A nine man defense would definitely be a strange strategy but as bad as our season went this year I don't remember ever seeing that alignment this year.
Firings: What should happen vs. what will happen
- Thread starter NorthNJCatsfan
- Start date
2-2-5=9. No wonder the defense was problematic…
Even in Jake's "good year", we were a bottom quartile offense with a good B1G QB. We had just gotten used to McCall's offenses and thought it was good
As an older, long time STH this may be my breaking year. With only one(?) more season in our current stadium and then 2-3 in who knows where I have lost my desire to make the trek up to Evanston to watch this mess.
Hoping that if I stick around 3-4 years it will be worth it is a pipe dream.
How many will think the same as the next year ends unless there is some evidence that things will change?
Along with the Transfer Portal revolving door status of the current college football landscape the next few years could be a pivotal time for NU football.
I thought this was our last year at Ryan Field? That was what the ticket office sent out before the season.
B10 teams should have the revenue to poach big time coordinators from the ACC, B12 or P12. NU needs to play the NIL game or get left behind. Brilliant facilities only go so far with high school stars and transfers. Also, Fitz should not have a working headset during the games; he’s a disaster when it comes to game management.
I'm part of the problem. NU can count on me being there. We have a fantastic time in the West Lot win or lose (and lose and lose and lose). Over the years, we have accumulated many friends and family to join our festivities. One and all said they cannot wait for next season. Weird. A few who come to games only a couple of times a season told me they are getting season tickets next year. The product on the field cannot beat our product in the Lot. I'm going to miss Dyche’s dump.
I agree that a strong NIL game is the golden ticket to football improvement, if not great success.
But that isn’t ultimately up to NU or the athletic dept., right? Everything I have seen involves supporters of a given program setting up deals with athletes.
So this would seem to be the question: do fans desire football success enough to (legally) ‘pay’ players, or not?
Or, in a deeper sense, Is the world of semipro ball something NU should be part of?
But that isn’t ultimately up to NU or the athletic dept., right? Everything I have seen involves supporters of a given program setting up deals with athletes.
So this would seem to be the question: do fans desire football success enough to (legally) ‘pay’ players, or not?
Or, in a deeper sense, Is the world of semipro ball something NU should be part of?
Don’t do this to us. If you know something spill it. Otherwise, don’t get our hopes up.
Oh, it wasn’t the fact that on American soil this year, we ranked 131st in the country in total offense? That’s DEAD LAST.
Nobody should keep their job with that kind of performance.
2-2-5 would explain a lot.
It looked like for much of the year with the gaping holes that we only played 9 players on defense.
The reality is that we have a tiny, tiny fan base that actually cares about the results on the field. Businesses will not yield an increase in revenue from paying players to market their products or services—so any NIL money would have to come from a place of giving players a “salary” without any expectation of a tangible return on investment. I cannot see this happening to the degree that it would improve our recruiting or retention of talented athletes.
What should happen: Fitz reads the Shaw news and follows his lead. He can claim he never intended to coach his son, and its time for new blood. Time to bring in Mike Kafka!
What will happen: Fits stays; JON is gone.
What will happen: Fits stays; JON is gone.
I don’t have any specifics. Just that a meeting involving Ryan has supposedly already taken place. Honestly I don’t think the coaches themselves have any specifics at this point.
If you are a coach on that staff, with that season and you don't feel any anxiety about your position, the problems are deeper.
Highly doubt it, every minute that ticks by I become more concerned that no changes will be made or bs window dressing. i now know why Adam R tweeted the JON hire was selfish by Fitz.
I think everybody needs to remain calm and dispassionate for the next few weeks.
Fitz comes off as a methodical guy. He'll do his end of season analysis and look at what went wrong and where.
It's going to be a process in some sense before we get to the point of replacing coordinators.
Though part of me wonders if availability of "hot" candidates may move forward the timeline if some "can't miss" DC or OC becomes available.
I'd put Leonhard in that category for example.
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NU announced McCall was gone at noon on Sunday. Gosh I was hoping for something like that today. Oh well.
A program that had its shit together would have been ready to announce moves the second the game ended. It’s not like there were any surprises to be had. They’ve already had weeks to prepare.
Every second that goes by in “assessing” is a second of missed opportunity in targeting the best possible coordinators before they are ultimately gone to another team.
One word responses do no one any good. If you have an opinion on my statement, please share it. Understand you are an “insider” but that doesn’t entitle you to be an a**hole in your responses.
You really think outreach can’t happen until a job is formally open? The flaw in your argument is assuming a decision hasn’t already been made even though a public announcement hasn’t happened yet.
Also no
If something is completely off base entirely then a one word response will suffice.
Also not really an “insider,” really. More “have half a brain and understand how things really work.”
In the real world or at many other programs, of course that would be prudent. In Fitz’s world not sure I believe he’s placing feelers out and risk that leaking without formally firing the person. Of course I can be wrong.
I would be shocked if decisions have been made and that has not been communicated publicly or leaked. Not buying that. Happy to eat the biggest helping of crow if I’m wrong. If we don’t hear anything tomorrow, I’ll be very worried at which direction Fitz is going.
People vote with their feet and their checkbooks. I am a 40 year season ticket holder although i no longer live in the area. Yesterday ny wife who also holds two degrees from NU asked if we couldn’t find something else to watch. It is painful to me but we wont be renewing.
Again, you are assuming the coaches don’t already have a pretty good feel for where they stand just because a public announcement hasn’t been made. I think by now most of the people involved have a pretty good sense what will be formally announced in the next couple of days. The fans like us will be the last to know.
Oh, geez. Thanks for the helpful insight. Your stale routine stopped being cute two years ago.
Yep, if they don't care about an education, we have no chance with them and this may doom us from getting many difference makers.
Yeah, I would assume even the coaches that have not directly spoken to Fitz about their tenuous hold on their jobs must surely be updating their resumes after this year's debacle. Just because none of them have said anything to us doesn't mean they don't know. And I would expect they have all talked to Fitz on an informal level (at the very least) before now.
There is not a single member of the staff - including Fitz - who should be feeling 100% secure they'll have a role with the team next year. Sure, no one thinks Fitz will be fired, and maybe HE doesn't even think he'll be fired, but if he has any self-awareness, he should be sweating too.
I'm very glad to hear that. I sure as hell hope one of those people has looked Pat straight in the eye, and said, "Look, dude, you need to realize that our offense is beyond atrocious. Its absolutely unwatchable. Nobody with any real talent wants to play in this offense. You better get your head around that fact right now."
Then get ready to be very worried. I think Zeek55 is right. Fitz is methodical and is going to take his time on figuring out what's what. The football part I think he gets. I think he gets that our offense is crap. That we can't develop a QB. Or playmakers at receiver. And the state of the defense, that goes without saying.
What I don't have any gauge on is, does he recognize that a real change of direction is needed, for both offense and defense? New leadership/coordinators. Some new assistants (WR without question). New blood from the outside. A new offensive approach that will genuinely attract big boy playmakers like Wandale Robinson, AJ Henning, Nick Singleton, Parker Jenkins, Jordan Mosley (actually stay here), etc etc. Or is he still convinced that very conservative, old style smashmouth football is still the only way we can win big games?
He's facing the idea that, from 2007-2020, what we were doing here worked. It worked pretty good. Fourteen years of being in the upper half of the Big Ten, and two Big Ten Championship games very recently. That's pretty darned good. And he deserves credit for that.
Now, suddenly, it doesn't work anymore. At all. Now he and all his staff somehow forgot how to coach football? And I hired the wrong people? And I have to fire some of these people? My good friends?
So we may not like it, but I don't blame Fitz for genuinely needing a little time to figure out the whole picture and what painful decisions need to be made. That's what we got.
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GCG, tell them most hires occur around the time of the AFCA National Convention. (American Football Coaches Association) usually during a dead period in January right before National Letter of Intent signing day.
NU apparently is the only school in the country where those evaluations don’t happen during a 1-11 season. We’re special and have to wait until after the season. I’ll say it again, a healthy program has its evaluations made and executes the second the last game is finished. There is no excuse for Fitz still waffling over what he wants to do after the season we had. If he doesn’t know what to do then he should be gone.
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