Wasn’t Tucker’s first game after the big contract his first OSU throttling?
Kafka’s an NFL guy, never had to do recruiting or deal with girlfriend problems. He’s not coming to NU.
For a program with such a terrible to above average history, we sure are obsessed with bringing back contributors to be coaches here.
Give me an OC who scores a bunch of points in the Sun Belt or the WAC and wants to springboard two great seasons at NU into a head job. Give me a DC who is leading the MAC or the Gateway in scoring defense. Give me a coach who can coach, at whatever level he’s at.
The JoePa way, thankfully, isn’t a replicable strategy anymore.
NUCat320, you have hit on some points that I agree with wholeheartedly. But first, I agree with the sentiments of many that Fitz is a good fit for NU's philosophy of maintaining the "student" in student-athlete. He also accepts or deals with the NU policies that many coaches would struggle with mightily. He appears to have the blessings and support of those who can effect change. I'm not implying that those blessings are eternal, but he has a lot of goodwill among them and many other fans.
If I was Dr. Gragg, here is the conversation that I would have with Fitz:
"Coach, without discussion, I'm confident that we can agree that the trajectory of our team is far from ideal. As the level of financial support of the program has grown so has the expectations of the on-the-field results. To put it bluntly, the gap between the two cannot continue at its current measure. I acknowledge that we face inherent difficulties at NU that others in our conference don't face (ie small, recruiting/academic requirements.
We have looked closely at other "disadvantagedut successful programs and tried to understand what they do differently. We have reached the conclusion that we need to create a system unlike our conference opponents. I understand that as a player and as a young coach you had success with a "run the ball-stop the run philosophy." It's historically the BIG10 way.
But as the game has evolved, I believe we would be better served with a more aggressive offensive and defensive philosophy. The best path to achieve this is for you to continue the season with your current staff and emphasize developing your young players who are showing promise.
We believe, that with the right changes, you are still the coach to lead the program. In order to maintain our trust in you, we are strongly urging you to do the following.
By year's end, you need to have identified and hired new coordinators. We are restricting your choices to young, creative coaches who have demonstrated success beyond their resources and player talent, with a track record of developing players beyond their recruit ratings. Also, in coordination with your new hires, position coaches and staff positions will be filled. It's our expectation that your most of your staff will be new, as we wouldn't saddle new coordinators with old thoughts and ways.
Coach, I appreciate
you providing this exciting plan to take NUFB to new heights. I have hired a firm to quietly provide you with your search. They will be in the city this weekend to formulate the search plan. We will meet with them at our meeting hotel at 10:00 AM Saturday. Let's elevate the goals on to wall, Coach!!! GoCats!!!!
