limited time to sub in/out and react. I don't think the Portal really does a school like ours any favors...so if we're not able to reel in the very best QBs or fastest wideouts, then lets outsmart them.

Maybe not apples to apples, but we are in the B1G. Not FCS or MAC.

McGee wasn't a home run, but his offense in his one year here still ranked higher than any of Bajakian's at NU.

McCall doesn't get credit for putting players from BGSU into the league. He had, what, one offense to rank in the top half or top 40 (I forget the exact statistic) during his time here, I believe, and for the most part we've been bottom quarter or even bottom 5%. He was a disaster at NU, especially in terms of what he contributed to in lowering the standard of what we came to expect for NU from our explosive and high scoring offenses under Dunbar to the helpless shitshow that we have today, including any argument that Bajakian shouldn't be fired for having fielded an offense where 120+ other schools ranked better. We won in spite of Mick McCall (thank you Mike Hankwitz), not because of him, and I argue had we had a reasonably decent OC, we would have won a hell of a lot more, and maybe Fitz would have had his first ring by now.

I don't care what kind of offense we run, as long as it produces and scores 30-40 a game (preferably the latter) and where we don't have to completely rely on an elite defense to win games, especially against teams like Ohio State which are going to still be able to score on us (and the likes of Georgia) even if facing an elite defense. The West got a lot better with Luke Fickell (and his air raid OC) and Matt Rhule coming in, this after Illinois finally giving up its bumbling ways with the fantastic hire of Bret Bielema. And we didn't do anything, except (maybe) correcting the debacle of the last two years on the defensive side of the ball. We aren't any better than we were three years ago while the rest of the division is, and you have USC coming in another year too. You think we're going to hold Lincoln Riley to less than 2 TDs?

Defense might win championships, but without an offense, it's increasingly hard to win at all. We shouldn't settle for one or the other. Let's get both.

 

[Sheffielder]

Maybe not apples to apples, but we are in the B1G. Not FCS or MAC.

It was simply to say that Michigan and Clemson enter most seasons expecting to compete for their conference titles and possibly/probably a national championship. Let's be honest with ourselves - Northwestern does neither. I'm not necessarily mad about that, especially when you consider in this day and age what a program needs to do to compete nationally; I was simply acknowledging that we're not a program that should be firing anyone after a 9 or 10-win season.

Re: McCall...I don't want to come across here like I was a fan - most certainly was not. Damn those offenses were boring, with the exceptions of greatness that we'd see with a guy like Justin Jackson and Austin Carr...I'm just saying he had a few bright spots on his resume here and I don't think it's fair to say he had nothing to do with any NFL talent, bowl wins, or divisional titles. It's also not fair to shelter Fitz from any criticism about how the offense ran that whole time (or now!) - low scoring, control the clock...that has Fitz written all over it.

 

[EvanstonCat]

It was simply to say that Michigan and Clemson enter most seasons expecting to compete for their conference titles and possibly/probably a national championship. Let's be honest with ourselves - Northwestern does neither. I'm not necessarily mad about that, especially when you consider in this day and age what a program needs to do to compete nationally; I was simply acknowledging that we're not a program that should be firing anyone after a 9 or 10-win season.

Re: McCall...I don't want to come across here like I was a fan - most certainly was not. Damn those offenses were boring, with the exceptions of greatness that we'd see with a guy like Justin Jackson and Austin Carr...I'm just saying he had a few bright spots on his resume here and I don't think it's fair to say he had nothing to do with any NFL talent, bowl wins, or divisional titles. It's also not fair to shelter Fitz from any criticism about how the offense ran that whole time (or now!) - low scoring, control the clock...that has Fitz written all over it.

We don't, but we should. Or at least we should aspire to. The saddest thing about the recent years is that we have forgotten what Barnett taught us. We have forgotten how to expect victory. Expecting victory also means expecting championships.

I still remember when NU won 3 conference titles in 6 years, and at one point was the #3 ranked team in the country, and but for special teams mishaps against Miami, would have played in a national championship game, had there been one. I've seen the top of the mountain, and I can't un-remember what it looks like and I want for us to get back there.

And please, no body is talking today about firing anyone after a 9 or 10 win season. I'm talking about firing people after 9 or 10 (or even 11) loss seasons. Far lesser programs do that. We have to be the only program that hasn't fired an OC after multiple years of bottom 10% finishes in offense.

As for McCall, firing him after his shitty offensive seasons regardless of how many wins our defense carried us to is exactly what those championship programs would do. That's in part what makes them championship programs, and what keeps us from being one. You have an elite defense on one side of the ball, imagine what we could have been and how many championships we might have won if we had just a good offense that could score more points than McCall's?

 

[Gladeskat]

Imagine how well we would have done if we put more talented players on offense.

 

[hdhntr1]

To add -

People seem to be forgetting we had a pretty good offensive coordinator in Garrick McGee.

People seem also to - in my opinion - greatly underrate Mick McCall.

But about McGee - His quarterbacks were Kafka, Bacher and Persa, Why have we gone away from this style of ball?

But by the way so many people said blah blah McCall sucks, blah blah fire McCall. What has happened to our offense since we let him go?

Downhill!

Maybe we should have kept him!

Seriously, what has happened to our offense since we fired Mick>

The problem that ended McCall's run was his QB recruiting debacles in the last few years of his tenure (not saying they were all his fault). That led to little choice. Never said he was a bad OC just time to move on.

 

[hdhntr1]

We don't, but we should. Or at least we should aspire to. The saddest thing about the recent years is that we have forgotten what Barnett taught us. We have forgotten how to expect victory. Expecting victory also means expecting championships.

I still remember when NU won 3 conference titles in 6 years, and at one point was the #3 ranked team in the country, and but for special teams mishaps against Miami, would have played in a national championship game, had there been one. I've seen the top of the mountain, and I can't un-remember what it looks like and I want for us to get back there.

And please, no body is talking today about firing anyone after a 9 or 10 win season. I'm talking about firing people after 9 or 10 (or even 11) loss seasons. Far lesser programs do that. We have to be the only program that hasn't fired an OC after multiple years of bottom 10% finishes in offense.

As for McCall, firing him after his shitty offensive seasons regardless of how many wins our defense carried us to is exactly what those championship programs would do. That's in part what makes them championship programs, and what keeps us from being one. You have an elite defense on one side of the ball, imagine what we could have been and how many championships we might have won if we had just a good offense that could score more points than McCall's?

Your memory is somewhat selective. In 95/6 there was no championship game. If we had won over USC, we had a chance but...

The third BIG Championship was under different terms than today.

He was good at finding nitch athletes that allowed us to compete such as looking at QBs and RB for other positions as they often were best athletes on teams and he often found the guy that "would have been gone after by everyone if an inch taller"